Congratulations to our students !

Swathi is our very first student to pass her  final exams after two years at a college in the village where Prem Nivas home is situated. Swathi now has the equivalent of A levels in Biology, Physics and Maths. Swathi has had to work really hard because when she was 8 she was asked to leave her village school because her parents had died of AIDS. In those days there was no treatment available to slow down the progress of HIV to AIDS. Swathi was often sick and her grandmother asked Brighter Future to admit her to Prem Nivas, our first home for HIV infected children, in October 2006. At first we taught the children ourselves because the local schools would not take them and no teacher would work for us.
I remember going to give a talk, translated by Victor, to several hundred High School children, and their teachers, gathered in the school playground. My message was that you can't catch HIV/AIDS by sitting next to one of our children, sharing their books, playing with them or eating with them. Swathi was admitted to the High school and now all our children go there when they pass class 5.
Swathi has long wanted to be a nurse but because she is HIV+ this is not possible.

Our Hospice at Shanti Nivas

A warm welcome to all the new supporters who are running the London 10K for children and adults who are suffering from HIV/AIDS!

There are many undiagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS in the rural villages where Brighter Future does its grass roots work. We conduct discrete surveys  to identify households where there have been deaths, where children are often sick or have dropped out of school, or where there is TB, to see if the people have HIV. In the last five years we have identified 359 HIV/Aids victims. last year we found 66 new cases. We take them to be tested and offer practical help - giving them medicnes and food parcels,and applying for ration books and pensions for them.

The most sick people are taken into our new Hospice, though for some it is too late, like this little girl. 

A seventeen year old boy died this month.His uncle had been buying him a 'false cure'. 

This 15yr. old boy is severely malnourished and has HIV, TB , asthma and skin infections all over his body. 

          HIV infected widowed       mothers learning to play a memory game. 

All our patients are malnourished and anaemic. They are weak and suffer from aching limbs, and frequent fevers.Some have kidney  complications, others have advanced TB.

It costs £400 a month to run the Hospice. 

We hope that this year's London 10K run will raise this money. 

Tell your supporters how they will be saving lives by sponsoring you !

Too poor to travel to the hospital to get medicine for her son and herself

The Hospice at Shanti Nivas

Last week we admitted  mother and her son. They were registered as suffering form HIV in 2008 and 2011 respectively.In 2008 the nearest centre to their village for receiving check up and  retroviral therapy was in Visakhapatnam -  - about 100 kilomenters from their home and a long and slow journey by bus, Appal, the little boy was only 15kg in weight and he was started on a 'baby' dose in July 2011, when both mother and son were admitted into the hospital because they were so weak.

His weight now is only 14.5kg - 14 months later.

The little boy stopped taking ART in January 2012 because his mother could not afford to take him to get his medicine. It was difficult enough for her to go begging for food locally for them to eat. She came to know that there was now a nearer hospital to get ART but she has not been for a year. The little boy goes to school, he is in the second class, so at least he gets one free school meal. Mother goes begging for idli or rice - each day to a different shop. They are both very weak, anaemic and Appall has ringworm and fungal infections all over his body.

We will give them a high protein diet, treat his fungal infections, do TB tests and get them onto ART again.

Another patient is a man of 53 who was recently diagnosed and was referred to us by the ART centre because he has stopped taking his ART as it made him feel sick, and he was suffering from leg pains ,fever.and anaemia.

We explained about the side effects of the strong drugs and that the symptoms would lessen over the next few weeks if  he increased his protein intake , took rest and had clean food and water.

The Christmas Party 2013

The Christmas Party

The Christmas Party was on the 21st December this year and for the first time it was not held at DMC House but at the new site known as Shanti Nivas. As Shanti means ‘peace‘ it was an appropriate venue, however, the reason for the change was because we now have too many children to hold the party in Vizianagaram. We had to cater for 200 children and guests. Not enough space for the children to run around and not enough space for the cooks to work their miracles.

Shanti Nivas is a very rural site two kilometres from the main Vizianagaram highway to Salur, 10 km from the Rainbow Boy's Home and DMC House. 20 km from Prem Nivas and 100km from Karina Nivas. There was, therefore, the added expense of taxi’s and trains to transport the children from our other homes, but this was, at the same time, exciting and novel for the children. The children arrived in time for the speeches by guests, who included the Vizianagaram Pastor, the Director of the Leprosy MissionVocational Training Centre and the government District HIV/Aids officer.

 Listening to opening speeches

Five and six year olds hung the gold decorations on the Christmas tree while the other children assembled under a large colourful open tent ‘shamiana’ for the opening proceedings..

Lunch for the little ones was in the dining room but the older children ate al fresco under the mango and cashew nut trees. The afternoon was taken up with giving out presents and new clothes to all the children, as well as a informal dancing to very loud speakers, playing on the swings, slides and playing games.

Snacks of samosas to keep them going!

Waiting for their presents!

Known here as "CHRISTMAS TATA'  or 'Christmas Grandfather'
 He jollies the proceedings and distributes sweets!

 

The evening entertainment included songs and dances and a nativity play , plus the cutting of the cake. The Indian tradition is putting the first piece in to a child's mouth and they do the same to you!

Krishnaveni and Keerti of Shanti Nivas do a little song and dance. They are wearing their new Christmas dresses.

Swathi, Satya, Jyothi and Suneetha perform a dance to a Christian hymn.

The Prem Nivas Nativity play.

Senior DMC girls dance beautifully to great applause from the children.

Silent Night was sung in Telugu and in English with older children holding candles.

Selected 'volunteers' given rosettes to perform important tasks

The tree

Preparing for Christmas 2012

December News 

Divali is now over and we are pleased to say that we didn’t have any mishaps or burnt fingers.

The Children have started preparations for Christmas

.

     The first priority was to get the children to make their Christmas cards. With 170 plus children to supervise this was no mean task! We then took new photos of the children to be printed and go in the cards. The children who are sponsored send to their ‘ aunties and uncles’ and the un-sponsored children’s cards are sent to all those good people who support Brighter Future by sending donations and by spreading the word about Brighter Future. If you have not received a card this year we apologise most sincerely. We admit that our database is not up to date. In these techno times most people communicate with us by email and consequently we may not have your most recent postal address. A few supporters have even changed name over the years.!

Prem Nivas Children get a Commission

We were greatly honoured to be given a commission by one of our stalwart supporters and sponsors in Nottingham. Mick ‘s wife, Diana, had the bright idea that they would like Brighter Future Children to make them some Christmas cards to send to their friends .

I emailed Mick some designs that the children had made the previous year and he chose one of them. The order was for 30 cards

a,

Mick offered to pay the postage, have the photo  printed in the UK and provide the envelopes. He has offered us £1 a card.

The cards were made at Prem Nivas, where I live with the HIV+ children. At first several children were involved but to save time we got a little production line going, with each child painting one colour.

The special gold stars ordered from England did not arrive on time so Mike will provide them too!

Jemima, Our New Volunteer

We were pleased to welcome Jemima to Brighter Future at the beginning of November. Jemima is taking a mini gap after her A level studies and decided to get some experiences before deciding which career path to follow next year.

Unfortunately her travels did not go smoothly and she had to spend hours waiting at the airport but Jemima coped very well and arrived safely in Visakhapatnam.

     Jemima has been to see the leprosy projects, the HIV homes and hospice and lived with the children at DMC House. She has been helping Victor in the office, collating the Rainbow children’s progress reports and making a start on that data-base!

"It's been a brilliant experience and really taught me about how these people live.They live such simple lives, and work extremely hard. Perhaps the most shocking lesson I learned was how much these people are discriminated against because of their condition, and their way of life before they were offered help from Brighter Future. I have learnt how young children and the elderly had no option but to beg on the streets, making less than a pound a day."

Another Brilliant Idea

Emily has donated £50 to Brighter Future as a Christmas present to her parents, Sonia and Richard Denny. 

Emily  has asked us to photograph Sonia’s sponsored child, Sanyasi, with what we buy for him and the organization.

Emily will present the photo to Sonia and Richard on Christmas day as her gift to them. Emily says that her parents will appreciate giving to BFIT as they were really impressed with their visit to Brighter Future last month.

Hari Made a Christmas Tree out of Twigs

Janaki fixed the electrical connections

Our Christmas Crib

The children made the peg figures and angels , the  older children arranged the background of stars, lights and angels

The youngest children made glittery discs to hang on the tree

All the children made peg doll figures

Hari, Janaki and Ramesh strung up the lights and angels

November 2012 Newsletter

Sanyasi meets his English sponsors

Sonia and Richard from Thurston, near Bury St Edmunds, combined a holiday on the miniature steam trains of India with a visit to see their sponsored child in Vizianagaram. They flew directly to Visakhapatnam from Delhi

They had chosen a hotel in Visag they were met at the airport by Victor’s son Richie and Sanyasi, the boy they have sponsored since 2007. and taken to their hotel.

The next morning Sonia and Richard came to meet Victor, and the children and staff of the Rainbow Boy’s Home and DMC House.  

They had brought small gifts for the children and Richard, being a keen cricketer himself, also bought new cricket bats for the boys.

A cricket match between children from Prem Nivas and the Rainbow home was the main event of the day. Augmented by some of the staff. Richard captained the ‘England’ team and Richie, the Indian. Kingfisher’s v Superkings’ !

