Eighteen of the students sponsored by Nishtha visited Aavishkar NGO along with Puja Anand and Vijay last week. Their purpose was to see the “Sajhe Sapne” program, a program running at Aaviskaar for educated girls to develop their skills and forge a future for themselves in management, program development or as Math teachers. Our students were warmly welcomed by the Sajhe Sapne team, who shared their stories of how they struggled to join this program.

Mohita, a young dentist who is involved in a research program on oral cancer has been joining our outreach team giving free dental check-ups. People in the more remote villages who have no immediate access to dentists are particularly happy to take up this free opportunity. It is a good reminder to talk about the importance of good oral hygiene and avoiding chewing tobacco.

We are delighted to welcome little Anku among the new batch of children who have just joined school this year and are now discovering our library and all the toys in our community centre. Anku is a child of special interest to Nishtha as we have been helping his mother take care of him in difficult circumstances since he was born. Its lovely to see how bright and healthy he is now!

Dr.Barbara welcomed Her Excellency the Austrian Ambassador and her husband when they visited our clinic and community centre last week. She was pleased to meet our Austrian civilian service volunteer who is doing a wonderful job on our organic farm. She talked with Ravindra about the girls training she was leading and to Vijay Bhadwaj who explained our machine which compresses plastic waste into building blocks. It was a mutually interesting and enjoyable visit.

What a fun group of girls from Rakkar school met for a three day workshop with our trainers Ravindra and Deepa! Though their excited voices frequently filled the air, they learned a great many valuable tips and tools with which to negotiate the difficulties faced by young modern village girls. This is the first of a series of empowerment workshops which will be held in our community centre this year.

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.