Dear friends, Life is made up of so many little things in our daily lives and often it is the small acts of love and caring that make our own and other people’s lives happy. A smile on the face, an encouraging word, a kind look, sharing what we have with those who don’t have... these are the things that make miracles happen in our lives. If we try to be someone who makes people happy, the reward is multiplied happiness in return. Keeping in mind the little we can do, we have done our utmost to put all your contributions to good use for the bread for the poor. The new orientation we gave to this work in 2003 is growing stronger and taking shape in this community of rural Indians. As we start a New Year, we want you to know that what you so generously share with these people will bear fruit and bring happiness to many. We wish you Happiness and Joy and the Best of Everything in the NEW YEAR !!! Marc Valentin, President

The construction of the school building started in the month of november and is in progress. We expect the building to be ready in march.

Construction of the School Building in progress...

A week after the laying of the foundation for St Anthony’s School at Duggawar village, a group of around 15 visited the Office of Fr. Borgia, the president of Gramin Manav Vikas Samithi (GMVS), which is the Indian counterpart of Anthny’s Charity Belgium. The group took the trouble to travel a long distance to meet Fr. Borgia, because they wanted to impress upon him that the labor force for the construction of the school building should consist of people of the villages around. Fr. Borgia gave them the assurance that the labor force would be recruited from among the local people... Fr. Borgia has other projects besides this one, fighting leprosy and tuberculosis. He stays in the city where he can supervise all his projects at once. The construction of the school building provides jobs for the people in the area, which has a very high unemployment rate. Generally the building contractors hire cheap laborers who come in from other states, and refuse to take workers from the locality. At the request of the villagers we negotiated with the architect and the contractor to make them hire people from the villages for the construction of the school building. The construction is now in progress. Except for he supervising engineer and the skilled masons, the rest of the labor force consists of people from the nearby villages. We expect the building will be completed by the end of March 2004.

Residence for the Teachers

Good teachers are the most important part of any good school, for proper education and personal growth of the children. Such teachers are not available in sufficient numbers in these villages, so we have to bring in good teachers from out side. Hardly anyone likes to come and work in the villages because they are so lacking in basic facilities. There is no decent accommodation for teaching personnel to be found in any of the villages, so we have to provide some well-equipped residential quarters for the teachers. Teachers for special subjects will have to come from distant places, and they may find it difficult to put up with extreme climatic conditions, with the lack of electricity and water etc. We intend to provide decent quarters with reasonable facilities for teachers and other staff members, so they can stay with the school long-term without having to look out for the first opportunity to leave because they can no longer stand the lack of such facilities... Residential teachers will be much needed for our village school, where a lot of the children will need special coaching outside school hours. We are going to put recruitment ads in the newspapers so we can start interviewing candidates during the month of January 2004.

We organize meetings for the villagers. Specialists come from outside to assist with consciousness-rising and they discuss different issues of interest to the villagers.

Some more activities we have undertaken

Rural India is yet steeped in social injustice: the caste system, superstitions and ignorance have kept India in the grip of inequality and poverty for centuries and may continue to do so for decades if not centuries to come. There is a constant increase in the divide between the rich and the poor. Corruption and violence seem to grow, disease and hunger kill the poor while the rich and the violent scrupulously and mercilessly exploit the poor. Education seems to be the sole means to give the power of knowledge to the poor, the power that would liberate them from the iron grip of superstition and ignorance. Creating awareness among the women and men though village meetings, organizing adult education programs for men and women, and non- formal education for school dropouts and youngsters who don’t go to school are some of the new efforts we are engaged in at present. The subjects of discussion during the village meetings include: the rights of women, health and hygiene, the importance of education, etc.

The villagers at work for the construction.

Parents have already started approaching us about admission for their children

As the school building begins to rise, the hope and expectations of the parents begin to show. Many parents approach us seeking admission for their children to the school. Though all parents, except perhaps a few, want their children to be educated, many do not know what the children will need in order to attend school and the expenses involved: tuition fees, books, uniforms and contingencies. These parents, and the many parents who do not even dare to approach the school because of social or economic reasons, need the help of people with the goodwill to help. There is a long way to go yet before our efforts bear fruits and benefit the poor children. But help them grow up into happy adults, we will. With your help.

Molly Sebastian,
Project manager