A group of underprivileged women living in Pally Mangal in south Kolkata have the opportunity to learn new a skill and earn an income. St Xavier’s College, a Roman Catholic institution in Kolkata, runs a project called Enactus which supports livelihood programmes for slum women. They have identified CRS as suitable partner organisation and started a new initiative. Undergraduate students from the college are training women to paint clay pots with attractive and colourful designs which can then be sold on the open market. A group of five young women from Pally Mangal have been selected for this training and are already showing great potential.
New football kit for 3 boys’ teams
Following a service Melbourne Parish Church (Derbyshire) in November 2014, £500 was donated to support the football project in Kolkata. Teams from 3 CRS Education Centres received new kit: B D Colony now have a yellow strip, Sukanatanagar team play in green and G B Lane wear blue. In addition to shirts and shorts for all the boys, equipment was purchased including 10 new footballs, 40 coloured cones, 12 low hurdles and 2 ladders so that the boys can practice drills.
Mohammed Aman, who studies in Class II at G B Lane school, said “Before we were playing with one ball, now have received 5 footballs. We are enjoying the game very much. We are pleased to have the new jersey.” He and his teammates found it strange at first to use the new training equipment as they were unfamiliar with it but now they are really enjoying football practice. Visit the CRS Facebook page to see pictures of the boys in their new strips and during training sessions.
Spare change for BIG change
The Canadian Friends of CCRS held their annual Penny Pot Tea at St Mary’s Church, Kerrisdale on 14 March. Around 50 supporters came along and the “penny pots” were collected. A total of 1,924 Canadian dollars had been raised through the year as people had put loose change in their pots. All of this money will be transferred to CRS in Kolkata to be spent where the need is greatest. Thanks to the Canadian Friends for all their fundraising efforts!
Volunteers needed
The UK Friends need Volunteers to assist with (1) obtaining grants from trusts and foundations, (2) maintaining our website, and (3) producing and distributing our ‘Friends Quarterly’ newsletter. If you are interested in volunteering for one of these tasks, please do get in touch with us at secretary@friendsofcrs.co.uk and we can provide you with a more detailed role description and answer any questions. There is a lot happening in Kolkata and we need to build our team quickly to adequately support the team there.
English language training
CRS is taking steps to train its key staff in us of the English language. This is both to give them greater confidence in communicating with the UK and Canadian ‘Friends’ and to enable the staff team to build the English capability of the slum teaching staff at an elementary level. In addition, practical classroom activities using both the Indian and English languages are to be started. Another benefit of this greater awareness of English is that it should empower the teachers to develop a better bonding with the children in their care and, over time, open the door to some children who are filtered into the mainstream schools becoming young professionals in the future.