Our expanded school nutrition program has just begun! As well as providing better nutrition to more children, we are providing a piece of fresh fruit every day for the children in the 8 primary schools we visit as well as 3 times a week for the children in the Rakkar Senior Secondary School.

The whole Nishtha staff attended the party held to celebrate Kummo Devi who has now retired after 18 years of dedicated work. Her remarkable strength and sense of justice enabled her to overcome her own problems in bringing up her young family as a single woman and relate with empathy to other single women experiencing social, legal and personal issues. We were happy to welcome her mother, brother and two devoted sons to the event and wish her a long, healthy and fulfilling retirement.

Due to an unexpected donation we have been able to replace our oldest car. Now we will be able to continue to drive our staff to outlying villages for our Health Education Camps. We are all very grateful for this gift!

The children are delighted with the new trampoline set up in the garden behind the community center. It is the very kind gift of one of our dear friends who stayed with us this spring. Its use is closely monitored by Vijay Bhadwaj who makes sure no more than 4 children use it at a time and everyone gets their turn. Even our special children have lots of fun bouncing on it!

Mohinder and Vijay took the opportunity to attend a two day conflict resolution and communication workshop organised by the Tibetan Centre for conflict Resolution at Norbu House in McLeod Ganj. They found it very useful and stimulating and came away with the line: be soft on the person but hard on the issue firmly engrained in their minds.

Two three day gender awareness trainings for adolescent boys sponsored by SMILE de were held in the Community Centre last week. Rahul our special trainer from Pune led the very intense and lively sessions. Our team put huge effort into mobilising the boys and making sure they were fed really well. They all look great in their Nishtha T shirts!

Dr Barbara explaining the benefits of ear acupuncture to villagers in our Outreach health education camp

Our single women activists met together in the community centre this week to complete their annual reporting of all the work they have done. We are proud of how they tour the villages advertising the Nishtha health education camps. They contact widows and other single women to join in local meetings in which they help women to apply for Government benefit schemes and to know their legal rights.

The cycles are cleaned and serviced and the children are out on the ground having a wonderful time learning to ride in preparation for our UK cycle group tour this coming November!

We rejoice in the pretty kainth (wild pear) and glorious flowering cherry that fill our fields with blossom, that some trees have survived the local winter sport of cutting down trees not regarded as useful with modern chainsaws. Our staff are busy plucking the plantain which also fills the fields before it too is removed by the farmers. Azad makes it into a wonderfully soothing cough linctus with bay leaf and natural brown sugar.