The Christmas Party photos that I promised you!

I have a confession to make! The day after the party I went on holiday!

As the years roll by I thought that I would like to take a holiday as, judging by the stiff joints and a variety of aches and pains, I may not be able to travel next year. I don't bother with insurance, it costs more than the holiday at my age, so I decided that I would just hop over to nearby Sri Lanka for a change of scene.  I had a lovely time exploring the old capitals of this Buddhist country and seeing interesting places, including a tropical rain forest. a mountain or two, a tea factory and a couple pf gardens.

Now I am back in Visianagaram and have been shown the photos of the Christmas party.

 The children loved every minute of it! A big thank you to all who sent donations towards the cost of this huge event which had to cater for over 300 children and guests, as well as provide new clothes and gifts for every child.  

The children and guests sat on chairs under a  sharmiyana tent in the shade and sang songs and hymns until the main guests had arrived. Bouquets were presented, speeches made and the Pastors explained the meaning of Christmas and its symbolism. The younger children decorated the tree. The buildings and tents were resplendent with fairy lights. Spotlights were erected, along with a speaker system, for the evening performances on the new stage.which had been built in less than a month.

 Lunch was cooked by caterers and the children were served by staff and senior children, as is the custom on special occassions.

The children arrived from DMC house and the Rainbow home,from Karuna Nivas and Prem Nivas soon after they had had their breakfasts. They came by Brighter Future vehicles, hired maxi cabs or by train. after playing on the sports field or on the swings and climbing frames. The older children were soon dancing to the latest songs flowing through the speakers. Guests arrived and lunch was cooking.The children took their places on the chairs arranged by senior children and little ones sang songs using the microphone  most professionally.

                                      Sunitha and Bhagya







Guests arrived  

The Christmas tree was decorated

Mr Chaudray escorts Mary and me

Victor introduced his father who made a lovely speech.

Mr Prasad's family sang carols

Priyanka,Varalaxmi and Uma did a dance

Lunch served

Housemother Rajeshwari and Vasavi

Ashok serves the  Prem Nivas girls




The lunch was followed by the gift giving. Gifts for children, for patients of the Hospice and for Brighter future staff.  Cards from Monkston school in Milton Keynes were shown to all the children and given to the Prem Nivas Primary children who had made and sent cards to them
The children received their new shirts, trousers and dresses. Red shirts for the boys, orange and green dresses for the young girls, with  shalwar suits for the  older girls.

The evening was devoted to skits and group performances of songs and dances These are mainly on video so I will ask for them tomorrow.

Getting ready for Christmas!

Plagued by no internet and not enough hours in the day! 

Prem Nivas children have been making cards to give to local people who donate lunches or towels and other items to the children to mark a family anniversary or birthday. the 4th and 5 class were let free to make 24 cards and they did very well. sorry I forgot to photograph them. meanwhile other children painted old paper cups to make decorations for our Christmas tree of lights. We got through 4 tubes of PVA glue today when the 4th and 5th year children showed the 1st, 2nd and 3rd  year Primary children how to fold streamers, while Durga and Nagaraju showed Sunita and Nagamani how to make more complicated cut our decorations. All have been stuck on doorways and in their rooms.

we have had birthdays too. This was Saradha's

All gather round to sing happy birthday and have some cake

Swathi Housemother with Saradha

Tomorrow is the big event of the year - The Christmas party! Much hairwashing, nail painting and  decorating hands with Mendhi by the girls! For the first time in my 20 years in India I have had a lovely design made on my hand and arm. Sravani was the artist!  

Sravani made a design on my arm 

A couple of boys have been to show me their shinny hair styles with a back-facing quiff.

Two vehicles are being hired to take the children to our Shanti Nivas site where the children from all of our homes and hostels will meet to celebrate the day, and well into the night. Dances songs and dramas have been rehearsed. Food will be prepared by outside caterers, music has been put on CD's and a new stage had been built near the Mothers' home. 

The mini Hospice tree

I found a very small Christmas tree the local village shop. The Primary school children have decorated it with coloured cut out pictures and put and angel on top - it is for the hospice patients. The original Tesco tree from 2008 will make another appearance and this year I have brought some more gold balls for it. 

