JUNE 2013

·      Find Us On Facebook

·      The Mango Tree Pre-Primary Inauguration

·      Time For An Outing

·      Happy Holi

·      Optical Camp

·      Exam Success

·      Chimbel Project Update

·     Back to School Gallery

·      Giving Out School Supplies

·      Post Easter Fun Party

·      Art and Craft with Annu

As we started to prepare this newsletter we realised it was almost a year since we took the decision to form Mango Tree. We had high hopes but never imagined the progress we are reporting now. In this edition you will read that over 400 uniforms and filled school bags have been provided to the Mango House children, those at the Colva project and the local Dr Ambedkar school, that our new partner, Grace, has set up the Mango Tree funded project at Chimbel which will support about 170 children and that Mango House is supporting a similar number on a Monday to Friday basis.

We also received the best of news this quarter – the Mango House team had been granted permission to open the House as a pre-primary school and to hold tuition classes for school going children. Around 60/70 pre-primary children will attend and around 70 older children in the afternoon. Incredibly around 170 children are supported Monday to Friday which means it’s unlikely all those wanting a place at Mango House can be given one. Places will be filled by the youngest children first and those who can’t be given a place will still be provided with a meal and external tuition classes will be paid for if children want the additional support.

As ever we are mindful that without supporters nothing would be possible and we really do say thank you for being part of our team.

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

We recently set up a Facebook page to enable our supporters who use Facebook to follow our news and to share it with others. You can find our unique page at www.facebook.com/mangotreegoacharity

If you do use Facebook please visit our page and hit the Like button so you will automatically receive our news as it happens in future.

LIONS CLUB MILL HILL

A huge 'thank you' to the Lions Club Mill Hill or donating £1,000 to be spent on uniforms and bags for the Mango House children.

THE MANGO TREE PRE-PRIMARY INAUGURATION

It is with very great pleasure that Savita oversaw the inaugural function of the Pre-primary school at Mango House on the 10th of June. Mr Sudir Kandolkar, the Chairperson of Mapusa Municipal Council officially opened the school and later did the honours of giving out school bags to the children. The Mango Tree was represented by the trustees, a teacher and a parent. All gave a speech and it was especially nice to hear one child’s mother advising other parents about the value of schooling and to be sure to send their children to school regularly. Later, the students were provided with raincoats, uniforms and other items of school requirements. It was a very proud moment for all concerned.

See more photos of the day in our gallery here.

THE LIONS' DEN

We say thank you to Jaime, Betsy, Harriet, Alice and Alice who are 6th form students at Arnewood School. The recently entered a Dragon’s Den style challenge run by the New Milton Lions Club in a bid to win funds for Mango Tree Goa. We are pleased to say they walked away with a much appreciated £100.

CONGRATULATIONS SKYE

Congratulations and thank you to 9 year old Skye who after visiting Mango House wanted to help the children. She recently completed the Brighton Mini Mile and raised funds to buy 6 school bags for Mango Tree children. Well Done!

THANK YOU NAIYA

TIME FOR AN OUTING

During the long summer school holidays in Goa many of the children and their families head back to their villages but for the remaining children it was time for an outing. 34 children and the Mango House staff recently travelled to the edge of the Western Ghats in North East Goa. They took a picnic and visited a local farm which grows plants used in Ayurvedic products. The children had a special picnic and a great time playing in the water. When it was time to leave many of them asked "when can we come again"?!

HAPPY HOLI

Holi is a favourite festival in the Hindu calendar. It is also called the Spring Festival as it marks the arrival of spring the season of hope and joy. The gloom of the winter goes as Holi promises bright summer days.

The Mango Tree celebrated Holi with the children from Crossroads and Karaswada Slums. The staff distributed the colours and the children and staff took special delight in colouring one another and spraying colours with their pichkaris (water guns). It was a really fun day.

See our Holi Gallery set here.

OPTICAL CAMP AT MANGO HOUSE

An optical camp for 85 children was conducted at Mango House recently. Imagine if just one child who had a problem was identified and we could do something to help– it could change a child’s life. Thankfully no serious problems were found, but a small number of children do need further examinations which will take place shortly.

We say a huge thank you to John and Umarani for carrying out the camp and to Gill for introducing them to Mango Tree.

EXAM SUCCESS

One of the ways that we are able to measure the impact of the Charity’s work is to look at the number of children successfully answering their school exams. We were thrilled to learn that almost all Mango House children passed all papers at the first attempt. Two children have since resat one paper each. Sadly, one father took his children out of school before the exams. The children are expected to be readmitted into school at the start of term.

We were also delighted to hear that all 21 children at the Colva project successfully passed their exams with many of them doing very well indeed.

The results are outstanding by any measure and we congratulate the children and all of those involved in supporting them.

CHIMBEL PROJECT UPDATE

We are very excited to announce that the Chimbel project also went live on 10th June. We received the following report from our new partner the Grace Educational Trust:-

“There was such a large no. of children seeking admissions that we had to excuse ourselves and turn down some of the applicants due to space and staff constraints. On the last day the parents were called at 4 pm and were waiting up to 8 pm. I had to force them to go away. We had 400 forms for the admissions but we had to limit the number of students to whom we gave admissions. So now we have given admissions to 36 children in the pre-primary section and about 140 in the tuition classes. We are all set to start our school on the 10th June.”

We congratulate Grace on their determination to get the new project off the ground and look forward to reporting more about the inauguration in the next issue and on the website News page.

BACK TO SCHOOL GALLERY

Over the last couple of weeks well over 400 school bags and uniforms have been given out. It’s a lot of work for the Mango House team to coordinate the Bags4School and Back2School Schemes but the end result is that very many children have decent uniforms, school bags, stationery and an umberella which makes attending school much easier.

Bags and uniforms were given out to the Mango House school going and pre-primary children, the Colva children, all of the children at the local Dr Ambedkar school for disadvantaged children and a small number of other children in need of support.

We have put together a gallery that captures some activities over recent weeks. View it here.

GIVING OUT SCHOOL SUPPLIES - MANGO HOUSE

On the 3rd Savita invited over 100 school going Mango House children and a parent to attend Mango House. No-one was sure how parents would respond to the invitation but it was a very good turnout. Not only was it the occasion to give out school supplies but also for parents to see inside Mango House and to ask questions. It was a hugely successful day.

POST EASTER FUN PARTY

The Mango House children were treated to a post Easter fun party on 1st April courtesy of a local Zumba Fitness group. They got lots of treats and then did face painting, zumba dancing and had an Easter egg hunt. A special chicken biryani lunch and chocolates were also provided. As you can see It was a joyful afternoon.

CRAFT WITH ANNU

Although Mango Tree focuses on education it’s important that children have some recreational activities too. The Mango House children love taking part in craft activities and we are fortunate that our teaching assistant Annu loves teaching craft. She always manages to entertain the children and has recently made masks, flowers and various pictures too.