President says ‘it is a time for reflection’

In his Christmas message to the members, President Brian Harrison said that the year had been one of consolidation and for replenishing our depleted reserves. The two major projects, the hostels for the boys and girls had been completed apart from a few loose ends to be tidied up. It is a time for reflection.

Apart from the continuous stream of sponsorship money sustaining our ‘giving a child a choice’ scheme, members’ subscriptions and donations of all kinds, this past year has seen some significant fundraising. Highlights included:

  • The ‘Buy a Brick’ appeal launched at the District Rotary Confernce for the girl’s hostel was a great success;

  • The Christmas Appeal last year alone brought in some £2,500

  • Chairman Grant and Maggie Allan’s ‘high tea’ at The Stables in Alford was blessed with proper summer weather;

  • Sarah Keracher’s Leicester University student friends’ Beer Festival finished the girls’ hostel appeal they had kick-started for us the year earlier;

  • Sheila Munks organised a superb ‘Bollywood Night’ in Nottingham to take our charity into another county;

  • The Alford + Mablethorpe Rotary Book Stall sold an awful lot of well read ‘Mills + Boon’ at 10p each, mainly for us!

With many thanks to all concerned.

As always, there will be much for January’s visiting party to look into, principally the water supply problems at Sdetland.

News

Financial Aid

Helping Pandiaraj
Pandiaraj, a polio victim and wheelchair bound, from Sriviiiputhur, was originally supported by Lincs with India through the International Childrens’ Trust’s ‘home sponsorship scheme’. Now supported directly by us, he is studying for a degree in Electronic Communications at Anna University. He is about to start the second year of a 4-year course and we have provided £360 to cover his tuition fees for the year.

Chairs for the Girls
The girls are enjoying their schooling in the hostel – but they have to sit on the floor. While that is not uncommon in India, it doesn’t make it easy to write and to make notes! SDET hasn’t got the money to provide any chairs and following a request from Ignatius we have sent £200 to purchase 50 chairs.

Medical Nurse
Following the closure of the medical centre, Lincoln Colonia provided £500 to enable the nurse to be employed as matron to the sponsored children at Sdetland for a year.

Educational Tours
The annual programme used to include an educational tour for the sponsored children (split into senior & junior groups with adult accompaniment). This had to be dropped last year due to our lack of funds while we were meeting the challenges of building the girls hostel. However, due to the generosity of a member who donated £1,000 it has been possible to re-introduce the trips this year. The trips will take place before the children start their exams in February and we will report later on the where they went and what they did.

Water issues

Thumbayapuram
The second bore hole is working, but not very well and the monsoon rains are badly needed. There is maintenance work needed around the communal taps but the village is funding that itself. There are potential future problems as the water storage tank and its supports are in poor condition (they’ve been there for over 30 years). There is also a contamination risk from the village open drainage system. At the moment Ignatius is not looking for help but the position needs to be kept under review.

Stedland
Plans have been made to sink a second bore hole (close to the girls’ hostel) and it is hoped to plumb this supply directly to the girls’ hostel. The work is to commence at the end of January and initial funding has come from contributions of £850 from the Rotary Clubs of Skegness and Alford and Mablethorpe.