Voices of Himachal - A community magazine

We have recently embarked on a new project to publish a local magazine for tourists visiting the Kullu Valley with a view of promoting the work of local NGOs, voicing the views of local people and also to help those visiting the valley get a better idea of the life and culture of Himachal. We are working in conjunction with two other NGOs, the Himachal Pradesh Human Welfare Organisation and Maison Des Himalayas, a French organisation which has been working in the valley for many years.

We wanted to represent the views of local women and children in particular as these views are often not heard in the mainstream media. To encorporate these we ran workshops at two English medium schools in Manali and asked them to write about either education or environment. The following are the top five of these articles.

Education
Neelanishi Bhatnagar, Class X, Delhi Public School.
Education means to teach and train people mentally and morally. When we think of an educated person it conjures up an image of a smartly dressed, well-mannered and intelligent individual.

There was a time when countries could achieve economic success with cheap labour and low tech manufacturing. Low wages are still helpful but contemporary large scale development requires a sophisticated and at least partly a knowledge based economy. Making people literate is not the end of the road. Literacy not only means learning how to read, write and count but it should help people gain knowledge about our inherent values and a deep seated knowledge about the entire world. Only then will literacy lead to real education.

Education is not a preparation for life, education is life itself – John Deweyow.

Education opens new horizons, provides new aspirations, and develops values of life. The aim of education is knowledge not for facts but for values. It contributes towards growth of society, national income, cultural richness and increases the efficiency of governance. It helps them become aware of why they are deprived and helps them move towards change. Investment in human education yields a return just like investment in physical capital. Educated and better trained persons generate higher productivity resulting in higher income. Not only do the people gain themselves through higher income but society also gains in other indirect ways because the advantages of an educated population also spreads to those who were not directly educated.

A large population can be turned into a productive asset by spending resources on education, training of industrial workers and scientific resources. The government is taking steps to educate people through various educational schemes. For example, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (S.S.A.) is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010.

The empires of the futures are the empires of the mind – Winston Churchill

A child with investments made on education will definitely benefit from a high return in the future in the form of higher earnings and a greater contribution to society. Educated parents invest more heavily on the education of their children and this is because they have realized the importance of education for themselves. They are also more conscious of proper education and health along with nutrition and hygiene for their children. In contrast, disadvantage persons who are uneducated and lacking in all these qualities keep their children too in a similarly disadvantaged state.

Education promotes self respect of the individual. It results in better health awareness and care. It helps raise the status of women. It not only increases participation in the democratic process but also brings about an awareness of rights. It helps prevent exploitation and improves earnings. It gives individuals greater control over their own lives e.g. they ca write and read letters, sing, fill in forms etc. They are not easily befooled and hoodwinked by clever manipulating people. Education also promotes environmental awareness. Asrightly said by Sydney J. Harvies, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”

This we can say that education helps in the overall development of a state and its individuals. It helps in developing the individual’s personality and increasing their confidence and polishing their behaviour. Their communication skills improve. Not only this, education also enhances peoples dress sense and helps them learn now to carry themselves. They become aware of their role in society and their duties towards the betterment of the country. As Tony Blair has rightly said, “Ask me my true main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.”

Education
Pankhwu Bhatnagar, Class IV, Delhi Public School

“What does education often do? It makes a straight ditch out of a meandering brook” Henry David Thoreau

Education – the word itself tingles the mind. An educated population is an asset to the country. It yields better return results in both economic as well as mental growth of nation. This is because not only does the individual himself benefit through education but the population of a country as a whole benefits through him. Education opens up new horizons and provides new aspirations, researches and develops values in the mindset of people.

However, we must not confuse education with literacy. We must realize that being able to read and write is not education. Education is one which changes and exchanges our values along with increasing our knowledge about people and places. “Education is what survives when what has been learned, has been forgotten” B.F. Skinner.

But it is necessary to be literate in order to be educated. This can be achieved by developing primary, secondary and finally high level education centres. India has a very large education sector. There are a number of high education and research centres but very few of them impart good quality education. Education needs to encompass the overall development of mind and body of an individual. It develops communication skills, dressing skills and personality development skills etc.

The question that arises is how to impart literacy and education to every strata of society. In the past few years there has been tremendous increase in the number of educational institutions in India.

One of the major hindrances to education is widespread poverty in the country. Due to the high rate of reproduction it is difficult for people to educate their children. The government is trying to help by making primary and secondary education free. It is also distributing free midday meals. Moreover, since people are not educated themselves, they do not understand the value of education. It is necessary that we should not expect the government alone to do something. Literate and educated people should help out; spread awareness for education among the literate people and backwards areas. “Education is the movement from darkness to light”, Allan Bloom.

Thus we can say that education helps in the overall development of an individual personality. It makes him a self-confident, well-mannered personality. It makes him an asset to the society. His communication skills improve. The country as a whole benefits from his knowledge. Here is no limit to the heights a country can reach if its citizens are educated and knowledgeable.


Environment
Pallavi, Class X, Day Star School

“All things are connected with one another, and the bond is holy.”

Our natural environment is in close relationship with the living and non-living components. The living are the biotic components and the non-living are the a-biotic components. The activities done by biotic and a-biotic have some impact or the other on the natural environment. In this world of natural environment, everything is connected with each other. Every action that a human being or animal takes has an effect on one part of the environment, which in turn has another effect on another part. Even a small action on your part may have large consequences.

There are thousands of connections in nature. Of them some are vital for the survival and growth of all organization. Apart from food, organisms need water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon etc. Such substances continuously move through the environment in cycles. They move from the non-living components to the living organisms, which consume them. Them the substances move back to the non-living part and the cycle continues.

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”

Water is one of the most important elements on earth and is essential for the sustenance of life. It is the most vital connecting factor in the ecosystem. “Water is the most precious and highly vulnerable gift given to us by nature.”

Water is the most important element on earth, so people should not waste water and should not do such activities as deplete the water. We as humans should make the best use available water resources for human benefit, while not only preventing and controlling its depletion and degradation, but also developing it in view of the present and future needs. The most important aspect in water management is to treat water as an economic commodity to be used in the most profitable and satisfying manner. In the distribution of this economic good both equity and quality must be ensured.

“What would the world be, once bereft of wet and wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”

Forests play a very important role in the life and economy of a nation. Forest vegetation and its occupying soil organisms make up as much as 90 percent of the total biomass of land. Due to deforestation, the stability of many ecological sub-systems has been greatly disturbed. Once forest cover is damaged, severe soil erosion takes place disturbing the entire ecosystem.

As forests provide us with many useful things, we must learn how to conserve them. The increasing degradation of forests, especially in mountainous and hilly areas leads to heavy erosion of the topsoil, erratic rainfall and re-occurring floods. Due to this there is an acute shortage of firewood and loss of productivity due to eroded and degraded lands. The Forest Conservation Act 1980 has been enacted primarily to check indiscriminate deforestation of forest lands for non-forestry purposes.

It is important to provide for the needs of the community for firewood and fodder. Planting of trees will help reduce soil erosion, floods, landslides and most of all, it will help in the restoration of the ecological balance. Those areas that are prone to landslides, areas having steep and precipitous mountains slopes prone to soil erosion and important watershed areas should be identified as reserves. In such areas felling of trees or grazing should not be allowed.

“Man owes the fact of his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”

Soil is a complex mixture of weathered rock material and the product of decayed organic matter. It comprises both organic and inorganic substances present on the earth. Soil is developed by formation of humus layers, accumulation of calcium carbonate and cauterization in which silica is removed while iron and calcium remain. It is most important for us to be aware of the indispensability and the need for its proper management in the most sustained manner. Soil erosion can occur naturally, when the top soil is removed by agents like wind and water, or due to inappropriate human activities, by unsustainable agricultural practices, mining, deforestation, over-grazing and so on. Soil is said to be depleted when its productivity is reduced by over-cropping, siltation, leaching, over-grazing, salination and soil erosion.

