Scholarships Bal Mandir: junio 2012

lunes, 18 de junio de 2012

Panche

Life in Bal Mandir is hard for every child, but some are luckier than others.

I have just received the saddest news. Panche -who I liked to call Little Budha-

“will no longer be around us” this is what Kalpana, an orphan, a friend and a volunteer at Balmandir communicated to us.

Panche had growth development problems, therefore, he was very small but it was you yourself that felt small when you looked into his eyes.

During my last visit to Bal Mandir I witnessed a very special, funny, warm and magical scene.

Panche and Trilochana were chatting and laughing together heartedly. At one point they stood up and decided to play trains, Trilo was the engine and Panche, holding on to her waist, marched around one of Bal Mandir's patios. The scene wouldn't have been that unusual if it wasn't because Trilochana, apart from being a restless and wonderfully active child, is also blind.

And like this, throwing herself into the abiss which, at this particular moment, was the patio for her; confident and trusting, she drove this train that was carrying her and Panche through life.

At that time I could only look and admire Panche's wonderful smile, holding onto his friend's waist and every now and then looking out so that they could avoid any obstacles.

IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST VISIT ...

... there are a few things that you should know about our project before you carry on reading.

Jose Luis Gutierrez and Aurora Robledo, both graduates in Fine Arts, have been responsible for the co-operative development of a project involving two orphanages; one in Nepal (since 2006), the other in India (since 2005).

The orphanage in Nepal is known as Bal Mandir – The Children’s Palace. This enormous building houses a community of between 200 and 250 orphaned children who were previously living in situations of extreme poverty.

There are two aspects to this project:

Firstly, every year a group of volunteers travels to one of the orphanages and spends a month working with the children in a variety of artistic activities: painting, theatre, music, dance, etc. The aim of these workshops is to offer the orphans tools that will allow them to develop social and communicative skills, and enable them to express their emotions.

Secondly, a number of sponsorships have been created that allow these children to haven a basic education and standard of living while the are at the orphanage and then access to higher education, once they leave the orphanage at the age of 16.

The plan was presented to several Primary and Secondary Schools in Cantabria, as this was the province where Jose Luis started his teaching career. Since then, much interest has been shown in the project and many people have decided to collaborate, contributing to raising the standard of living of these children.

This is how the students from IES Valle del Saja, in Cabezon de la Sal, got involved and accepted the responsibility for sponsoring the education of Sudip Magar, a young orphan.

The amount of help that can be given in this way is slowly increasing, as every day more and more people are getting involved with the project. Thanks to this joint effort, there are currently 30 children and young people benefiting from sponsorship grants.

The different initiatives currently in progress are as follows:

.1. Solidarity days: at schools (like IES Valle del Saja and Foramontanos, both in Cabezon de la Sal) where the students have taken on the responsibility for sponsoring one of children from Bal Mandir.

2. The production and sale of a solidarity-calendar illustrated with images from Bal Mandir.

3. A handball tournament: all proceedings from which go to the project.

4. Upkeep and maintenance of this blog: giving information about the different aspects of the sponsorship, especially the financial side.

5. Ruta 6: a charity shop selling second-hand goods, housed in a private residence whose free use was donated by the owners Maestegui and Constucciones El Carmen – something invaluable in these times of severe economic crisis.

6. The ‘10 Euro Group’: so-called because the idea came from a group of friends who decided to unite their small financial efforts and sponsor as many of the children as was possible. Membership of this group is open to anybody.

7. Photographic exhibitions in Primary and Secondary Schools, and Cultural Centres that aim to increase general awareness of the project. Although open to the general public, they are especially directed towards children and young people. So now, you should carry on reading and find out what it is that we actually do in this virtual space!

If you would like to have more detailed information about what we do in Bal Mandir and India , you can visit Jose Luis' blog, “Sonrisas de colores”. If you’d like to share your opinions, we would be delighted to receive them.

Enjoy your day!

versión en español

lunes, 18 de junio de 2012

Panche