Lots of pictures will be taken so do keep watching our blog for sponsors and donors.

Thank you for your support throughout the year and especially at Christmas time , Picnic time and when we need help sending children to college and university
A very happy Christmas to you and your families from the staff and children at Brighter Future India. 

I arrived in India last week

Unbeknown to me the Prime Minister, Mr Modi, had a surprise waiting for me.

I thought I would save my back and leave my big case at the airport left luggage while I spent one night at my usual Delhi city centre hotel. The counter staff told me that they would not accept 500 or 1000 rupees notes. but gave no explanation. Luckily I had small notes with me, left over from my last visit to Brighter Future, which I had intended using for the Airport Express train  and the auto rickshaw at the Delhi end of the line. I asked about the 'notes'  at a nearby cafe  found out that it was a snap decision, of only a few hours previously, by the Prime Minister. to withdraw all 1000 and 500  rupee notes from circulation,( £10 and £5) in an attempt to stop money laundering, hoarding  money, bribe paying and not paying income tax -  all generally referred to as Black Money.  

All ATM's were closed, banks were closed for two days and only a few airport ticket offices and the metro would accept the banned notes. No auto's, food vendors, cafe's, restaurants, hotels or money changers  would accept them . I managed to change 1000 after a wait at the station while they accumulated change from ticket sales to people with 100 or less. but was given a 500 as part of my change for the 60 rupee fare.

I decided that I could not afford to use my precious change on a rickshaw and remembered that if I walked through New Delhi  station, from platform 16 to platform 1, including crossing bridges and going through a scanning machine, I would be at the Pahargang side of Delhi, just a few hundred yards from my hotel. I was wearing a backpack and pulling a small wheeled case. Luckily I had paid for the hotel in advance so only had to use my debit card for meals.  I returned to the airport the next morning by the same route.

Victor met me at the Visakhapatnam airport and told me of the mayhem the banning had caused to traders and in paying wages. So many people do not have bank accounts and the banks would only change 4000 rupees per person, If you had more the money it had to be paid into a bank account.   We saw such big crowds outside banks, with the police trying to keep order,  that the rules are now changed  and one person can only change 2000rps.! Hands are marked with indelible ink to prevent the people returning on the same day. The papers reported small traders not being able to get stock and goods in markets rotting because no one had small change to buy them.The new 2000 rupee notes are being issued in this way.

 Pydi and Vidya painting

Meanwhile, I am staying at Prem Nivas, dividing my time between teaching in the Primary school, supervising some VTC boys repainting the playground furniture, with careful sanding, red oxide and then using the colours they have chosen.. 





We had to mend mosquito nets.

The High School children conveniently had a day off school yesterday for a Hindu festival, so some of them volunteered to make Christmas cards for Victor to send to his friends and people he has met on his world travels connected with leprosy work.

Jessie made angels.

It is still rather hot for November - we don't seem to have the winters that we had a few years ago -  I blame Global warming! 










The young children come to my room after school to play on the tablet, use the toy computer and  play with the speaking teddy bear. 

Vijay

Favourite toys

Peace comes at 7.30 when I'm brought my dinner and the children disappear to have theirs.At 9 o'clock I am brought hot milk. I put up my mosquito net and after a few chores I go to bed and read or do word puzzles. A large rat woke me at 2am last night!  I chased it with a stick and it returned from whence it came, up the roof beam and into the next room and out through the roof.

  

Time to Pin a Poppy or Two

The First World War officially ended at 11 a.m. on November 11^th 1918. The following year, as some traumatised  soldiers began making their way home through France and Belgium, they noticed the profusion of red poppies in the fields which had been their battlegrounds. It is known that poppies proliferate on ‘turned earth’. 

Returning American ex-servicemen decided to make the red poppy their emblem. They found a woman in France to make poppies to raise funds for children who had suffered because of the war and asked her to make more for them.

Meanwhile in Britain, soldiers returning from the grimness of war found that life at home was hard. Many of the soldiers were wounded, disabled, suffering from shell-shock or the effects of gas. Many were physically or mentally unable to work. State provision was inadequate and they did not get the hero’s welcome they had been led to expect. So the various ex-servicemen’s societies united together in 1921 to form the British Legion. It was to become one of the most successful British charities ever.