By soil conservation we mean the restoration, improvement and maintenance of topsoil and soil fertility through various collective measures which include restoration of the soil fertility and stabilization of soil through methods that prevent erosion.

There are many ways by which our environment gets polluted. There are many types of pollution that we all face. Air pollution is the presence of unwanted particles in the ambient atmosphere, generally resulting from the activity of man, in sufficient concentration, present for sufficient time and under circumstances which interfere significantly with the comfort, health or welfare of persons or with full use or enjoyment of property. Air pollution is caused by natural sources and man-made sources. Natural sources include volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Man-made sources include transportation, industries, mining, open burning and many other activities which humans do.

Air pollution can affect our body parts, leading to breathing problems, like shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. Acute exposure to ozone leads to a reduction in lung function and breathing problems. It also causes irritation in the eyes, nose and throat and can cause severe headaches. Water is more vulnerable to pollution than air because it is not as free flowing and is also denser. Moreover, air is available in larger and more widespread quantities than water, that is why pollutants in the air are quickly dispersed by the wind. Every mistake we make shows up in our water in the form of toxic pollution, dead marine life and dried up streams.

Sources of water pollution are industrialized wastewater, street and agricultural run-off, sewage, industries with high organic lead, alkali manufacturing industries, petroleum processing industries, agriculture, mining operations, human and animal and chemical waste. Water pollution causes water borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, diarrhea and amoebic dysentery.

Soil pollution occurs due to physical and chemical changes that occur due to the presence of pollutants that render it unfit for productivity. Soil, when misused or mishandled, deteriorates in quality and results in depletion of nutrients.

Noise pollution may be defined as “any unwanted sound that causes annoyance, disturbance and prohibits concentration. Noise pollution is caused by industrial activities, mining, construction, urban environments, rural environments and transportation.

These are all the problems that humans have to suffer in this world. There are more problems that I did not mention here but these are the major problems. I, as a human, request all other humans not to be selfish and not to think about themselves, but to think about the present and future generations. Not to waste any kind of resources. To utilize whatever they have.

This article will tell you about many diseases that we can face. So, we need to overcome these types of problems so that the present and future generations can live happily, so please work upon this.

Environmental concerns
Tanvi Mehto, Class X, Day Star School

If all mankind were to disappear the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish the environment would collapse into chaos - Edward O. Wilson

Environment is the world which surrounds us, in which an organism lives. It is affected by physical and chemical factors as well as by organisms. The damage caused to the earth by human activities has been a major concern during the last fifity years.

The term pollution refers to the process of making air, water and soil dirty and harmful. Air pollution is the presence of unwanted particles in the ambient atmosphere of substances, generally resulting from the activity of man, sufficient in concentration, present for sufficient time and under circumstances which interfere significantly with the comfort, health or welfare of persons or with the full enjoyment of property.

There are two major sources of air pollution; man-made and natural. Natural sources consist of volcanic eruptions, forest fires, anaerobic decay processes.
The man-made sources consist of emissions of harmful smoke from airways, railways and vehicles. Poisonous gases liberated by major industrial units, industrial estates and medium industries. Pollution caused by thermal power plants, emission from domestic combustion units, chimneys and incinerators. Burning of coal and wastes. Dusts, soot and suspended particulate matles (S.P.M.) causes air pollution. Air pollution can be caused by building materials, micro-organisms, smoking and radon concentration. Other sources are mining and brick kilns.

