Victor and Mary's visit to the UK.

Victor and Mary arrived on 22nd August and spent the first few days acclimatising with his brother, Danny, and his family in Ashford, Kent.  It was Mary's first visit to the UK!

Selfies taken to send to the sponsored children in India.

Various meetings with trustees of  the Pickford Memorial Trust and Hearts for India Trust took place as these good people support the our Hospice for HIV children and adults, as well as our children's homes and leprosy projects whenever they can. Mary had a shopping date with Chris Copp of HFI as she was to cook a curry for their  trustees and guests. I heard that it was a splendid meal!  Victor gave a talk at a church in March and Chris ferried Mary and Victor over to my house in Bury St Edmunds on the evening of the bank holiday.

Photo taken for Sanyasi of his sponsor's grandchild.

Victor and Mary were able to meet some of the sponsors of children and student-fee sponsors who live in Suffolk, including his former physiotherapy teacher, Margaret,who now lives near Ipswich. It was a very informal gathering. They were pleased to meet individual sponsors as well as  Members of St Edmund's R C. Church's Ladies Club who have a joint sponsorship of one boy,  Many of the original sponsors of Prem Nivas children, the first HIV+ children's home which opened in October 2006, are my personal friends and relations, hence the Bury St Edmunds connection. Indeed Sonia and her husband, Richard, started by buying bricks and cement for the construction of the building months before we took any children!Some of these original sponsors are now sponsoring their second child!. Mary sold some copies of her cookery recipe book and Victor handed round recent photos and drawings done by their children.

The next day had been reserved for a visit to Cambridge. Rain was forecast for most of the day but Victor wanted to go rather than wait for the next days' forecast sun. A planned walk took in the usual colleges, the river. the backs, bridges, punts and churches.Victor chose a book in the Oxfam shop of 'Cambridge in Old Photosgraphs', as my gift for his new DMC House Library.
The next morning was sunny and they visited the Abbey Gardens, the Cathedral and did some shopping to buy warm jackets for wearing in the UK and gifts for family and friends in India.

The next stop was Peterborough and points north, including overnight stays and more talks as well as office days at The Leprosy Mission. They go west to Hereford, Somerset and Devon too.

Sadly Victor and Mary are not able to visit all  the sponsors and donors this time. They are, however, all remembered with grateful thanks for their support and loyalty to Brighter Future India.

Correction about Bourne and Hereford opportunities to meet Victor

Sorry my mistake !the Bourne meeting is at the Methodist Church Hall in Bourne
Abbey Road, PE10 9EF 10am to 4pm

The Hereford meeting is for TLM supporters only!

The New Building at DMC House

 A Happy Hundred Children and Young People 

The new building at DMC House is nearly completed. The building is the much needed new kitchen and dining room, with a second floor that provides space for studying and a computer room. 

The dining area is open plan but there is a large overhang from the rooms above.

Just before I left in March 2017 Victor asked me to mark out the new dimensions for him so that he could see what they would look like on the ground. Like many people he finds plans difficult to read. My training as a map maker came in handy as I found a length of wood and a piece of chalk to draw the kitchen and dining room sizes on the ground. This practical exercise reminded me of laying the rooms of the Thompson House buildings and the hospice on the ground with pieces of thin tree trunks and leading Victor through them saying 'this is the store room, this is the boys dormitory'  as we stepped from one space to the other.

The kitchen area waits for its ceramic floor tiles.

 The kitchen equipment has to be installed and the painting finished. The tiling is very colourful and courtesy of a friend of Victor's who has end of lines he is pleased to get rid of! 

Original tiling

Now all the children will have a roof over their heads at dinner time, with bonus of electric light and fans to sit under.

There are racks for the children's plates and utensils next to the entrance to the big kitchen.

Access to the upper room

A large open plan space on the upper floor

Upstairs the large open space is ideal for studying and doing homework, what ever the weather.

Victor had talked of a computer room and it has been built on top of the existing shops that front  DMC House.

The computer room above the shops

 Ready for tiling

 A very big thank you to the kind people who raised the funds for this much needed extension at DMC House. The children and the cooks will be delighted with their new found space.

College and degree students photos 2017

 The inter college students  and degree college students of 2017 are grouped according to their homes of residence.

All of this years Inter-college students and Degree students were invited to Vizianagaram 

Thompson House, Prem Nivas and Karuna Nivas ctudents

DMC and Rainbow students
boys:
N Ramesh, Ch Samson, D Sateesh, R Sandeep, M Sanyasi Naidu, V Shanker, B Timothy and G Basker
girls:
A Sujata, D Snehà, K Vasavi, D Uma, Y Kalyani, J Venkatalaxmi, S Rani, Mounika, D Kumari, G Hemalatha, K Rani and A Priyanka

Thompson House and Karuna Nivas students

Prem Nivas Inter students and degree student Sravani
Sampath ( 1st yr) ashok (2nd yr) Satyavarthi (1st yr) Sravani (degree student)

Jhansi celebrated her birthday with her friends at Prem Nivas.

Off to BIG school!

These  lovely children  are starting at the Government High School in this new Academic Year. 

Why is that such a momentous event?

Because they are children from Prem Nivas - the first of Brighter Future's homes for infected HIV/AIDS children. They are not the first children to go to High School but looking at them today I can remember how each one of them has blossomed during their years at Prem Nivas and we thank God that they are still alive and relatively healthy. 

Some of them hve an aunty or a grandparent still living. Others were brought to us by a dying sibling or parent and have no living relations. with clean water, clean nutritious food, anti-retroviral medication and a huge dose of love, they have survived. They are treated as 'normal' children and encouraged to be kind and helpful, to study well and value education so that they may lead independent lives in the future.

We wish them well on this first step into the outside world.

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.