The French woman who was helping produce poppies for the Americans suggested to the British Legion that they might like to sell poppies in Britain for their cause. The Legion approved the idea and in 1921, 1.5 million poppies were made and sold. The British Legion then decided to set up its own poppy factory with ex-servicemen making up the workforce.

Thus the Remembrance Red Poppy became an established part of British life, and it is still an important part of the Services of Remembrance up and down the country on and around November 11^th each year.

In the meantime, back to the First World War. The Women’s Cooperative Guild (founded in 1883) declared in 1914 that “Civilised nations should never resort to the terrible and ineffectual method of war for the settlement of international disputes.” Most of them were wives, sweethearts, mothers and sisters of the men who had been killed and they embarked on a campaign for peace.

In 1933 they were searching for a symbol which could be worn by their members to show they were against war and were for non-violent conflict resolution.

The CWS came up with the idea of the White Poppy. These are becoming more and more popular every year and are often seen worn together with the Red Poppy.

Sadly, ever since the Great War, there has been war taking place somewhere in the world. We are made aware of these dreadful wars and their impact on innocent civilians every day in the media, and particularly focusing on Syria at the moment.

Wearing the White Poppy proclaims a desire to renew our commitment to work and pray for World Peace and to remember the true costs of war and conflict on everyone. The Red Poppy remembers veterans and the fallen and wounded from all past wars.

Wearing both poppies will show people you are thinking of the future as well as the past.

My daughter, Karen, has been busy over the summer making long-lasting, felt poppy brooches. They are embroidered and have a safety pin on the back. You can buy a Red poppy (£2.50), a White Poppy (£2.50) or a Dual Poppy (£4.00) brooch. 

These poppies held raise funds for Brighter Future to care for our children and adults with HIV and leprosy in India. We also give 50p from the sale of every poppy for the British Legion (last year we sold 73 Red Poppies and sent a cheque for £37 to the British Legion).

If you have a group of friends at work, church or elsewhere, we will be pleased to send you a selection of poppies ‘on account’ for you to sell to them.

Give me a call, or text on 07505 792915 or email me at pmanya.norris@gmail.com.

They actually make a pretty year-round decoration for a coat, jacket or hat!

A New Little Boy in the Hospice

Manoj is a 7 year old boy.  .He is an orphan who was born with HIV.because his mother had been infected by his father before Manoj was born.  
Both of his parents passed away due to full blown AIDS. His father was a daily wage earner. 
After his father died his mother took care of both of her sons by working as daily wage earner. Sadly she also passed away  8 months after  Manoj’s father.
After the death of both of his parents Manoj's elder brother took  responsibility for Manoj. 

Manoj frequently became ill with fevers, digestion disorders, colds and coughs. His brother took him to doctor saying that for some months he is not well. From blood tests Manoj was found to be HIV positive.

. Manoj’s brother was doing a small job and looked after his brother and himself. Unfortunately he has  lost his job and now it is very difficult for him to look after his little brother. Manoj's brother is still a teenager and cannot earn much money in any job. 



Manoj was started  on anti-retroviral treatment (ART)  as soon as his status was confirmed but he is 
very ill.

One of our Outreach Workers noticed Manoj at the ART centre in the Government Hospital and learned about his circumstances. He brought the matter to the Director of Brighter Future and with his brother's consent it was decided to admit Manoj immediately to our hospice for HIV children at Shanti Nivas.  

The word from India is that the  present condition of Manoj is very bad. "He is very skinny due to lack of nutrition, rest and proper care. He is very weak his present weight is only 15 kgs, His CD4 count is drastically decreased its only 190. He is now under observation and palliative care,"

 Manoj is receiving nutrition and medical support from Brighter Future. He needs a protein rich carefully balanced diet because his body cannot respond to the very strong ART drugs in its present severely malnourished condition.
In the pickford Memorial Hospice Manoj is receiving palliataive care,  but we hope and pray that he can recover enough to be able to respond to treatment.  . .  

The College Students