The Banyan Tree - Hopkins Homes TREE 2020 NEWSLETTER.pdfThe Banyan Tree & Hopkins Homes Supporting...

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The Friends Of The Banyan Tree Nedumangad, Kerala, South India WINTER 2019/20 Volume 2 Issue 3 www.thebanyantree.org. When we make a visit to the charity we pay our own airfares, accommodation and travel costs Inside this issue: Tom Sutherland page 2 Hopkins Homes page 3 Flood Relief at Ezhickad page 4 & 5 Chris & Anita Sharpe page 5 Idinjar Update pages 6 & 7 Happy Valley Special School pages 8 & 9 Sobha page 9 In Appreciation page 9 An Ever Growing Gulf—Onions and Space Rockets 1st April 2019 India space launch: One rocket, 29 satellites, three orbits. The Indian space agency places domestic and foreign satellites in three orbits on a single flight. There has always been a gulf between rich and poor, between cities and rural areas in India. The Government, under- standably, wants to portray India as a progressive fast emerging nation which indeed it is. BUT the gulf between cities and country areas is growing ever wider. Any visitor to India from the west, especially a re- turning visitor, will notice the boom in building work, better vehicles, more traf- fic and mobile phone use as they drive away from the airport. Get into the rural areas and it is a different story. Yes, the bamboo and coconut matting huts we were used to seeing twenty years ago have been largely replaced by concrete block houses, albeit very basic ones but as Philip Matthew says there is no permanent income to anyone – scarci- ty is there in the villagesThis was brought home to us on our visit when newspa- per articles were reporting on the huge onion crop in Karnataka that had just been been destroyed by heavy rain. Prices rose to a record Rs 200/- kg (£2.15), one-third of an average Indians daily income, and poor people had to queue for hours for subsidised onions, a basic staple of their diet. We reflected on the gulf that still exists between this and our own lives. Sue orders our groceries on her iPad, choosing from a vast range of world wide items, many are luxury items, which the supermarket delivery van brings direct to our door. R Sami Reddy, 65, dies after queueing for more than 3 hours for subsidised onions Tribal Lessons Truncated’!…..see page 5

Transcript of The Banyan Tree - Hopkins Homes TREE 2020 NEWSLETTER.pdfThe Banyan Tree & Hopkins Homes Supporting...

The Friends Of

The Banyan Tree

Nedumangad, Kerala, South India WINTER 2019/20 Volume 2 Issue 3

www.thebanyantree.org.

When we make a visit to the charity

we pay our own airfares, accommodation and travel costs

Inside this issue: Tom Sutherland page 2 Hopkins Homes page 3 Flood Relief at Ezhickad page 4 & 5 Chris & Anita Sharpe page 5 Idinjar Update pages 6 & 7 Happy Valley Special School pages 8 & 9 Sobha page 9 In Appreciation page 9

An Ever Growing Gulf—Onions and Space Rockets 1st April 2019 India space launch: One rocket, 29 satellites, three orbits. The Indian space agency places domestic and foreign satellites in three orbits on a single flight.

There has always been a gulf between rich and poor, between cities and rural areas in India. The Government, under-standably, wants to portray India as a progressive fast emerging nation which indeed it is. BUT the gulf between cities and country areas is growing ever wider. Any visitor to India from the west, especially a re-turning visitor, will notice the boom in building work, better vehicles, more traf-fic and mobile phone use as they drive away from the airport. Get into the rural areas and it is a different story. Yes, the bamboo and coconut matting huts we were used to seeing twenty years ago have been largely replaced by concrete block houses, albeit very basic ones but as Philip Matthew says “there is no permanent income to anyone – scarci-ty is there in the villages”

This was brought home to us on our visit when newspa-per articles were reporting on the huge onion crop in Karnataka that had just been been destroyed by heavy rain. Prices rose to a record Rs 200/- kg (£2.15), one-third of an average Indian’s daily income, and poor people had to queue for hours for subsidised onions, a basic staple of their diet. We reflected on the gulf that still exists between this and our own lives. Sue orders our groceries on her iPad, choosing from a vast range of world wide items, many are luxury items, which the supermarket delivery van brings direct to our door.

R Sami Reddy, 65, dies after queueing for more than 3 hours for subsidised onions

Tribal Lessons ‘Truncated’!…..see page 5

Tom Sutherland.