Air pollution can adversely affect human health not only by direct inhalation but indirectly by other exposure routes through water, food and skin transfer. It affects the cardio-vascular systems, causes diseases like asthma, bronchitis, allergies, lung disease and heart disease. SPM concentrations cause increased mortality, morbidity, pulmonary malfunctioning with increased concentrations of substances. Abatement of air pollution includes control technologies. This involves modifying the fuel as combustion technique or removing pollutants from the fuel gases. Pre-combustion techniques involve the case of low pollutant fuels. To destroy pollution from the point of source the most important abatement is to educate people.

Water is more vulnerable to pollution than air because it is not as free flowing and is also denser. Unwanted particles in the water are called water pollution. The sources of water pollution are industrial wastewater, street or agricultural run-off, sewage, industries with high organic load, agriculture, mining operations, human and animal waste and chemical waste. Sewage wastes include organic and inorganic compounds. Industrial effluents having high organic load with high B.O.D. values cause depletion of the fish population in rivers. The other sources are water from oil refineries and steel industries. Water pollution causes many diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, diarrhea, amoebic dysentery and malaria to name a few.

Water pollution causes many illnesses in sea creatures. The leakage of toxic pollutants into the water leads to the death of sea creatures. This can cause diseases in human being when they consume the fish. Abatement of water pollution includes good technologies. The industries should be built far away from the cities. Emissions should be stopped at the point of source. The people should be educated, there should not be any oil spillage.

Soil pollution refers to the pollution caused by other pollution, i.e. water pollution, air pollution, radioactive pollution etc. The sources of soil pollution are polluted water and dumping waste. Substances which are biodegradable in nature, such as food scraps, wastes from food processing industries, human and animal excretions, slurry, organic hospital wastes and farm and poultry waste. Monomers used in polymer manufacture, heavy metals like lead, copper and arsenic cause bioaccumulation in plants and enter food chains. Lead affects the brain and nervous system in children and interfered with the development and maturation of red blood cells. Abatement of pollution can be started by farmers not using chemical fertilizers.

This article has talked about the different types of pollution, their sources, their effects and abatement. I’d like to say that in developing countries, due to lack of finances, awareness and technical know how, abatement of pollution will have to involve international help to overcome the mounting pollution levels. We need to overcome these problems so that our future generations will not have any problems.

Save your Surroundings
Tenzin Youdom, Class X, Day Star School

There is a bond between nature and human beings and this is such that if it breaks, there will be no life on this planet. We have to maintain this bond if we wish to survive. Nature herself tries to keep this balance by providing by providing various species of plants and animals which depend on each other and which are necessary for their survival.

But what did man do to keep this balance? In order to satisfy his greed he not only destroyed this balance but also endangered human life. Man has been exploiting the land and its resources. He has been clearing forest lands for agriculture. However, over the years agriculture practices have undergone a great change, which is creating an adverse effect on the planet. The demands of growing population for recreational activities, transportation and economic activities have added pressure on the land-use pattern.

In order to meet the demand for land, natural lands are being converted to other land-use patterns, resulting in destruction of land cover. Man is being so selfish that they only want to fulfill their demands, whether it results in the destruction of resources for future generations.

But today the problem is not that of resources but that of excessive exploitation of natural resources causing an imbalance which is not a good sign.

The adverse effects of this imbalance are already showing their presence. Global warming is one of the chief results of this environmental imbalance. The rapid increase in temperature results in the melting of ice and reduction of glaziers causing loss of life’s property, loss of vegetation etc.

People are interfering with nature in the name of development which had in fact brought more problems than doing good. Frequent floods, landslides, wasting away of agricultural land are the few problems which are easily seen. Besides, the damage to flora and fauna is not measurable.

The solution for these all mentioned problems is to preserve and protect the environment and put all your efforts into protecting it. If you are cutting down trees put five trees in for every one removed. Keep your environment clean. Use the land in a good way. Forests give us many things like medicines, fruits, shelter, habitation etc. and we are not aware of the real necessity of the environment which will not be good for human life in the future.

