Supporters Diminish Impact of Covid-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has made things exceedingly difficult for organizations such as ours. Understandably increased financial pressure on donors has meant a reduction in funds coming in to support work on the ground. However, we are so grateful to our incredible supporters who have continued their support despite these pressures.
Alumni Return “Home”
More and more of our past children (alumni) have been returning home to seek shelter during the lockdown. With no jobs/employment, they have no way of paying for rent/living. Thankfully everyone who has come “home” is getting involved and helping out around the place, which does help to offset some of the costs (for example we have to hire fewer labourers for the farm). The financial bind has also been reflected in the parents of our children, who have been unable to pay fees of late leaving a hole of some $60,000.00 accumulated since February 2020. We normally rely on these funds for payment of salaries/bills… etc but have decided to not put pressure on the parents for these dues.
Work Carries On
Somewhat inspired by the pandemic and the need to keep our campus secure from outside visitors, we have completed Stage 2 of our fencing project -installing a large chain link fence to secure our internal campus, hostels, orchard and workshop. Stage 3, which we hope to launch in Q1 of 2021 will involve fencing parts of our farm.
And the Children?
We are happy to report that our children are all safe and well. Despite high infection rates in India and our local community, our campus has remained virus-free. Our hostel children have all continued their education either online or with the assistance of in-house teachers. More than 650 children from the local community are participating in daily online classes through our school, unfortunately, due to financial pressures, only around 15% of those students are paying fees.
Don’t Miss the Video
We’d like to invite you to watch the accompanying video so as to get an idea of who we are and what our little community means in the life of those who live, work and study here. If you would like to join with us in developing the lives here and inspiring hope for the future just click on the donate button and follow the prompts.