The Shanti Nivas kitchen and dining room opening function

Sonia and Richard met the Hospice Patients

Sonia and Richard met Sanyasi’s HIV widowed mother who breaks stones for 10 hours a day in a quarry to educate her two elder sons

Divali is coming

 Sparklers not banned in India! 

The festival of lights, called Divali, (or Deepavali in some areas)  is on the 13th November this year. People light little oil lamps in windows or by doors, or these days candles and electric lights to show the goddess of wealth, Laxmi, the way into a house. It will then be blessed with prosperity. and the occupants will have freedom from problems. Saffron rice is eaten and people have new clothes. These may be the only new clothes that a poorer person has in the year. Christians and other religions also enjoy the trappings of Divali with fireworks lights and bonfires.
Thanks to C for funding the evening!

New dances learned

The Christmas Party;

All the children from our 5 homes come together a few days before Christmas for a special Party. This year we have 170 children to buy presents for, to make new clothes for, and to feed  with a very special meal. We can’t do all the cooking ourselves so we hire outside caterers to help us. We hire chairs and tables for the guests and older children. Mary, the Director’s wife, will choose the material for the new dresses, Punjabi suits, shirts and trousers and we pay for them to be made up by our senior tailoring ladies. Mary, shops for presents for each child and staff and senior girls from the Rainbow homes wrap them and label them. The children make cards for their sponsors and donors and decorate their homes with tinsel, tissue paper and lights.

New Christmas hymns are learnt and dances put together for the evening concert. Groups of children organize skits and sketches, and a nativity play rounds off the evening.
This year we are probably holding the party at Shanti Nivas,as it is now the only venue big enough to cope with the numbers. We will have to bus the children from the other homes, and that means bus fares, train fares, petrol and an extra  driver.
We have had two donations so far to help with this cost of the Christmas party but are hoping that more of our supporters can help us
with the expenses!

Bundles Of Love. It is also the time of year when we give the residents of our adopted leprosy colony, Bapuji, individual presents. These are usually clothes, as they can’t afford to get new clothes themselves.

All the other 4 colonies we provide medical and social care to, expect cash towards their Christmas/New Year celebrations too!




How did we do in October?
Children sponsored       0
St Marks   extra             £90
Kathryn and Mark          £225
Chislehurst Churches    £2000
Guy D Neeley         £50
Bourne Baptist Church extra £50
Mrs T and Mrs F                

---

Birthdays in November and December.
Rainbow and DMC House
Ch Jyothi 27.11.95, Bhasker R 15.11.96, Manohar A 27.11.04, Santosh D 27.11.2009, Rajasekar 13.11.09, SK Rani
8.12.02,  Nandini 13.12.02, B Rani 18.12.04,Venkatalaxmi  20.12.98 ,
Prem Nivas
Chinna Rao  8.11.00 Chinnam Naidu 9.12.02 Nagamani 10.12.03, Ashok 31.12.97

October Newsletter 2012

Jack Chappell, now aged 91, was the first on the list of people to thank

Victor's visit      

Victor, the Director of Brighter Future In India, wishes to thank all the supporters of Brighter Future for their hospitality, given so generously to him, during his visit to England. He has really enjoyed meeting the sponsors of the children in our homes and can now put a face to those aunties and uncles whom he has met up and down the country. I have Victor with me as I am writing this newsletter, so what better opportunity than to get him to write a few words...

My Thanks Giving visit to UK

I am heartily thankful to all the supporters of Brighter Future for their love and support they have shown me during my visit to them. It is a lifetime experience for me that I could come over UK and meet and explain about the children and leprosy and HIV work we do in India for almost 10 years.I am glad that I could meet some of the supporters and thank them for their continuous support.
I believe my visit to England has given a permanent relationships with all the supporters of Brighter Future. I will treasure all the wonderful love and compassion and good times and experiences that I had during my stay in England. Thank you so much.
Once again I would like to thank all Brighter Future supporters from bottom of my heart for your warm welcome and love that you have shown me during my visit which I will never forget in my life. Thank you so much.
Namaste

The London 10K and more events for you

Some of the 2012 10k  team

After the success of the London 10K, in which we mustered 40 runners,we have decided to get tickets for some other events, like the London Half Marathon, affectionately known as 'Run to the Beat'  organised by Nike.Our northern contingent might like to try the Great North Run which is another half marathon, or the Manchester Run.Having done the London 10k several times I am sure some of our regulars would like the challenge of a few more miles. The Great North Run starts in Newcastle.

Tickets for these events are now on sale and get snapped up, so be quick! Let us know if you would like to enter and we will buy the tickets if you guarantee to raise a goodly sum for Brighter Future.

Meanwhile, for those who live near Peterborough, there is a group of our sponsors who do regular short runs throughout the winter, as a prelude to longer events. Remember Glynn Paskin who did the marathon for us? Unfortunately there are no spare London Marathon tickets until 2022 but you could start training now I suppose!