So, save the earth for your own sake

Our very own photographer

We've been incredibly lucky to have had Ana Grillo, an American photographer working with us on the project. Having met up with one of our volunteers, Katherine, in Southern India she was looking for opportunities to use her photography skills with worthy projects in India.

During the four weeks she was here Ana worked ceaselessly to meet all our demands. She took photos of all the children at Sudershana's orphanage from morning til night to compile a day in the life photo documentary series to present to our sponsors. In addition to taking photos for all the articles featuring in the magazine we are currently compiling she also performed miracles turning my holiday snaps into professional looking photographs. We now have an extensive collection of photos of all our work and also life in Manali which will be invaluable as we develop our website and move the project forward.

The kids absolutely loved having her around and all became budding photographers for the duration of her stay. They were over the moon when we took a slide show of all their pictures and Ana's to show them. We're incredibly grateful for all her hard work.

Ana is planning to stay in India for some time and continue her cause to help small grass roots NGOs like ours develop their resources and we wish her every success in her this task.

More of Ana's work can be seen on her website http://web.mac.com/anndgrillo/Site/Welcome.html

Kailash Bodhi School

Lynn and Kevan have been working for the last two months for two afternoons a week in Kailash Bodhi School in Rangri. This is a Buddhist school that teaches children of Tibetan and Nepali origin, most of their parents work as stone cutters in the area and their life expectancy is in the early forties (see the profile for more information). We took two classes together, giving us seventeen children with ages between nine and fourteen for English and Art. The level of English was quite varied within this age so we began with correcting common mistakes in speaking English as a foreign language through games, quizzes and grammar exercises. After this, classes had to be tailored to suit the mixed abilities to keep all kids interested and stimulated.

The kids here are full of energy and enthusiasm for learning and it’s been a pleasure to teach them. As most art lessons in India seem to consist of copying pictures from books, we decided to try and make it more inspiring for them to try and bring out their creativity. They really enjoyed sessions like mask making, illustrating stories and creating their own comic strips during this time. The final session with them consisted of a team competition with everything from pin the tail on a donkey to testing their English and was equally as fun for us as it was for them! Next year most of the older children will go onto class VI in other schools if their parents can afford the tuition. The KEF (Kullu Education Fund) hopes to sponsor two children a year to carry on their education to a higher level if they would otherwise be sent to work by their parents to earn money for the family. It is very important these kids get the opportunity to continue in education to increase their opportunities for their futures..

Burning plastic is drastic

To say that India has a problem with rubbish would be a massive understatement. Common practice dictates that once your bin is full you can take it out and throw it in the nearest water course, down a bank or for a bit of variety wait until a big pile has built up then set fire to it. It is such a shame that so many areas of outstanding natural beauty are tarnished by the huge amounts of litter when it is such an easily avoidable problem. Of greater concern however, are the health issues raised by having such large piles of rubbish for dogs and children to frollick in and the pollution to streams and river which people bath in and sometimes drink from.

To raise awareness of this issue we ran a series of workshops with the children from Mrs Sudershana’s orphanage in conjunction with Delhi Public School's Environment Club. During the first session we took the children out to pick up litter in one of the Nature Parks near to the school. We filled bags to take to the refuse collection point and saved all the clothes and shoes. The second session involved using the shoes and clothes to make a scarecrow and the children painted banners which we displayed around the local tourist sites to promote environmentally friendly practice and encourage them to take their litter away with them.

Despite some of the children looking at us like we were insane when we told them what we had planned, they all got really involved in the project managed to remove twenty large sacks of litter out of the park and had lots of fun getting messy with paint to make the banners. The Environment Club has done lots of good work and has plans to petition the local government to put more facilities in place for waste management and recycling.

Aborigine funday

Last week, we organised a day with an orphanage that the project has worked a lot with with since its beginning in 2002. Seventeen children between the ages of six and sixteen took part from the Vashist orphanage in this session that took place in the main park in Manali during their holidays. We wanted to give the children an active and fun day, increasing cultural awareness in a stimulating and creative way. As the level of English is very mixed, we chose to use the visual Aboriginal symbols with simple English to encourage all the children.

