Hot summers and a new school year about to start

Dear Sponsors,

It is now the end of May and the children in the SINAM child sponsorship programme are enjoying their summer holiday along with the rest of the children in South India. In two weeks time they will all take part in a week long summer camp full of games, sports and excursions before returning to school at the end of June for the new school year.

It has now been two years since we started the sponsorship programme, and we cannot thank you enough for your support. As Evelien saw herself during her fieldwork in India, the children are now doing much better than before thanks to the remedial teaching they receive, the school equipment that allows them to go to school, and the help that their families get in the form of soap, shampoo, rice, and other necessary goods. Many of you signed a contract two years ago to sponsor a child for at least to years, and you should by now have received a letter and contract asking you to renew your sponsorship. This time we have also added the possibility of sponsoring your child until he/she has finished school so that the children are assured of sponsorship until they are 18 years old. These children still very much need your help and we greatly appreciate your continued support!

The SINAM child sponsorship programme is not the only one to celebrate an anniversary. SINAM celebrated its silver jubilee this month after 25 years of working with the underprivileged population of the Thiruvannamalai area. Since 1986, the NGO has grown to be one of the largest NGO’s in the area and now has an extremely wide range of projects including more than 500 women’s self help groups, loans to farmers, counselling services, and of course the child sponsor programme. SINAM has also recently inaugurated its new development centre and we would like to thank the members of the Dominicus church in Amsterdam for their very generous donation towards much needed toilets for this centre. Toilets are a great luxury for the people who visit this centre not least because most women do not have a toilet at home and usually have to wait until dark to go to the toilet unseen (men are not bound by these strict rules of modesty and can go wherever/whenever they want). The chance to go to the toilet between sunrise and sunset is therefore very welcome to these women!

We look forward to sending you another update after the summer and in the meantime hope that you will have a pleasant and sunny summer!

Best wishes,

 Evelien and Rosanne

 P.S. Please remember to return the signed contract to the address at the bottom of the letter. Thank you!