On a bright sunny Christmas Day over 230 children gathered on Rakkar ground to participate in the Nishtha annual sports program. Eighty eight children from 8 local primary schools were invited and transported down from the mountain to be able to attend. Organised by our team and students, the children competed in all kinds of races and games for which they were awarded medals at the end. Everyone got a healthy lunch, though 10 kg extra rice and Kurry had to be quickly cooked to make sure all the extra children were properly fed. At the finale, two groups of Gaddi dancers in full costume entertained the crowd and Nishtha Trustee Puja led the children in her now familiar line dances. It was a great day! Thank you Nishtha Team!

Our team have worked hard all week holding sports programs at each of the 8 local primary schools from which they have selected 88 children who will participate in the Winter sports festival on Rakkar Ground on Christmas day.

We have 28 children aged 6 to 16 from the local schools registered in our tuition program this year. An average of 12-16 come to the community centre each day to study together with the help of Indu and Manvi. When it comes to the tuition time, we get more girls than boys, but the moment there is a fun activity scheduled, the balance tips towards the boys!

This month the single women activists held three well attended meetings of women from the different areas in which they work. These block meetings offer women the opportunity to meet useful government officials to learn about the available schemes and to ask questions. The top concern raised is that elderly widows who have no other source of income find managing on a government pension of Rs.1,500 a month very difficult. It is very hard to imagine how they can possibly even feed themselves!

Thank you all who joined us on November 5th to celebrate 30 years of dedication and commitment to working in this community. It was a wonderful day, opened by the Dolma Ling Nuns’ prayers and our students very special welcome song. Dr Barbara fondly introduced all our staff and was equally fondly applauded by our special guests who included Jetsuma Tenzin Palmo.

Such joy to be able to get out the cycles once the skies had cleared!

So little time between the end of the rains and Diwali that cleaning and preparing has been a frenzy of activity engaging all our staff!

At last, the monsoon has retreated and we are able to re-start our delivery of fruits and nutrition to 523 children in 12 schools and 85 Anganwari children. Three small schools have been closed down and merged with another school which has better facilities. Our staff are pleased to be back into the routine of purchasing and delivering to all the children who are all very happy to see them!

Last Sunday our former student, Manish who is in his final year PhD in Economics from CDS Kerela, met the present group of students sponsored by Nishtha to share his story. He told them how he had recently spent two months as an intern in Finland as part of his research in International Trade and Environment. They all felt very encouraged by his visit.

Over the past two months, the farm team has put in tremendous effort to develop the farm, despite prolonged rainy days. The team dedicated themselves to cutting the grass, chopping it into small pieces and then mulching all the plants to protect them from the heavy rain washing all the soil from around them. Their dedication has brought visible results, with crops like ladyfinger, long beans, kidney beans, pumpkin, bitter gourd, turmeric, and ginger showing better-than-usual growth. Every Friday, Vijay and Ankush visit the farm with a chart to monitor and analyse the plant performance. The farm team has shown great enthusiasm for this process, maintaining detailed records in their diaries, which greatly aids in preparing reports and assessment for future planting.