For many years our newslet-ter has included under the title, ‘Tales from Travancore’ stories; often written by but always about Tom’s activi-ties and mission of commit-ment and service to poor people and communities in India. By any standard Tom is a truly remarkable and unusual person and those who have met him, perhaps only once for a short time are rarely unaffected by his charisma and personality. Peter and Sue have witnessed this often when on one of our ‘Travels with Peterji’ tours we have taken a group to see the work of The Banyan Tree and to meet Tom. To those whose privilege it has been to know and associate with Tom for longer time and over a period of years, his humble and self effacing manner and Samari-

tan caring concern prints him indelibly and unforgettably in the memory. Peter met Tom at Tiru-mangalam Tamil Nadu in 1990 when Peter had gone to India for the first time to work for the charity ‘The Boys Town Trust’. Peter wrote in his diary, “Tom prayed about the work here and my part in it – I found it a moving experience and it gave me new strength – I would like to keep in touch with Tom.” Two days later Tom left and his parting words to Peter were,”You will come back to India!” Tom founded The Banyan Tree Society as a Social Work Trust with the Keralan Govt, in 2000. The same year Alan Hopper and Peter with Ron Prosser (of HHI) inau-gurated ‘The Friends of The

Banyan Tree’ to fund Tom’s work to ‘make a difference’ to the “poor ones” of Kerala. In our last newsletter we wrote of Iain Park, a Trustee of HHI, who has been re-searching and writing a biog-raphy of Tom; the draft is now complete and in search of a publisher. When the book is in print we will cer-tainly bring it to your notice. During the last few years Tom has not been in the best of health and after 42 years working in India, some of it in West Bengal but chiefly in Kerala he has returned to his native Australia to live with his sister Ruth and enjoy a period of recovery and quiet contemplation. We wish him well but are sure that we will feel his prayerful presence, guidance and concern whatever the future way holds for the work of The Banyan Tree.

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We are a small charity, we believe that is a strength, as is our commit-

ment and the close contacts we maintain with the work in Kerala.

The Banyan Tree & Hopkins Homes

Supporting Communities Across Borders

As a charity we are dependent on donations from a wide range of individuals, busi-nesses, grant giving bodies and Rotary Clubs. Long-term benefactors form the back-bone of this support allowing us to plan and monitor our projects. Hopkins Homes, the largest independent housebuilder in East Anglia, has long been one of these stalwarts. The developer has made signifi-cant financial contributions to our work since 2004 but aside from this we have benefited greatly from Executive Chair-man, James Hopkins’, knowledge and expertise. His guidance and enthusiasm for the Centre of Dalit Studies and Action (CDSA) project in Idinjar, pushed us beyond our comfort zone but in the pro-cess created the truly inclu-sive community facility that the centre has become. James Hopkins writes: “A personal connection with the 2004 Tsunami first made me aware of the Banyan Tree charity. Since then I have had the pleasure of closely follow-ing the charity’s work and of making several trips out to the region to see the projects first-hand. “Having been party to the initial discussions and plans for the CDSA project I was

honoured to be present at its inauguration in 2014. I am delighted to hear that since then the centre has continued to grow as a fully integrated community facility, providing educational opportunities, space for weddings and cele-brations and other community-based activities. “Central to Hopkins Homes’ ethos is the desire to help cre-ate and support communities, although East Anglia feels far removed from South India, the importance of strong community transcends bor-ders and I’m very proud to be involved.”

We are so grateful for the continued support from Hop-kins Homes and our other

supporters, as well as those who chose to make occasion-al or one-off donations. All

are gratefully received and contribute to the ongoing work of Banyan Tree.

.

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James with Philip Matthew, Mr Joy (the builder) and Peter at the opening of of the CDSA centre. January 2014

Sincere thanks for donations to our work in India: Trevor Harris and family; Margaret Gleave; Woodbridge Rotary Club; Parivar Trust;

Alastair Baker for the printing of this newsletter. Individual supporters including those on the standing order list

.

Flood Relief at Ezhickad

In our last newsletter we reported fully on the relief work which both Philip Matthew and Chandra Babu undertook, along with many N.G.Os and other agencies, after the totally devastating floods of August 2018. Our appeal raised over £7000 and we spent most of it in the Pandalam region just south of the Backwa-ters area of central Kerala. We wanted to see for our-selves how this money was used so we had an early start, a long car journey and a tiring but full and reward-ing day with Chandra Babu and the local man he worked with Mr. Sasi. In the relief work different groups tended to specialise, so although CDSA replaced several hundred school bags and gave food, clean water and medicines in oth-er villages they concentrat-ed most time and effort in one, Ezhickad. This is a mixed Dalit colony of Hin-du and Christian, Muslim converts; set up by the govt. in 1962 with 175 families, it now has about twice that number. After doing local research and using Mr Sasi for guid-

ance Chandra decided to concentrate on families

where there were children, particularly if they were of school /college age and studying. Where homes had lost all the furniture it was decided to provide a study table/desk, chair and stool. A contact was made with a local provider to supply these . With Mr Sasi lists of fami-lies and homes were drawn up and a meeting was held in the colony community hall; families were given a

card which identified them and what items they were to receive. It all seemed to us to have been well organised and successfully managed. Other relief groups fo-cussed on things like shelv-ing and cooking utensils in kitchens, water facilities, building materials etc.

