Great exam results for street children in India

New Dawn India, a local Christian charity based in Capel St Mary near Ipswich, has been running a centre for street children in the Madurai slums, India, since 1990. In addition to the Street Children Programme, they operate a Shelter Home, a school and a tailoring centre. 

 

This July they have some really good news of 10th (GCSE) and 12th (A-level) standard successes at Vidiyal.

 

Local team leader, Jim Jesudoss, writes “I have happy news to share with you which will definitely cheer your day. The results of 10th standard 2011 have been published and our children (10 of them) have passed in all subjects. This has made my day since we could see more fruits in recent times.

 

Of the 10 children, 5 were girls, which is an achievement in itself. 5 students, 4 boys and 1 girl have passed their 12th standard exams and will be moving on to college or university.

It is estimated that there are 30,000 children living rough on the streets or in the slums of the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, South India. They survive by rag picking, begging and scavenging in sewers which run right past their homes. The caste system keeps these families in poverty. 

NewDawn India exists to provide support for the Vidiyal Project, run by Jim Jesudoss and his dedicated team, which works towards the relief of poverty in the Madurai slums. ‘Vidiyal’ means a new dawn or new beginning, and new hope

The founder of New Dawn India, Neville Cooper, who is a member of Capel St Mary Methodist church, writes about the current financial needs. “The last couple of years have been difficult ones for the Trust for three basic reasons. Firstly, the current economic climate has restricted many people’s charitable giving for understandable reasons. Secondly, Vidiyal’s costs in India increased by 13% last year, most of which represents India’s relatively high inflation rate. The third blow, again due to the international economic problems, is that the exchange rate between our countries has fallen from over 80 rupees to 70 rupees to the pound sterling.

 

As a result, our funding needs have increased by 25% resulting in a revenue deficit of nearly £12,000 in 2010; increasing to a projected shortfall of about £20,000 for the current year. Fortunately, we are able to weather the storm in the short term as we were able to build up some reserves ‘for a rainy day’ in earlier good years.”

 

We would therefore welcome any ideas for new sources of funding and respectfully invite our regular supporters and sponsors who have not increased their standing orders for a number of years to review their giving.”