Sixteen determained cyclists set off from Chateau Gurli on the first leg of their challenging ride covering 500 Kms of Himachal Pradesh. Arriving in Kangra they had a great visit to Kangra Fort with its views up to the snow class Dhauladhar mountain range.

In preparation for Diwali, the festival of light, Severin, our Austrian volunteer organised a clay workshop in which the schoolchildren had a wonderful time making “diyas”, clay lamps and many other objects which will be fired and painted for the festival.

Ten of our sponsored students were given free passes to attend the Dharamsala International Film Festival on Saturday. they very much enjoyed watching “SYAAHI” “WATERBABY” and “TYSON”.

20-25 children from the local government school are attending Nishtha Tuition class every afternoon. Two young energetic teachers go through their Math and English school work, helping them understand and prepare for the school exams in March.

Congratulations to our sponsorship students who won second prize for their traditional dance performance in the Block Level competition yesterday.

No longer do the rats and mongooses raid the food and play things in Mohli village kindergarten! In response to urgent appeals from the staff, Nishtha repaired the window grills and screens to make the room safer and more hygienic for the children.

Luisa, one of our two new Austrian volunteers reports on the single women’s workshop on domestic violence and a workshop for teenage girls, both held in Nishtha community Centre.

Here are the links of two reports:
http://nishtha.ngo/pdf/Domestic-Violence-Workshop.pdf
http://nishtha.ngo/pdf/SOCH-Workshop.pdf

Wonderful to see Vijay Bhadwaj back in top top form teaching dance to our sponsorship students.

Arushi, Sanjoli and Priya spend the day in our community centre along with their carers. We are delighted that Sanjoli is enjoying her new wheelchair!