We would also like to hear from members of sports and running clubs who would like to raise funds for Brighter Future Children, If you have any connections do explore them and let us know.

You are not restricted to running! There are swimming events. Katy did two swims for us on lake Windermere. What about cycling and mountain walking challenges? Solo or in a group, of friends or colleagues. The Pennine Way and other walks across the length and breadth of Britain could be part of a family holiday. Have you got a local mountain to climb? Ask friends to sponsor you or turn the whole event into a holiday.There is nothing like having fun, challenging yourself, getting fit and doing it all for our 160 children from leprosy, railway platform and HIV/AIDS backgrounds.

If you would like to do the London 10K, perhaps to better your time, we have tickets for the event which is on Sunday 14th July 2013.

Trying to rationalize our banking

Having recently been involved with the preparation of the accounts for the Charity Commission and the Inland Revenue it became obvious that as our total income last year exceeded 50,000 pounds we no longer get the freedom from Bank charges that we once had . We have to pay 69p for every cheque paid into the Brighter Future account. 

While most of our sponsorship income is paid by standing orders and direct debits we are, like many charities, sent cheques for special occasions and special events. If it would be possible to send those Birthday and Christmas extras, and the so very kind responses to appeals, by the internet, as cash over the counter, or some bank to bank method, we would be able to avoid the dreaded bank charges.  We have to pay 21.00 pounds to send money to India but this only happens every few months. Lloyds TSB have said that if we pay 26.00 pounds a month we would be exempt from bank charges but it is not worth a little charity like BFIT paying what amounts to 312.00 a year.

We are going to open account at another high street bank to transfer the funds to, so that we don't exceed the 50,000.00.Sponsors will not need to do anything.

Manya is in India again..

... for her usual five or six months visit. She lives with the HIV orphan children at Prem Nivas but also visits other projects, especially the Rainbow children and those concerned with HIV patients. 

It is amazing how much the children change in the six months that she is away from them. The children eagerly await news of their sponsors, thinking that she must know them all. This year Victor will be able to show photos to those whose sponsors he has met.

Manya is looking forward to seeing Thompson House and the Pickford Memorial Hospice at the Shanti Nivas site. Having designed the buildings and been a keen overseer until last March, she hopes to add a few homely touches to the buildings and grounds, with the help of the children. 

Soon it will be time for Divali, an important festival for children and adults alike. Coloured lights, fireworks, bonfires and special foods accompany this festival.

Christmas is prefaced with all kinds of activities and preparations: card making, the party and entertainment, New dances and hymns to be learned. It is a lovely time for the children and hard work for the staff.

Sue Davies

Sue after the 2011 run

Brighter Future in the UK, and in India, are very sad to report the death on 28th of September, of one of the most ardent supporters of our charity, Sue Davies.
Sue not only raised the profile among the members of the Cardiff Inner Wheel but also encouraged her friends to support Brighter Future.
Last year, at the age of 73, Sue ran the London 10K for us and raised well over 1500 .00 pounds. She ran the race again this July for Cancer Research accompanied by her son, Graham, who ran for Brighter Future.

I met Sue when we shared a room on a cycling tour of the Loire valley in France. Sue was a few years younger than me but when faced with hills we were always to be found at the back of the group, grinding gears or walking up the hills.sue spoke fluent French so we tail-enders were often to be found loitering, with Sue chatting to the locals.

Sue had four adopted children and five grandchildren. She trained as a teacher of the deaf  and recently helped blind holidaymakers, guiding them and helping them to 'see' through her descriptions of the places they visited.

Sue has sponsored many children around the world and visited many of them in their home countries.Sue was due to arrive at Prem Nivas last October when it was discovered that she was far from well and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. when i told Sue that one of our Prem Nivas was upset, because although she had a sponsor, she never heard from him, Sue became her surrogate auntie and wrote letters to her.

Sue was an inspiration to all who know her.

 Birthdays in November

Rainbow children

Jyothi 27.11.95, bhasker 15.11.96, Manohar A 27.11.04, santosh D 27.11.09, Rajsekhar 13.11.09

Prem Nivas

Chinna rao 8.11.98

How did we do in September?

Children sponsored          7

Sarah's cards                   170.00

St Marks Church            1222.00

Bourne Church                120.00

M & CC                          750.00

K & KB                           100.00

X                                        50.00

These sponsorship and donations are mostly the result of Victors charisma and people appreciating his genuine love for all in his care.

Contacts

Danny (Treasurer)      brighterfutureuk@sky.com 01233 612598  07731191858

Manya ( Chair)             pmanya.norris@gmail.com 

Charity commission reg, charity no 1110823