Toy Libraries for Assam

film night 2010

2010-11-12T05:18:00.000-08:00

Our film night in 2010 is 'Wild Target' with Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Rupert Grint.
Trak Cinema, Greenhill Rd. Near Burnside Village.
Sunday 14th November. Doors open 4pm with drinks and nibbles.
Film starts 4.30pm
$15 entry.

children and toys

2008-08-09T06:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of lovely photos from Parijat showing the children when they first received their boxes from the last shipment of toys we sent.

and one of them with the clothes made by the Ladies from the Edwardstown Lions

Thanks to the Principal of Parijat Academy, Uttam Teron for the photos, to Malaysian Airlines for sponsoring the passage of the toys from Adelaide to New Delhi, to the Government of Assam for arranging passage of the toys from Delhi to Assam and to all of our supporters for helping us make this possible.

Successful film night fundraiser

2008-06-05T04:58:00.000-07:00

The film night was a great success and we raised just over $1500 after we had paid for the theatre and refreshments. I think most of us enjoyed the film as well. We hope to do it later in the year as well.

We have also heard that the shipment of toys, art materials and children's clothes have arrived safely in Assam and will be distributed shortly to Dhemai, Parijat and orphanages.

Parijat Academy

2008-05-19T08:04:00.001-07:00

A photo sent to us by Parijat Academy of the textbooks we provided for the school. As you can see the children are just like children in Australia and very excited to have new texts or maybe not!

and the desks and benches we funded

Fundraiser

2008-05-11T00:30:00.001-07:00

We are holding a fundraiser on June 1 2008 at the Trak cinema showing "Then she found me" starring Helen Hunt, Colin Firth and Bette Midler. We will be providing light refreshments. Tickets $15. Contact, Jackie. Udoy, Rupali, Kate, Ramanathan or Raelene for tickets.

Update

2008-05-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

It is almost a year since I have posted on the blog but that does not mean we have not been busy during that time!.

We have been collecting toys for our second shipment which flew to Delhi last week courtesy of Malaysian Airlines. We sent nearly 30 boxes of second hand and new toys and art materials and we are very grateful to Malaysian Airlines for sponsoring the airlift component of the transport. This is a significant saving for us and means we can spend more money on supporting the projects in Assam. In Delhi the boxes will be taken through Government channels to Assam where we will arrange for the toys to be distributed. Some will go to the village of Dhemai but we also hope to set up a toy library in the village of Pamohi.

We have been supporting a school, Parijat Academy, in Pamohi by buying benches and tables and text books. The school started with 4 children and 2 desks and benches in 2003. There are now 192 students, 102 boys and 90 girls with 15 teachers. It is a secular school providing free education. The school draws children from nine villages Pamohi, Mahguapra, Deosutal, Garchuk, Mainakhorong, Dhalbama, Nowagaon, Garoghuli and Garbhanga. The subjects offered at the school are Assamese, Hindi, English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Environmental Studies, Moral Education, Drawing, Recitation, Music.

Pamohi is 15Kms from Guwahati, Assam's capital, and very close to the Deepor Beel wetland, where migratory birds can be seen. The area is prone to frequent flooding and it is difficult to grow crops in the area. Work in the area is mostly in woodcutting, labouring and supplementing the family income through the sale of rice beer. There is no health care facilities and the literacy rate is very low particularly among girls and women.

You can see more about Parijat Academy at http://www.parijatacademy.org/index.html

The two sewing machines -pedal powered but capable of doing embroidery - have been delivered to Dhemai so that the women there can use the cloth they weave to make clothes.

AGM

2007-05-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Our AGM will be on the 17th June at Kate's house in Tennyson at 6.30pm followed by a dinner hosted by Kate.

We are in the process of organising our next load of toys to go to Assam. We spent a Saturday afternoon recently sorting and packing toys. Some of the toy libraries in Adelaide donate the toys they discard. Many of them are still very good. Our toys have gone to Dhemai, and an orphanage and drop-in centre for street children in Guwahati. We hope to open more toy libraries later this year.

Some members of the Edwardstown Lions Club have been busy making very nice tops for the children using scraps of material. In addition we will be sending art materials, sports equipment (cricket equipment is very popular) and musical instruments and we will buy two pedal powered sewing machines for Dhemai. Rupali's mother has volunteered to hold sewing classes in the village.

Quiz Night Photos

2007-05-22T00:11:00.000-07:00

Setting up

Quiz night fundraiser

2007-05-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

We held the quiz night fundraiser on March 17th and with the help of some generous sponsors and 20+ tables of quizzers cleared $2100. All the money will go to supporting our efforts in Assam. Our only expenses were the hall hire, the cost of putting together the PowerPoint CD, a few prizes and balloons etc. Raelene made a beautiful quilt which was first prize in the raffle, Udoy and Rupali's neighbour made a decorated cake which was a table prize, we sold some weavings from Dhemai in the silent auction and Margaret Hess donated an auction item.