Session structure

Intro-brainstorm Australia; animals, climate, sports, people etc.
Brief history of Aborigines and their use of symbols. Flash cards were used- the children guessed what the different symbols meant.
Quiz- Prepared sheets (in resources) were given to groups and they had to match the symbol with what they thought it represented. Peer marked by other groups.
Hunt- In advance cards with symbols drawn on were hidden in the forest, under rocks, in trees etc. Groups were sent out to find as many as possible then re-grouped to judge.
Making symbols- We then spent some time with our groups creating symbols learnt from collected stones in a guessing game and suggesting objects for them to try and represent with the stones.
Art- Contrasting colours and shapes of dhal can be used to make representations of the symbols by generously gluing (use PVA) to pieces of cardboard collected from old boxes etc. Alternatively, you can just draw a selection of the symbols on templates of boomerangs depending on level of drawing or materials.

The kids and all of us enjoyed the day greatly, we wore ourselves out and we felt it was a very productive session; we definitely earned our ice creams!

Photo's from around Manali

The scenery around Manali is absolutely fantastic. Every way you look there are towering snow-capped mountains and it really is a hiker's paradise. We have managed to find house to rent right at the top of Old Manali so are getting a good workout every day getting to and from work. The town itself is incredibly touristy and the New Manali skyline is dominated by neon hotel signs. Everywhere is still pretty quiet at the moment but in about a month Indian and foreign tourists will descend on the area in abundance. However, we are still enjoyinh the peace and quiet and below are some of the beatiful sights we see every day for your perusal.

Old Manali Village

The view from our porch

Solang Valley

Sunset seen from New Manali

Who we are working with

Mrs Sudershana’s Orphanage, Manali
This orphanage has recently expanded and there are several ways in which the project can get involved to help.

The main orphanage houses seventeen children aged from two to sixteen years old. A previous Project volunteer is sponsoring nine of the children to attend a local private school where they are all doing incredibly well. We are working with then in the evening doing a homework club to help them with English, maths and science as well as doing life-skills workshops on a Saturday and in holidays.

In addition local street children attend the orphanage during the day for food and some education. These children do not go to school as they have to go around collecting plastic and other recyclable rubbish from the streets to sell and make money for their families. We are planning to work with these children during the day to help them with English and do arts and craft workshops.


In the last week eight boys aged seventeen and eighteen have arrived in Manali from another orphanage in Shimla to receive vocational training. Mrs Sudershana is co-ordinating their education, helping them to find work placements and managing their accommodation. We are going to run English classes for these boys incorporating life skills activities and take them for sporting activities.

Vashist Orphanage, Vashist, Manali
This orphanage was one of the original institutions supported by the Kullu Project and is a wonderful success story thanks to the efforts of the manager Mrs Nervada and the support they receive from locals and international sponsors. They were originally in a very poor position but have developed over the years to become a very well managed, structured and efficient organisation. There are twenty children at the orphanage aged between seven and eighteen all attending either government or private schools.

Outside of school they have a yoga teacher attending the school daily in the morning and a science and maths tutor attends for an hour every evening. The orphanage is now well facilitated with a television, video player, DVD player, computer (no internet), music, some outdoor space, books, games and sports equipment.

Kailash Bodhi, Rangri, Manali
This Private English Medium School is mostly attended by the children of immigrant labourers from Nepal or Tibet as there is no provision for free education for this group. The school has ninety-six children aged between four to thirteen years, five teachers and four additional staff members. The school has some use of the government land on the other side of the highway for sports activities but is not able to run any additional out of school activities. Previous Kullu project volunteers have done mostly arts and games with some English Teaching. This year the school has asked us for arts, games, English grammar, letter exchange, inter school activities, books and any funding to get their new school built (they are struggling greatly financially).

