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| Karuna Chitrakar |
12 September 2011
THANK YOU TO
OUR COMMUNITY OF
MUSTARD SEEDS FRIENDS:
I look forward to telling Karuna this morning that we raised the money to help her do house repairs in response to the message I wrote below. Thank you for your concern and generosity, everyone. I am touched by how quickly responses came in.=====
Last night we received a phone call from Karuna Chitrakar asking for some emergency help from those friends who helped her build her house in Medinipur some years back. Karuna is a patua, a story-scroll painter and singer who lives in the village of Nadia in Medinipur. Several years back, friends of Mustard Seeds helped to build a house for Karuna and her family. The house, however, is built of mostly natural materials which means that it is fairly impermanent.
Karuna told us that there have been heavy rains for the past two weeks and because her house is made of bamboo with a mud-straw covering for the walls, the water logging has caused the wall to collapse on one side of the house. They need to repair it right away.
We asked her what her plan would be to repair the house and she says that she needs to elevate the house with a cement foundation and she would like to build up the wall again but in bricks this time. She estimates this repair work to cost about Rs 12,000 - 15,000 (Approx. $320)
Karuna lives with her two sons, their wives and the grandchildren. The rainy season is always a difficult time.
If you would like to donate some money towards an emergency repair for Karuna's home, please email me at:
mseeds.maura@gmail.com
Remember, the idea for the Calcutta 100 Club is that we can do something for someone else by giving just a small amount – and that amount can add up to something that really makes a difference. In this case, if just 3.5 people can get 10 friends to give $10 - we have reached our goal.
If donations over the amount are received, I will keep them aside for the next such project that comes to us.
I will let you know when we have collected the money - I know that times are tough but if you can donate even $10 or ask a few people to donate $10 I know that we can help Karuna out in this time of need.
Please email me for more details on how to donate.
