Devastating monsoon rains have caused damage all over Himachal Pradesh. A small bridge on the road above Nishtha was washed out by a flash flood causing great inconvenience to the local people. Fortunately we can approach the schools we provide extra nutrition to by car from another side but many daily workers including two of the women who work as Nishtha carers for special children have much further to walk every day.

Heavy rains have brought down masses of garbage in the village streams which can cause flooding if they are not cleared. Even in the pouring rain our staff at out there making sure the channels run smoothly and there is no damage to local hillsides and farmland.

Nishtha delivered another 100 blocks to a construction site in Palampur where they are being used as permanent floor filling. We are happy to have made another tiny step to save our local area from the deluge of plastic waste. Please everyone, segregate your waste!

We are delighted that local musician Rishi and dance teacher Vandhana have agreed to provide a music class for our students each Sunday. The students are all vey enthusiastic about this opportunity to learn in which they will learn local songs and dances with talented musicians. We are looking forward to a great performance in a few weeks time!

Shaksham celebrated his 7th birthday along with the other special children who came to spend the day at Nishtha on Saturday. He was delighted with his cake and present and everyone had a wonderful time playing with the colourful balloons and singing happy birthday.

It is the last week of the monsoon holidays and the kids are having a wonderful time – painting bottles with Rony in which to plant seeds, playing endless games and watching movies when the rain pours down. It has been lovely to have them with us all day every day and enjoying a variety of great lunches!

Nishtha Community Center provides a safe and creative space for kids to spend their after school hours and holidays. This monsoon holiday, despite the heavy rains, the kids were busy every afternoon for 15 days preparing English skits and dances. Most of the kids are first time English speakers, but that didn’t daunt them. They were keen to learn and worked very hard to master their lines, indeed they always went one step ahead to make each act even funnier. The dance was their favorite and they practiced it 2 or 3 times every day. Their efforts culminated in two wonderfully joyous shows and we hope to give another performance in the school at the beginning of the new term. We are very grateful to Puja Anand, Aloka and Manchanta for their hugely valuable and inspirational effort.

We are very pleased to have just completed 3 three-day trainings in Wenlido self-defense for a total of 53 young women, most of whom had attended our adolescent girls workshops last month. We have high hopes that they will now be empowered to steer their lives safely and with confidence and as positive influences on their families and communities.

Why throw away kitchen waste when you can so easily make great vermicompost for your garden? All you need is a drum of any size suitable for you, make holes in it, put some stones in the bottom and a hole with a pipe for drainage. Inserting a layer of mesh inside improves ventilation. Set the drum about 30cms off the ground in a shady place on your balcony or in your yard. Start by breaking up some sticks for the bottom. Add green waste, leaves etc. a bit of cow dung and then kitchen waste (without onion) in layers. Get a handful of red vermicompost worms from the Agricultural department or from Nishtha. The contents of the drum should be neither too wet or too dry and must be well-ventilated for the worms to thrive. Keep on adding kitchen waste, green material and occasionally cow dung in layers. Collect the extract that drains out and dilute it 1:10 parts water to use on your pot plants and watch them thrive!

We are delighted with our new dancing boy designed by our dear friend Veronica Leo. Here he is being screen printed in a very basic local studio and then Barbara is working with the Nayi Asha stitching ladies to set it as a pocket onto a folding backpack. These bags will be presented to the adolescent boys who attend our gender awareness workshops.