We were seeing the colony nearly 18 months after the flooding; much work of re-building and clearing up had taken place but it was still going on . It was difficult to

imagine the place in August 2018. The flood water came from the River Pampa some 4kms away and submerged the colony to a depth of 25feet carrying with it huge amounts of mud which filled or destroyed houses and swept away virtually all per-sonal goods, furniture and fittings.

Www.thebanyantree.org.uk

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Mercifully there was little loss of life as the residents had warning and mass evacuations had taken place before the catastrophe. We had time to walk in the colo-ny with Mr Sasi, (to buy biscuits for our return journey from his shop ) and to talk with several families. We arrived back tired but feeling we had achieved our objectives for the day.

Flood Relief at Ezhickad

It is often said that India is a land of contrasts, it is true; in the even-ing we experienced an illustration of this. We went to a restaurant in Trivandrum for a meal, next to

our table were a group of Ameri-can- high energy, go-getting, forceful men in the oil business; they were discussing their day’s activities. We were

struck by the very different level of focus and conversation to that which we had during the same day.

August 2018 December 2019

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This couple are members of High Suffolk Rotary Club and were significantly involved in raising funds for the communi-ty building at Idinjar; they were present at its opening in 2014. They are keen followers of the activities and progress of CDSA and are visiting the

project at the present time. They are donating and taking out with them an LED digital projector which will find a good deal of educational use, particularly during the sum-mer vacation programme with visiting speakers.

Chris and Anita Sharpe

Anita & Chris with Chandra Babu, his wife Lilly and younger son Akash.

We will need to provide a screen and stand for use with the projector. They will have to be bought in India and approximate costs are £80 for the stand and £120 for the screen.

Tribal Lessons ‘Truncated’ We have often reported on the CDSA summer vacation school. The 2019 event was successful but the attendance was not as high as would have been expected; many of the tribal children were not present; in Chandra’s words; “The vacation programme is progressing. A major problem is the tribal children are not able to participate in the vacation pro-gramme. It is due to the presence and attack of wild elephant and bison. The parents are not ready to send the children because they need to walk a long distance through the forest”

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Would any individual or group like to help towards the cost of these?

Local photo of the actual elephant

Idinjar Update

We had another full day with Chandra Babu ,this time at Idinjar. We had not seen the CDSA building since the new road from Palode up to the Bra-more tea estate and tourist complex 5 kms above Idinjar had been completed. The construction works have swept away several of the smaller impermanent build-ings, including the row of shops which used to be op-posite to CDSA. The works lowered the road surface level by some 5 feet and took away about a metre of our frontage. As a result we had to build a new higher retaining wall, replace the old double swinging gate with a sliding one and create a new ramp to maintain ac-cess to the courtyard for ve-hicles, the elderly and disa-bled. Fortunately we still have a reasonably sized courtyard and the main building survived untouched – we were very pleased that at the planning stage we had decided to place the building well back on the plot and away from the old road. The

work cost £1600, we re-ceived £50 in compensation from the construction com-pany! Our frontage is much changed but the work we had to do was well done and we still have probably the best community facility in Idinjar. Last year the project was put forward by Woodbridge Ro-tary Club for a District Grant. The application was successful and we were pleased to see the changes

and improvements that have been brought about.

The original fibre internal doors and frames have been replaced with wood ones, this is better for long term wear and tear and for securi-ty. Our building is used for community functions; wed-dings, engagements, recep-tions, meetings and visits by outside medical teams: this all brings in funds from rent-al charges but creates a de-mand for better facilities. We needed to up grade washing, cooking and feeding facili-ties for the public and to ben-efit the students and staff. Now we have doubled the water storage capacity, we have more taps and washing zones, steel mesh grills on all

the outside cooking and food preparation areas which keeps away the veracious birds and other creatures looking for a quick meal.

Idinjar villager – "What we lost in our childhood,

CDSA is now providing for our children…"

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Chandra and Ajayan testing the new taps

Idinjar Update

These new facilities were in good use at lunch time as we joined in a celebration feast; two sittings with food being served by the staff and some of the older students. The female staff looking very smart in their CDSA saris and cholas, all made in the tailoring training unit.

