He was beaten by his family...

...

He went  to Karuna Nivas, where we have our community centre for people with HIV/AIDS. he was given emergency rations and our doctor gave him free medicines When the Director saw him he realised that his health condition was very serious. Nellayya was admitted to our Pickford Memorial Hospice for respite care.  With regular protein rich meals clean water and psychological counseling.  he has now become much stronger,

  Nellayya used to be a security guard and as the Shanti Nivas campus needs one he has been given the job.  

INTER College exam results at Brighter Future

The Intermediate  College Exam Results 2017

. An Intermediate College is roughly equivalent to our Sixth Form Colleges. The students take exams like A levels over two years. They have to sit and pass exams after their first year and  their second year. If they fail a subject they are allowed to retake it but these retake exams are only a fortnight after they get to know their results, so there is not much time to revise their failed subjects. The students must pass in all subjects. 
 One unusual aspect is what is called 'betterment'. Hemant  of Shanti Nivas was disappointed with his marks and he has elected to retake all his exams to try and get higher marks. Victor told him that as it will cost 900 rupees  (£9) in fees Hemant had better make sure he gets the very top marks this time in all subjects!

Rainbow and DMC House:

1st year 

 Rani Kunda- 219/500

 Kumari Dandasi- 150/440

 Timothy Borra - 228/470

 Samson Chitti- 200/470

2nd Year:

Uma Dessety  - 575/1000

Priyanka Allam  - 635/1000

Kalyani Yadla - 776/1000

Hemalatha Gandi - 236/1000

Shankar Vennela - 357/1000

Bhaskar Gangula - 450/1000

Shanti Nivas Thompson House:

1st year

Hemant Km Mudasala - 330/470

Pydi Naidu - 167/440

Bangaru Naidu - 290/470

Durga Rao - 280/500

Prem Nivas:

1st  year:

Ashok - 232/500

Satyavathi - 143/500

2nd year  

Jyothi Pininti- 606/1000

Sravani Balla- 546/1000

The young people who have passed will now have to decide if they want to study at a higher level.  Jyothi and Sravani from Prem Nivas want to take degrees All those who want to go on to further education, will have to choose their subjects and apply for admission. Some may choose teaching, and others nursing, engineering, commercial or science subjects.

The fees vary with the prestige of the college and the subject chosen. £500 is the basic rate but a good engineering college will charge over £1000 for tuition. Books,uniforms, transport and societies come as extra!.

Exam results for tenth class students

These are children who have passed their National Exams this year at the end of the Tenth year of High school. There were only a few children in the tenth class in the Homes for HIV children* this year. 

Congratulations to all the children 

who have passed their 10th year exams 

and are now eligible to go onto further education at an Inter college.

Rainbow Home /DMC 

Keerthana - 82%

Venkatalaxmi J- 80%

Rani  Sheik- 73%

Sateesh Dubba- 72%

Santosh Sabbara- 63%

Pavan Kumar Peddi-55%

Santosh Kemburi- 53%

Prem NIvas*

Sampath kumar A- 63%

Shanti NIvas*

Krishnaveni P- 62%

Keerthi - 67%

Karuna Nivas*

Nagaraju - 77%

B. Ramakrishna - 57%

Sirisha - passed

Building at the Rainbow Children's Home

Cooking for  more than 100 children and staff and seating them in comfort has became increasingly more difficult over the years. Those little six year olds we started with in 2005 are now strapping young men and the girls are elegant young women.  

Over the years many children have been admitted from the five colonies Brighter Future cares for, as well as poor children from other backgrounds.

The only way to enlarge the  kitchen was by increasing the length of the existing one and building upwards! 

A two story building is rising over the space occupied by the former kitchen/dining area. It has been extended by removing the ancient neem tree and building over the shops (which Brighter Future owns on the roadside frontage of DMC House).  Some of he over-the-shops rooms will provide  much needed extra space for the office administration and staff. The upper floor will  function as a study area. There will be a dedicated library and a special room in which 40 children will be able to give their own Powerpoint presentations and watch educational films. 

For the last three months the cooking has been done at the Rainbow Boys' Home. 

The reinforced beams of the upper floor are supported by wooden poles.

(The white buildings belong to a neighbouring school).

The rooms above the 3 left hand shops 

The second floor roofing slab of reinforced concrete is going to be done this week.

The work is expected to be finished by July.

 Half the cost  has been funded by an existing sponsor. 

The children celebrate my 80th birthday.

The end of April in Andhra Pradesh is too hot for me and I usually return to the UK in March. However, despite my absence, the children celebrate my birthday for me. This year all the homes were given a birthday cake to enjoy and all made charts with Birthday greetings.
Sampath. at our Prem Nivas Home. is keen on poster making. I recognised his style as he had made me a similar welcome sign last November.  I had already had a birthday card from Sampath and Ashok before I left India. They made it from some of the old birthday and Christmas cards that I take out with me when i can find space in my luggage. The children like to use them for making their own cards which they give to one another at birthdays and for making Christmas cards for the local people who donate meals, cake and biscuits to them during the year..




