EXAM Results!

Venkatalakshmi,Navitha,Suneetha,Ruth,Sujatha,Sneha,Ruckmini, Lakshmi and Jhansi

Victor spoke to  me in a Skype video early this morning to give me the exam results of the 10th and the college students. 

Santosh, Ramesh and Isaak

These very important exams are taken by children across India and are the milestones to their future education. They equate to our 'O' and 'A' levels in standard but they are more like the 'matric', if anyone can remember that exam, which even pre-dates me. I remember my mother saying  in hushed voice "she's got matric!" of a girl in our neighbourhood. Like the 'matric' the children have to pass in all subjects in the one year for 10th exams - in  Social Science ( history and geography), Maths, General Science (biology, physics and chemistry), English, Hindi and Telugu.

Our top two 10th girl students this year were Sneha and Sujatha with 77% and 75%. Isaak also got 77%.

Ledbury

Yes. Ledbury is an historic English town with a church dating back to 1140 Norman times and streets of medieval timber framed black and white buildings. There is also a Norman 'hospice' building. What connection can this town have with Brighter Future? 

On April 15th a new building was opened for 14 boys, in the grounds of the Rainbow Boys' Home. It was built on the site of their former accommodation in a single story lean-to, with a concrete-asbestos corrugated roof. The funds to build this new two story superior accommodation were given by supporters living in Ledbury in Herefordshire.

This was the old shed dormitory for some boys 

They came out to India and saw the conditions at the Rainbow Boys' Home. Many children slept in the main building but some slept in this lean-to which was prone to leak when it rained, and was was also dark.



As the children have become older, and bigger in size,  they need more space - another reason to expand the accommodation. It was exciting for the boys to see  Ledbury House rise phoenix- like from the space occupied by their dismantled sheds.

Reinforced concrete pillars and foundation plinths soon materialized into a two story building, with balconies at the front and rear.

There are three light and airy rooms for the children while one small room is for staff.









Senior boys will live on the upper floor which with the roof is above the tree line.





Opening day with guests, prayers and a celebratory meal for all the Rainbow and DMC House children and staff, was on 15th April.

The little children were thrilled to look around Ledbury House

The old kitchen shed has been refurbished and so too have the toilets and washrooms.

Than you Ledbury supporters for this lovely new home for the older Rainbow Boys!

The 10K run forms are here - see the next tab about the run and below is the tab for the entry form and route!.

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We are very sad to report that Nilaveni has died.

Nilaveni's short life has ended.

She was admitted to our Hospice on the 9th February. Nilaveni was just 10 years old. She had been referred to our social workers by a village midwife who had noticed how very thin and sick she was. She was living with distant  relations who were itinerant basket makers, travelling from village to village, selling their wares. Nobody had suspected that she might be suffering from HIV or even TB.
Our staff took her to be tested and she was started on treatment. However, Nilaveni was so far advanced towards AIDS that she was unable to respond to the drugs she was given.

We can only take some comfort to know that her last two months in our Hospice were among loving carers and understanding fellow patients.
Nilaveni was befriended by a lilttle girl of her own age and was delighted to receive a teddy bear from one of our visiting donors.

Brighter Future arranged for Nilaveni's  body to be taken to her grandmother,   paid for all the funeral expenses and for the traditional dinner that is held on the 11th day after her death. Our staff were present at the ceremony. 

School

Bags and Desks

 The majority of Indian school children sit on the floor to study. They have an allotted space  to sit cross-legged on the floor with their satchels. The satchels are

heavy with all their text and exercise books as there is no where to leave them at school - no desk or locker. The bags soon collapse under the weight of the books, burst their locks or seams.

Little children graduate from a plastic bag to a real one!

The children are delighted when they get a new school bag. The youngest children use polythene bags and are very proud of the day when they get a real school bag.They have to take all their text and exercise books to school each day. They can't leave them anywhere at school so one sees children weighed down by heavy school bags. Even children who go to private schools can be seen sitting, spread out in rows across the playground,revising at exam times.Their satchels and bags are enormous.

Smiles at being given a new school bag
 from a sponsor in Wales. 

 Seventy five per cent of India's population is rural and they eat, sleep, work and play on the floor. Some have hard wooden beds, like tables with short legs, that are very useful for storing things underneath.  Others sleep on charpoys, an arrangement of wood and string, which is light to carry around and can be put to a variety of uses, from stretchers to drying the grain.

The great event last week was the arrival of a lorry load of school 'desks'.

They are more like long thin tables, as there is no storage space in them, but they come with benches to sit on.

A private school in Visakhapatnam had donated the desks to Victor.





 They need some repairs and will have to be varnished but this can be done for less than £20.
The thirty desks will be shared out between Prem Nivas, Shanti Nivas and the Rainbow Boy's home.

The children insisted on posing for photos.

The students who have completed their 10th year exams.

In Andhra Pradesh state the academic year finishes in May. The most decisive years are the 10th and 12th, when the National exams are taken .
These high school children have taken the 10th year exams, like our old 'O' levels, and are waiting for the results some time in early May.

Ramesh, Ruckmini, Ruth, Venkatalaxmi, Navnitha, Sneha, Jhansi, Isaac and Udala-Laxmi
with Victor and Mary. 

 These children have been given the opportunity of a Brighter Future because, had they still been living with their parents in the leprosy colonies, or living rough on railway stations, they would most likely not have been able to go to school. Their parents could not have afforded the fees that even the government schools need for books and exams. Many of the children would have been leading an itinerant life, going begging at various religious sites and  at the stations in big towns, marrying young and continuing the downward spiral of debt and begging.

Brighter Future is greatly indebted to the  kind people who have so generously sponsored these children over the years and given them the chance to have an education for a brighter future.

Most of these young people have been living in the Rainbow Home and DMC house since they were 6 years old.
It is good to see that girls are in the majority this year, they so often get neglected in their culture.
Victor says they have been studying well and we hope that they all pass with flying colours.

However, if they do pass and  want to continue their education, we will have to find more special 'student sponsors' to pay their college fees which are about £250 a year!!