CDSA has from its beginning enjoyed a fairly stable staff, the relative isolation of Idinjar helps this. This has been partic-ularly important in the social relationships developed and in teaching and educational achievement. A pleasing aspect has been to see ex pupils return as qualified teachers and staff members. So over the years there have

been few staff changes; howev-er we have recently had to say ‘Good bye and farewell’ to one of our long standing and partic-ularly loyal and active teachers. Shreeja has been with Chandra for over ten years teaching maths and physics and being creatively instrumental in many other aspects of the work of CDSA. Her two children have both been pupils in our tuition classes and been regular partici-pants in drama and dance. CDSA, and we personally, will miss her but we wish her well in her new post as a school li-brarian in Alleppey. Shreeja’s place has been taken by Mr Washington who did a short

spell some time ago but has returned to teach maths and Hindi. He sings beautifully and took part in the short entertain-ment programme which fol-lowed the lunch. We were also able to say ‘Hello’ to a new visiting doctor; Dr Dipin Dilip from the Medi-cal College in Trivandrum. It was his first time at Idinjar but he arrived well before his sur-gery time as he was keen to see what the project was all about. We sat with him during the en-tertainment and he asked many questions. he also talked at length with Chandra and ex-pressed what we thought was a very genuine wish to keep in close touch with Idinjar and CDSA; we hope that he does. Another small but significant recognition of the reputation which CDSA is gaining. The University of Kerala, Dept. of Sociology placed one of their students a Mrs Praise with the project for a one month intern-ship during the year.

Our administrative costs are low

between 96 & 98% of the funds we raise goes directly to India

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Kavitha dispensing

Happy Valley Special SchooL, Kalathara

We got to Kalathara deliber-ately early in good time to meet with the staff as they ar-rived and then to see the chil-dren arriving and unloading from the school vehicles with their carers and some parents. It was busy-busy, a joy to watch the happy smiling faces and listen to the chatter and calling out, all looking for-ward to another day in the school. There are 39 children on the role; generally the daily attendance is about 25-30. As all this was happening Philip Matthew the director was at his desk interviewing another prospective pupil and the par-ents. The day begins with morning prayer followed by a 20 mi-nute work out of physical ex-ercises for all parts of the body from fingers to toes, led by a staff member and accompa-nied by lot of counting and rhythmic phrases (in English, not Malayalam). We found it quite exhausting! Before going into school eve-ryone joined in saying the na-tional pledge – as do all chil-dren in every school in India –

(and which can be found print-ed in school text and exercise books). Peter can think back to early days in the 1990’s at the Boys’Towns in Chennai where he first saw and heard this and still finds it moving. We went around the various classes and activities during the morning session. During the lunch break we joined in a dance session, the pupils were practising for their Christmas party celebration which was to be held on De-cember 15th. Also much activi-

ty building a small garden and Christmas crib at the front of the building. In the afternoon we watched some vocational therapy/ training activity. Candle mak-ing, rug weaving –using mate-rial taken from old saris. Um-brellas –frames made up from kits and with sewn covers

from bought textiles. These items have a potential salea-ble value locally, raising funds for the school.

The centre continues to pro-duce hand painted leaf cards. We watched Sobha and two older boys screen printing the cards. Philip uses local women

to do the leaf painting. The batch we saw were destined for sale to tourists at the beach resorts of Varkala and Ko-valam. At the end of the day we went outside again for closing prayer and singing India’s national anthem.. Then it was all aboard the vehicles and off home. In a recent letter Philip wrote about the school, ”All are happy, I am busy every day.” We would agree. All the chil-dren are happy, it is a happy place with a homely feel and warm atmosphere. The staff are involved and caring, Philip demonstrates empathetic lead-ership; everything seemed to be working together for the corporate good.

We need YOUR help to enable us to make a difference…

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Happy Valley School, Kalathara Page 9

Sobha In word or pictures Sobha has often figured in the pages of our newsletters. She is one of Banyan Tree’s longest serving employ-ees and has been Philip Matthew’s loyal and hard working right hand person. For some time she has been studying in Adult Education classes and in December took examinations in nine subjects. Her aim is to gain SSLC which is the equivalent of our GCSE qualifications. However at the time of writing Sobha is in hospital having had surgery; when she is discharged she will need 2 months rest at home. 2004 2019

Annette Stringer had been a supporter of the work of The Banyan Tree since its inception. Individually a long time member of our standing orders list; she involved her Lowes-toft Rotary Club in the Operation Monsoon programme of assistance with house building. Annette visited India three times with us and saw the work of the charity at first hand. We record our gratitude to both, we will miss them

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The Friends of

The Banyan Tree

Bell Corner, Manse

Lane Cratfield, Hales-

worth

IP19 0DJ

Tel 01986 798617 [email protected]

[email protected]

www.thebanyantree.org.uk

A SUBCOMMITTEE OF HEALTH HELP INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1078353

We wish her well and a speedy recovery, we know that Philip and all at Happy Valley Special School will look forward to her return.

“I am only one But still I am one I cannot do everything But still I can do something And because I cannot do every-thing I will not refuse to the some-thing that I can do” Edward Hale 1822—1901

In appreciation We are sad to record the death of two faithful supporters. Dr Patricia Stuart supported and followed closely the nurse training of Sobha’s two daughters Annie and Ancy and was always pleased to read their letters. She maintained a keen interest in the work of our CDSA medi-cal centre at Idinjar.