Our MC was John Kenneally from the ABC radio show the Bald Brothers who volunteered his time and effort both on the night and in putting together the questions. We are hoping to run a similar night in the Barossa Valley later in the year and John has volunteered again to do that.

Several members of the Edwardstown Lions club helped us set up for the evening and we were also helped out by several students from the Burnside Primary School who helped us in setting up and score keeping in the evening.

We'd like to thank our sponsors for the evening:
Oxfam
Charlesworth Nuts
The Cheesecake shop

SASCWA head office

2007-03-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

Our head office is an outside table at Zuma's cafe in the Central Market. This is where we hold all our committee meetings usually over a cup of coffee or breakfast on a Saturday morning. Rupali told us this week that the village of Dhemai has acquired a communal mobile phone the only means of telecommunication from the village. She says the phone travels from hand to hand. She calls occasionally to check things are going well with the toy library. When she first called the people answering the phone found it very hard to believe that she was calling all the way from Australia. More recently they have become more confident and the last time she called they asked if we could send some more art supplies. We are hoping to send some paints, crayons etc soon after the quiz night which takes place this weekend. We have been very pleased with the response and the generosity of several donors. I will list them and include some quiz night photos on the next blog.

Fundraising

2007-02-12T16:41:00.000-08:00

Although we have had a lot of in-kind support - see below - we do need some money to sustain the project. For example we pay two voluntary workers who catalogue, classify and shelve the toys and learning resources a monthly remuneration of $30 ($ 15 each) per month. The workers change each month. Also there are costs associated with moving the boxes from New Delhi to Dhemai. With the first shipment representatives from the local organisations travelled to Delhi to meet the shipment and take it back by train. In addition after discussions with local people we would like to fund some bednets for distribution and perhaps source some sewing machines and pay a local person to teach some of the women how to sew. At the moment local women make their own cloth on looms at the centre but it would be useful for them to be able to use this cloth to make clothes or items for sale.

All this costs money and we are holding a fundraiser - a quiz night - on the 17th March 2007 with John Kenneally, one of the Bald Brothers on ABC Radio as our MC.

Our supporters

2007-02-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

Initially we raised $1200 through donations and fundraising initiatives to cover establishment and incidental costs but many of the other expenses for the project have been covered by direct support from organisations and individuals:

•Around 700 toys and learning resources were acquired through donations from toy libraries in South Australia, schools such as Burnside School and individuals and welfare organisations like Lions Club of Edwardstown.

•STA Travel Trust gave us a grant to cover travel expenses for Rupali to travel to Assam

• Udoy negotiated with Malaysian airlines and DHL Courier service to carry the freight free of cost from Adelaide to New Delhi.

•Two local organisations in Assam (SPADE and Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development) worked together in developing and implementing an early childhood development project at the grass root level

A Healthy Village

2007-02-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

The Toy Library is functioning well and is proving a valuable resource for the school and for the children in Dhemai. At the request of the village, Rupali's parents, Bhuban and Meera Saikia donated a harmonium, a hand-pumped keyboard instrument (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonium) to the village. At the opening cermony of the toy library we noted that the children sang but there was no musical accompaniment so the harmonium will be a very welcome addition for village celebrations.

With the help of the the Edwardstown Rotary Club we were able to send T-shirts, baby blankets and caps in November. We are now investigating the most cost-effective way to provide bed nets for malaria prevention to people in the village.

Opening day

2006-10-30T02:45:00.000-08:00

Playing with baby

A dolly to play with.

Or some lego

Or a new bike

Enjoying the day.

Cabinets to hold the toys.

What is SASCWA

2006-09-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

During 2005 – 2006, a small group of South Australians (South Australian Supporting Children and Women in Assam) and two local organisations in Assam (SPADE and Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development) worked together in developing and implementing an early childhood development project at the grass roots level located in a village called Dhemai, situated in the North-eastern state of Assam, India.

In doing this through the generous support of South Australian people and a number of organisations we were able to:
• raise $1200 through donations and fundraising initiatives to cover establishment and incidental costs
• gather 700 toys and learning resources through donations from toy libraries in South Australia such as Unley Toy Library, Burnside Primary School and individuals and welfare organisations like Lions Club of Edwardstown.
• secure a travel grant from STA Travel Trust to cover travel expenses for one member to and from the project site.
• negotiate with Malaysian airlines and DHL Courier services to carry the freight free of cost from Adelaide to New Delhi

The Toy library in Dhemai was opened on the 15th July 2006. It will be maintained by volunteer workers who will be supported with a small stipend. We will be fundraising soon to support this. Since the toy library is the first of its kind in the North-eastern part of India, it is being looked upon as a model (this was demonstrated in the local media) and is attracting widespread interest from government and non government organisations providing services to children. The concept may therefore be picked up by those organisations at some time in future.