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JSR Children Go for Gold at Olympics and Bharti Learns to Sew
Janet Sheed Roberts Residential School and Skills Centre for Children with Special Needs, Ramnagar, Uttrakhand, funded by Women in Travel Retail (WiTR), World Duty Free Group and Delhi Duty Free: Our children at the JSR Residential School with its new Skills Centre continue to go from strength to strength. Recently, JSR athletes won 15 gold, 7 silver and 13 bronze medals in the Bharat Special Olympics. The children competed in various events such as the 25 and 50 metre wheelchair race, long jump and shot put. These are all children who would never have dreamed of achieving anything a year ago! Three students then went on to compete at the Indian National Special Olympics in Jaipur - many congratulations to Dishu who won gold in the 100 metres, Jitendra who won Silver in the 200 metres and to Anil who won a bronze medal in the 200 metres. We are very proud of you all.
Remember Bharti? Our lovely girl whose hands were blown off by dynamite (used to deter wild boar) whilst helping her father cut grass? Well she has learned to sew, as well as being an amazing artist and all-round student. Please watch this inspiring video of her at work in our successful new Skills Centre where children and villagers alike can now acquire numerous vocational skills. Bharti is such an inspiration that she recently encouraged two girls, formerly wheelchair-bound, to get up and walk, as shown in the picture above. Follow her story, and the achievements of others, at www.lotusflowertrust.org.
New legislation in India means that boys and girls must now be accommodated in separate buildings. This means that the Trust now needs to raise £42,000 to build a new accommodation block at JSR. If you can help us with fundraising in any way, please contact johnhuntnfo@lotusflowertrust.org or Donate now. Thank you!
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First Floor Makes Room for More at English Speaking School
International School for English Language, Ladakh, funded by TFWA Care and World Duty Free Group: Construction of the first floor of this groundbreaking project in Ladakh was completed in June this year, as the above picture shows. We are all thrilled with how amazing it looks, inside and out, thanks to funding from the World Duty Free Group. More importantly, the new floor provides accommodation for 80 students (girls upstairs, boys downstairs), equipped with beds funded by Virginie Cordero and her Women in Travel Retail (WiTR) friends in Florida. The upgrading of the kitchen and bathroom have also been funded by Sylvia Bairsto, Christine Mazy and Virginie from WiTR. Thanks to all our funders for making this project so successful. More than 1,000 students (so far) now have greater opportunities and wider-reaching prospects thanks to the training courses, career guidance and life-skills taught here.
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Two More Anganwadis and 8th Year for Winchester College!
Takmachik and Tangyar Anganwadis (Kindergartens) are now complete, providing more early years education and care for very young children while their parents labour in the fields. Lotus Flower Trust was asked by the Education Department of the Ladakh Hill Council to fund 30 such buildings, scattered across communities in remote areas of Ladakh, to reinforce the need for education in Ladakh from an early age. We have now funded 14 Anganwadis - only 16 to go! Please help us if you can. A team from Liverpool Life Sciences UTC, pictured above, who raised £10,000 for Takmachik Anganwadi, went out in July 2016 to dig its foundations and the project has since been completed. We have just received news that Tangyar Anganwadi, funded by staff from Sky and The Jephcott Trust, has also been constructed.
We would also like to say Thank You to Winchester College who have been raising funds for us for more than 8 years, helping to complete 5 projects - 2 of which are Anganwadis - which is an amazing achievement. This year's team began fundraising towards the target of £60,000 to build residential accommodation for the students of the Lamdon Jamyang School in Khalatse. A team of 30 boys went out to work on the project's foundations in June. Next year's team hopes to reach the target and go out to work on completing the building - we look forward to another exciting adventure in 2017.
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More Completed Projects and Updates to Announce...
By the end of this year, in Ladakh we will have also completed the Pagir Special Needs Centre, funded by CBD Charitable Trust, and Nalanda School Phase 2 Girls' Accommodation, funded by TFWA Care. In Uttrakhand, the Women's Refuge in Berinaag, funded by the ACT Foundation, is now finished, the JSR Skills Centre has been completed with equipment funded by Delhi Duty Free, and Lalitpur Primary and Middle School and Kalu Siddi Primary School have been completely refurbished using Lotus Flower Trust funds. Work has begun on the new extension at the Brahmaputra Home for Railway Children in Guwahati, Assam, funded by Women in Travel Retail (WiTR) and other generous duty free industry sponsors. New toilets, washing facilities and a number of new rooms have been created at Paravour Primary School, funded by staff from Sky, where a boundary wall is also being constructed. Huge thanks to all our funders for their continued generosity and support.
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Still More Projects in Need of Funding... Please Stay With Us in 2017!
As well as the additional accommodation needed at JSR (see above), we have several other projects in need of funding and many more waiting to be approved. We are currently raising funds for Nyoma Middle School Acccommodation on the Changthang Plain, a first floor extension at Ram Tirth Fanya Vidvalaya School in Dehradun, for much-needed kitchen and dining facilities for the Sakya Nunnery in Choglampsa, and of course 16 more Anganwadis for the pre-school children of Ladakh. Please visit our webpage for full details or Contact Us if you can help in any way. We are still looking for teachers to help at the JSR School (see above) - if anyone can volunteer their skills and time, do let us know! Meanwhile, we would like to thank everyone who continues to help us in our work. We wish you a happy Christmas and hope that with your help we can change more childrens' lives in 2017...
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To see more images, find out about projects, how to help or even join us on a life-changing trip to India, visit www.lotusflowertrust.org or email johnhuntnfo@lotusflowertrust.org
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