At the beginning of March the Kailash Bodhi School was evicted from their rented accommodation as a hotel chain had bought the land. On the small compensation they received they are currently renting a four bedroom house for 3,400 rupees (₤43) per month. They had just started laying foundations for a new building (again on rented land as Mr Phuntsok is Tibetan and cannot buy land) when a land possession dispute broke out. They are awaiting the conclusions of the case which begins on the 27th March. The cost of the new build is estimated at 800,000 rupees (₤10,127) and will be guaranteed for ten years. The Kullu Project is also trying to sponsor two or three students each year to continue into higher education although this is sometimes met with opposition from the children’s parents as continuing at school leads to a loss of potential income to these poor families.

Himilayan Budhist Cultural School, Rangri, Manali
This boarding school currently has two-hundred and forty students from all around the local valleys but is planning to expand again in the near future moving to a new site next year with facilities for five-hundred children. The school is well supported by its parent institution, a Buddhist group from Delhi, and also received some international financial help. The children have access to television, DVDs (Sunday showings of cultural films and cartoons), cricket and others sports, four computers (no internet at present), a cassette player/ recorder, a CD player and access to the school yard.

The main activities we are hoping to run with them this year are inter-school activities with the neighbouring Kailash Bodhi School.

The Blind School, Kullu
The Blind School in Kullu is associated with the National Association for the Blind and is one of three blind schools in Himachal Pradesh. The school has three teachers working with thirty-five children across seven age groups. There is no space to appropriately split the classes which makes teaching difficult. The only play space available for the children is on the roof, is not very big and inevitably presents safety concerns. The school has many structural gaps in the timetable where the children are present at school but are not doing anything constructive, especially for the children who board at the school.

They currently have one western volunteer helping out as a teacher for the younger children. She has identified poor concentration and lack of response to teachers as issues affecting the children. There is also a need for functional education for the older children to help them prepare for independence once leaving school. A new school is currently under construction outside the town. This will provide for the children at the Blind School and also for other disabled children within the valley. There will also be a program of functional education especially for housebound children and there families. This scheme and the current school would both benefit from extra funding and long-term volunteers.

Sarswati Bal Balika Purnavs Trust (SBBP), Kullu
This relatively new orphanage houses eleven children aged four to fourteen. They live in two rooms with one toilet/bathroom. The orphanage is funded through pledges from the local shop owners in Kullu of 50 or 100 rupees a month but they still have very limited facilities. They all attend local government school in Kullu. Although we are mainly based in Manali this time, we plan to try and go to Kullu once a week in order to run workshops with these children and help get them extra facilities for arts, creative and sports activities.

This orphanage would certainly benefit from long-term funding to provide facilities and long-term volunteers to help the children develop necessary life skills.

Bal Ashram, Kalehli, Kullu
This orphanage houses thirty-two children aged six to eighteen. The children all attend the local government school. The Kullu project previously worked with this orphanage when it was based in the town of Jibhi, but has now moved back to Kullu. Situated right on the side of a busy main road the children have little access to outdoor play areas although they have a limited supply of indoor games and a television. The orphanage is funded by local child welfare societies and receives a small amount of funding from local businesses.

Again we are hoping to run weekly activity sessions with this orphanage when we visit Kullu to help these children gain access to outdoor play and creative activities.

Naya Sawera, Drug and Alcohol Addiction Re-Habilitation Centre, Kullu
This centre is currently working with 38 addicts aged between ten and sixty-five years old. Most patients stay for six to seven months but some inevitably return when they have relapses. Around 90% are non- consenting admissions and are brought by family members. The centre is managed by a very dedicated team who work very hard to help straighten out the addicts under their care. Several are themselves ex-addicts and are very committed to putting the international Narcotics Anonymous re-habilitation program into action.

We hope that we will be able to help this centre either through funding or running team and confidence building activities with the patients.