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22/02/07: The Hopes and Dreams Village in Sri Lanka has just had a surprise visitor - see right!
06/02/07: It looks like we might be ready to open the medical centre at the Hopes and Dreams Village in Sri Lanka sooner than we thought. We just got the approval of the Rotary Club from the USA to buy the medical instruments, and have now completely finished the medical centre building-wise.
Even before the official opening, we've treated our first patient! Karnichera fell over and really gashed her arm this week, so she had the honour of being the first to sit in our medical centre and have it washed and dressed by Joy - thankfully she's now well on the mend.
Also the craft workers are still working away, and boxes of amazing things manufactured at the village are now on their way by sea container to be sold in the wonderful Michelle´s Manacare shop in Urmston. The shop at the Village looks fantastic, all run by volunteers, together with one different girl a day from the sewing room - which gives them a chance to see the whole cycle from start to finish, and also gives them more chance to improve their English. If any kind soul could source us some nice coffee (probably in packets), our coffee shop needs an ongoing supply.
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28/01/07: The Hopes and Dreams Village in the Tsunami affected area of southern Sri Lanka is nearing completion. We will have two rooms for local craft industries, and we are planning to teach some of the young orphans and some of the widowed young ladies to make candles and soap. We are asking for any donations of material, equipment or labour that might help us with this - please see the wish list for more details, or contact us.
With that in mind we are wondering if anyone might have any old supplies, equipment or ingredients that they might consider donating to us. We are also hoping to find people who might like to come to this beautiful island to teach either of these crafts. If you can help in any way, please contact us.
20/01/07: The Spanish office is currently in the planning stage of a 5 kilometre sponsored walk in the Marbella area towards the end of April, which is hoping to attract over 1000 people, each raising at least 100 Euros each. Please contact Joy in Spain if you want to help or find out more.
| In January there'll be a unique fundraising event mid-seas especially for the South Africa project in Walkerville, thanks to Travelscope.
Their cruise ship the Van Gogh will be sailing around the world holding various fundraising events as it goes. More details will be available on this website soon.
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Fundraising update: Cherry has just done a Race Night in Bedford; and some local children recently did a "Line Dancing" exhibition in Gibraltar. Also, to mark the anniversary of the Tsunami, Petra is planning to do a sponsored walk along the railway line from Colombo to Hikkaduwa, departing the same time that the ill fated train left Colombo, 07.10 on Boxing Day, and probably arriving in Hikkaduwa two days later.
We have just found 300 families living in the mountains behind Hikkaduwa, they fled from the coast when the Tsunami hit and have been totally forgotten. They are still living in tents or makeshift huts, some made from mud, the tents have holes and some are torn out of recognition, the children and elderly are hungry and some are sick.... We need to take trucks of rice and dahl to these people urgently, all financial contributions desperately needed. Please help in any way that you can.
Excellent news! A generous donor has given us 75,000 pounds to start building a full Hopes and Dreams project on land in Walkerville. Building will commence just as soon as the Sri Lanka buildings are finished and open, we hope in February 2007.
02/10/06: In Sri Lanka, we have completed the first buildings in Telwatta, the sewing project is open, the English Classes are open, the Music Classes are open, the Video Production training is open, and our first residents move into their new house this week!
Simon Walker and Chris Howe recently completed a fundraising bike ride across the South Downs Trail. So far it looks as though they have raised approx £1,000 although we are still collecting money!
After the recent expansion of the centre at Luxor in Egypt, the number of children coming regularly for treatment has reached 120. Each child has three sessions a week, and the mothers of the children are doing exercises recommended by Dr Ahmed at home. There has been significant progress in many cases - a good number of children have been able to walk for the first time with the help of calippers or special shoes after they got intensive physiotherapy treatment at the centre.
In the Philippines, our little school has been so successful that we have outgrown our building and are looking for new premises! We recently had our first prize giving with the children, all under five and dressed in white gowns and college hats, receiving prizes.
We are producing fashionable rubber wrist bands from Sri Lanka which will be on sale very shortly in Gibraltar,
Spain and the United Kingdom.
Judging of the Easter Egg competition in Gibraltar has taken place. A cheque for £600 was provided by
Westside Girls Comprehensive School in Gibraltar raised by the girls and their teachers during several
fundrasing activities.
Also in Gibraltar, an exhibition is being held at the John Macintosh Hall to enable members of the public to
see the benefits of their fundraising efforts in Sri Lanka. Details of all of Manacare's projects will be available.
Joy was presented with a cheque for 2,000 EUR by the pupils of Jane Melville's Dance Academy in Southern Spain to be
used in the Sri Lanka project.
Mohammed (aged 3) took his first steps in Luxor, Egypt after intensive therapy.
We are nearing completion or out Lottery Application for our Liberia project.
In Sierra Leone we have been given land upon which to build a full Hopes and Dreams Centre and the first little School is already open.
In Rio De Janeiro, we have £10,000 at our disposal for the provision of facilities for the children currently
living in the sewers. This is one of the projects than Manacare will be commencing in the near future.
Apart from this Manacare have also bought a tractor for a small community in Trincomalee on the east coast,
and equipped a carpenter's workshop so that they can start to rebuild some of the houses that were destroyed
by the tsunami.
We have commenced the feeding program and distribution of clothing in preparation for the oncoming winter in Chile.
In Malawi, money was sent to purchase a new generator which is now in operation and Golden has recommenced
feeding the orphans under our care.
In South Africa, Vera's car has had to undergo major surgery which has interrupted the feeding program for only
four days.
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