I see that Baby Jeevan is in the photo  - on the table next to the cake!







The Karuna Nivas, Rainbow and Thompson House children each celebrated  the occassion with their own multi coloured cakes provided by Victor.

.

It is now the school holidays. While the  temperatures were rising  the chidlren would have gone to school at 7am and come home at 12 midday. The exam results will be our soon for  the 10th year children - the equivalent of O levels The students reading for degrees finished their exams this week.

The  results from the Intermediate colleges are out! These are similar to A levels. At Prem Nivas I was pleased to hear that Jyothi and Sravani both passed with 60% and 57% respectively. Sravani wants to do a degree and Jyothi is undecided but would like to do nursing or a degree. However, unless the rules have changed she would not be accepted for nursing as she is HIV positive.
. Ashok and Satya failed one paper and are doing retakes on 15th May. Mr Venkat and otheres are coaching them.

At Thompson House, college student Hemant passed all his first year college maths and science papers but he has asked Victor if he can do 'betterment'. Victor had to explain to me yesterday what this meant, as it is something I have not come across before. Apparently it means that Hemant wants to do the exams again to see if he can get higher marks. Victor laughingly told him that if he has to pay £9 for the entrance fees then Hemant must get at least 200 more marks! The exams will be in about ten days time.

Victor is busy contacting  degree colleges to find places for the Brighter Future Children who have passed  their Intermediate exams. Higher education. at Degree level cost upeards of £500 per annum depending on the course and the reputation of the college. Engineering courses are the most expensive. Brighter Future India has five students taking degrees at present.

When the 10th year results come out Victor will be sorting out Intermediate colleges for the students. Intermediate college are like our Sixth Form Colleges, Fees including transport books etc cost about £250 per student.

At these times of momentous decisions your prayers and good wishes are welcome.

Birthday Girl

Prasanna's special day shared with all the staff and children was on April 1st

Luckily her birthday celebrations were not complicated by April Fool's Day as our Prem Nivas children do not know about the old French custom. So with the usual givng of good wishes to, and blessings for Prasanna, from the time she woke up, all the staff and children waited for the usual after school celebraton of her seventh birthday.(Yes the children have Saturday school three ties a month).

Balloons were inflated, biscuits arranged on plates, greetings written on the blackboard and the children and our staff, and in this case also our  local teacher friends,.gathered in the old dining area.  Happy Birthday was sung, with it's Indian second verse of 'God Bless you Prasanna'  and much clapping followed as the candles were blown out. 

Prasanna with her mother, staff and guests 

The very Indian custom regarding birthday cake is that the first piece is cut by the birthday child and it is put in the mouth of a chosen friend. The friend does likewise to the birthday child, sometimes with much smearing of the creamy icing gets on faces - a trick often indulged in by boys! Prasanna distributed buiscuits to all the children.

Baby Jeevan seems to be trying the cake!

Ramya, Chaitanya and Shankar arranged games for the children and later there was a prayer and bible story (brought forward from Sunday).
  
 Prasanna's mother, Kanchanna, is employed by Brighter Future as a nursery nurse at Prem Nivas. 

In addition to looking after our new baby, Jeevan, she had managed to arrange a special dinner for the children and guests. 

Sunday School teachers

Chaitanya and  his friends come every Sunday.

They teach the children songs and dances. They bring little gifts for the children and  play games with them. 

Chaitanya and his friends, Shankar and Ramesh, come to Prem Nivas every Sunday to meet the children and invite them to a very special Sunday school. They start with a prayer and follow it by asking if any of the children remember the little quotation they were given the previous week. These are verses from the Bible connected to the story that had been told the previous week. Lots of clapping is encouraged in this activity.

They teach the children action songs to sing and dance to. The children like to repeat action songs they have learnt in the past, as well as lean new ones, and this helps to reinforce their memory, the songs and stories are in Telugu.

After the singing the children are told a story from the Bible in an amusing way. The children listen, ask and answer questions. Chaitanya and his friends often bring humour into their story telling from both the New and the Old Testaments, such as David and Goliath, and the miracles and life of Jesus. After asking a few questions about the story the children are given a few lines related to the Bible story to try and remember.

 The meeting concludes with a prayer, they then distribute sweets or biscuits.

The Sunday School is not compulsory as our children come from a wide range of religious backgrounds including Muslim, Hindu. Christian and some have religious beliefs. However, when I am there I notice that there are only one or two children that do not attend.  

Apart from the Sunday school Chaitanya and friends come to see the children on Saturdays and holidays to play with the children. They are  in much demand for cricket with the boys. He also does some teaching of maths with the primary age children and anyone who wants help with their maths. He also likes to sit and listen to the children – a most invaluable experience for children who live in an institution and do not have a ‘grandmother figure’ to turn to. 

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