Rewari International (India)
The Good Shepherd School is reaching new heights!
This primary and nursery school was opened in 2009 under the direction of our partners Robin and Angeleena Masih, who work among the needy populations of the town of Rewari in northern India. The school offers quality education to 76 children from various backgrounds, including a marginalised gypsy community. Parents are cooperating favorably and speak positively about the school to those around them.
In order to accommodate children up to lower secondary level, work has begun on the construction of eight new classrooms on the first floor. The first brick was symbolically laid by Sarah Douik, a member of the Rewari cell-group in Belgium. The work really got underway on September 2nd. The walls and roof are now in place, and the new classrooms should be furnished and ready for lessons in time for the new school year in April 2012.
Considerable funds are still needed in order to finance this final phase of the construction. Follow the progress of the work, in pictures.
The children are waiting for the bus.
Will you buy them a ticket?
In recent months ten poor children have dropped out of the Good Shepherd School due to travel difficulties. Public transport facilities in Rewari are woefully lacking, and private services are unreliable, costly and often unsafe. There is an urgent need for a medium size 25-seater bus, so that the school can provide its own transport to children who come in from a distance.
The bus will cost 17,000 €. Different fund-raising efforts have been launched, notably the sale of symbolic « bus tickets » at varying rates: 2, 10 and 25 €. We will acknowledge each gift (made via our bank or PayPal account) by sending you the corresponding number of tickets. To have an indication of our progress toward the target figure, join us on a virtual bus trip from Brussels to Rewari. With 6,411 € already raised, we are now in southern Turkey, over a third of the way to our destination!
Ongoing help to the poor and needy
At present, the major part of the financial support received in Belgium is channelled into the family welfare programme. 200 children thus receive basic education, school equipment, respectable clothing and nutritional aid. Their parents are given practical training and encouragement in their daily struggle against poverty. A big thank you to all our sponsors!
During its first 12 months of service, the mobile dispensary has reached over 4600 people with free health care and appropriate training programmes. This precious little van gives the medical team direct access to the poorest areas of Rewari.
In January 2011, the dispensary team organised the distribution of blankets and mattresses in the slum districts around Rewari. This brought comfort to 288 families during the coldest period of the year.
In November, in cooperation with the Civil Hospital of Rewari, our partners launched a measles vaccination programme in the premises of the Good Shepherd School. 170 people - children and adults – benefitted.
Click on the pictures to enlarge them:
