Our highlighted display at Mustard Seeds Library this month is Dr. Seuss and Bapu has done a nice job of getting it all ready for those members who drop by this coming Sunday. There may even be a reading!
44 children's books and every single one of them G•R•E•A•T. I need to do a sequel to 'To the Local Bazaar...'
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Making friendship bracelets
As the rakhi celebration (where brothers tie a small decoration onto their elder sister's wrist as a symbol of their bond) is coming up soon, we had a mini-workshop to learn how to make decorative, knotted friendship bands.
Thanks goes out to "Pinky-di" and Baliraj who came a long distance to show us how to make the bracelets. Pinky-di, who wanted to become a nurse, learned how to make these at school and sold them to raise money to be able to take her Madhymik exam. She is now working as a doctor's assistant here in Kolkata. She and Baliraj are experts at crafts like book binding, glass painting and quilling and we hope to have them visit the library again soon!
Thanks goes out to "Pinky-di" and Baliraj who came a long distance to show us how to make the bracelets. Pinky-di, who wanted to become a nurse, learned how to make these at school and sold them to raise money to be able to take her Madhymik exam. She is now working as a doctor's assistant here in Kolkata. She and Baliraj are experts at crafts like book binding, glass painting and quilling and we hope to have them visit the library again soon!
Monday, August 13, 2007
eco-totes
refuse plastics with an
ECO-tote
by mustard seeds
My sister found these tote bags (literally hundreds of them) in a thrift shop in arkansas at 10 cents a piece this summer and bought a whole heck of a lot of 'em. We are jazzing them up to promote the idea of "carrying your own bag" to the market ...so less plastic ends up on the streets here!
This sure was a nice way to spend a very rainy monsoon Monday. Hashi and I were stitching and pinning all day. When Girl arrived home from school, she helped me with the labels as we already had an order for six of these.
Refusing plastics, by always carrying an extra bag inside your daily bag, is one of the easiest ways I know to help this planet!
ECO-tote
by mustard seeds
My sister found these tote bags (literally hundreds of them) in a thrift shop in arkansas at 10 cents a piece this summer and bought a whole heck of a lot of 'em. We are jazzing them up to promote the idea of "carrying your own bag" to the market ...so less plastic ends up on the streets here!
This sure was a nice way to spend a very rainy monsoon Monday. Hashi and I were stitching and pinning all day. When Girl arrived home from school, she helped me with the labels as we already had an order for six of these.
Refusing plastics, by always carrying an extra bag inside your daily bag, is one of the easiest ways I know to help this planet!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Saturdays at Prabartak Home
Not far from my home in Salt Lake, there is a government-run home for people with epilepsy and other disabilities and every Saturday my friend Rosalie does a two-hour class there. Her class is not an English class but an amalgamation of all sorts of learning to get the children involved and interacting, and gaining a new understanding of the world around them and far beyond.
In 1999, Rosalie, an American speech therapist spent her summer vacation vounteering at one of Mother Teresa's orphanages in Kolkata. She was schocked that disabled children were left in their cribs all day or on the floor without any stimulation or educational opportunity whatsoever. Without hesitation, Roasalie took an early retirement from the New Jersey Public School System and returned to Kolkata to develop the special education programs these children required!
Rosalie now runs Empower the Children , an organization which gives formal structure to the work on-the-ground in Kolkata. ETC works to provide security and opportunity to Kolkata's most vulnerable children, including the disadvantaged and disabled children living on the streets and in the slums-- for whom basic needs are often beyond the financial capabilities of their families.
I am so happy to have Rosalie, and her surge of ever-expanding good ideas, here in Kolkata on the NGO front. Visiting her class at Prabartak Home, one of the eight ETC projects, is always a great source of inspiration for me as a teacher...and as a human being.
Today we learned about elephants -- those majestic gray mammals that roam the West Bengal forests. Rosalie had a beautiful plasticene elephant to show to everyone and some photographs of elephants in their natural habitat. These were passed around as she talked about their LARGENESS and their ROUGH skin and how they sometimes do WORK in forests. She told them how the mother and baby walk - with the baby holding the tail and each student got up to try this with a friend. She talked about how elephants actually walk on their tippy-toes...and then all the students gave it a try. They all tried throwing inflatable hoops on an inflatable elephant. Taking part in the class and having a turn at each topic is a big part of the class and everyone (rightfully) gets excited. Each class ends with a craft and often the components of the craft have been prepared by students in schools in the US as part of a volunteer program (Rosalie likes TOTAL involvement!).
Today each student got a cute little cardboard elephant. First they glued on the rough skin (a swatch of paper that had elephant skin on it); then they added a swatch of fabric that was the elephant's blanket; lastly, they added the head dress (some tassles). The craft requires motor skill coordination and a fresher on things that were presented in the lesson.
Classes usually end with a lot of music and dancing - and hugging!
She has an excellent class on teeth and Tibet also!
Good luck to Rosalie for all that you do. I hope that our collaborative efforts will also be successful.
In 1999, Rosalie, an American speech therapist spent her summer vacation vounteering at one of Mother Teresa's orphanages in Kolkata. She was schocked that disabled children were left in their cribs all day or on the floor without any stimulation or educational opportunity whatsoever. Without hesitation, Roasalie took an early retirement from the New Jersey Public School System and returned to Kolkata to develop the special education programs these children required!
Rosalie now runs Empower the Children , an organization which gives formal structure to the work on-the-ground in Kolkata. ETC works to provide security and opportunity to Kolkata's most vulnerable children, including the disadvantaged and disabled children living on the streets and in the slums-- for whom basic needs are often beyond the financial capabilities of their families.
I am so happy to have Rosalie, and her surge of ever-expanding good ideas, here in Kolkata on the NGO front. Visiting her class at Prabartak Home, one of the eight ETC projects, is always a great source of inspiration for me as a teacher...and as a human being.
Today we learned about elephants -- those majestic gray mammals that roam the West Bengal forests. Rosalie had a beautiful plasticene elephant to show to everyone and some photographs of elephants in their natural habitat. These were passed around as she talked about their LARGENESS and their ROUGH skin and how they sometimes do WORK in forests. She told them how the mother and baby walk - with the baby holding the tail and each student got up to try this with a friend. She talked about how elephants actually walk on their tippy-toes...and then all the students gave it a try. They all tried throwing inflatable hoops on an inflatable elephant. Taking part in the class and having a turn at each topic is a big part of the class and everyone (rightfully) gets excited. Each class ends with a craft and often the components of the craft have been prepared by students in schools in the US as part of a volunteer program (Rosalie likes TOTAL involvement!).
Today each student got a cute little cardboard elephant. First they glued on the rough skin (a swatch of paper that had elephant skin on it); then they added a swatch of fabric that was the elephant's blanket; lastly, they added the head dress (some tassles). The craft requires motor skill coordination and a fresher on things that were presented in the lesson.
Classes usually end with a lot of music and dancing - and hugging!
She has an excellent class on teeth and Tibet also!
Good luck to Rosalie for all that you do. I hope that our collaborative efforts will also be successful.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Field Trip to Karma Kutir
As a culmination of our course on cloth, the Moon Group of the Learn & Earn Project at Shikshamitra went to visit Karma Kutir, another Kolkata NGO specializing in batik dyeing.
We piled into two taxis and made our way over to Gol Park, where Karma Kutir is located by the Ram Krishna Mission. We were first given a demonstration of the batik dyeing process outside on the roof, and how the wax is put on the cloth to create designs. The women at Karma Kutir were extremely kind to us and gave us a warm welcome and an unforgettable experience to carry back home with us.
Shikshamitra students were each given a handkerchief-sized cloth and got a chance to try their own wax designs. They brought along their design notebooks to get ideas. Once their designs were down, they went back outside to dye the cloth. Everyone exclaimed, "Oooooh!" when the colour magically appeared as the handkerchief was dipped into the dye and turned a surprisingly bright color. The last step was taking off the wax in a vat of hot water and hanging up to dry.
As you can see from this photo, we had excellent results and a very fine outing!
We piled into two taxis and made our way over to Gol Park, where Karma Kutir is located by the Ram Krishna Mission. We were first given a demonstration of the batik dyeing process outside on the roof, and how the wax is put on the cloth to create designs. The women at Karma Kutir were extremely kind to us and gave us a warm welcome and an unforgettable experience to carry back home with us.
Shikshamitra students were each given a handkerchief-sized cloth and got a chance to try their own wax designs. They brought along their design notebooks to get ideas. Once their designs were down, they went back outside to dye the cloth. Everyone exclaimed, "Oooooh!" when the colour magically appeared as the handkerchief was dipped into the dye and turned a surprisingly bright color. The last step was taking off the wax in a vat of hot water and hanging up to dry.
As you can see from this photo, we had excellent results and a very fine outing!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Kids for kids!
Last week, while all the cousins were here together, we put together a Lemonade Stand offering two kinds of lemonade and chocolate chip cookies. To our surprise, a lot of people stopped to buy the refreshments and encouraged us on. The five kids who took part each made $2 at the end, and decided to donate the remaining $8 to Rehabilitation Centres for Children (RCFC) in Kolkata so that other kids will benefit from their successful sale too!
RCFC provides free medical treatment and schooling in Kolkata for disadvantaged children with polio and other orthopaedic problems.
I will take the donation to the Centre when I return in July -- thanks so much for your great work!
RCFC provides free medical treatment and schooling in Kolkata for disadvantaged children with polio and other orthopaedic problems.
I will take the donation to the Centre when I return in July -- thanks so much for your great work!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Coasters and bags for sale to support our Learn and Earn Project
While I travel in the US I am carrying the very first handicraft products developed by the children I teach at Shikshamitra in Kolkata.
In order to launch this afterschool skills training program, which will offer exposure to underpriviledged students who want to expand their vocation possibilities, we are asking for a donation of $5 or more. You will receive an eco-friendly handloom, hand-decorated tote bag made as the first sale-able product by the older children participating in our Learn & Earn Project (the Moon Group) or a set of handstitched coasters handstitched by the Sun Group, who are the younger students.
The children are developing stitching and design skills with CLOTH as the theme. Everyone is very excited about the new program and looking forward to feedback I bring back with me. We had our first sales to well wishers in Montana.
Please be in touch by email if you would like to make a donation or support us somehow from where you are.
BIG THANKS GO OUT TO:
* Margo, Jocie and Chase Baker
* Julie Dozier and the Staff of Batesville Family Practice
* Sarah and Jennifer in Bozeman, Montana -- our first sale!
* Leslie in Memphis
* Tony in SFran, who gave us a digital camera so we can try out some photography classes at Shikshamitra too
Enjoy your products and send us a photo if possible!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Earth Day 2007 at Mustard Seeds
It was a nice day at MSeeds Library yesterday. First Karuna arrived with her new picture scroll on 'the problem of plastics," which I had asked her to paint. She found this to be a difficult topic, and asked her son to help her paint it too. The results were folksy depictions on an issue that strikes a real serious chord in me – littering. The pata features scenes of people at the tea stall, people in cars and buses, on trains littering plastic from the windows, and people burning plastics not knowing anything about the dangerous dioxins they release into the air. There is also a crocodile trying to swim away from a load of plastic that is floating in the water.
Our April display highlighted some of the best books on environment. One member, Momo, came in with a great poster on reducing consumption and proper disposal of trash and another smaller boy told me that he had cleaned up one small area of our campus so that he could make a secret clubhouse there. Children made magazine beads and worked on their blog. When everyone left, Bapu finished up his foresty Earth Day mural which he has been painting on the wall of the verandah. Malini and I made two Earth Day cakes for her class, now studying rainforests. It was a magically spontaneous Earth Day for our little community
Friday, April 20, 2007
Organics from Balia Bio-Agro Mission
On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Bhaduri from Balia Bio-Agro Mission stopped by to pick up a donation for Godhuli, the Adult Learning Center run through this organic farming initiative. He brought this delicious array of produce from the farmers there as a thank you -- I only wish that I could share it with you all too!
Mustard Seeds presented Godhuli with Rs. 8000 (approximately $200) to help sustain this organization's efforts to address deep-rooted (pardon the farming pun here) problems in BASIC education opportunities for all levels of society. A special thanks to Chris Rickerd, whose quick-hearted donatoin set this meeting into motion, and to friends in Japan who contributed generously in November.
Fundraising for Godhuli and RCFC, the children's center, will be the focus of the next Calcutta 100 Club project. If you would like to make a small contribution of just $5, the idea is pretty simple. With 100 members paying $5 twice a year...we make a total of $1000 per year which can be used for specific projects that can be accomplished with this sort of "mustard seed size" financial push!
MORE ABOUT GODHULI:
GODHULI is an adult education centre located in Nadia, West Bengal. Tarun Bhaduri, who manages an organic farming initiative in this area, organized this school approximately a year and a half back. It is open from 5:30 to 9:00 every night except Wednesdays and Sundays since there is an evening market which farmers sell at. Currently there are 29 students: 8 men and 21 women. They are learning basic literacy and can all now sign their names and write their address in order to sign important papers. They can all count up to at least 20. They are all day laborers, working in the fields which are gradually turning over to organic. A teacher's salary is Rs. 1000 (approx. US$ 20). There is one teacher working here at present, Mrs. Maya Mondal. They are also in need of teaching aids and materials such as pencils, notebooks, sample books, etc.
GODHULI
C/O Mr. Tarun Bhaduri
Village Jagganathpur
P.O. Purbabishnupur
Dist. Nadia
West Bengal 741223
Friday, April 13, 2007
Making a contribution to Rehabilitation Centres for Children (RCFC)
Recently I received the following email from the folks at Rehabilitation Centres for Children (RCFC), an organization we have tried to send support to since I met the founder, Jane Webb, over 10 years back. She was such an inspiration to me that I used her name as my daughter's middle name. Jane died of cancer about 9 years ago.
======
Dear Maura,
I would like to take this opportunity to write to you about RCFC once again. We are very proud to have your name on the list of donors and we hope that you will wish to continue helping us in whatever way you can.
Started by Jane Webb in 1973 for rehabilitation of orthopaedically handicapped children, we are still continuing the services relentlessly. We are doing 25 operations per month and patients are coming from remote areas of not only West Bengal but also from Bihar Jharkhand, Orissa, Bangladesh. Around 50 to 60 children are staying at the centre for treatment.
RCFC is now suffering from an acute financial crunch. All the services are continuing but we are facing great difficulty in meeting the expenses since no fund is forthcoming from our foreign donors almost over a year. We are managing both ends with great hardship with our strong determination and goal of services to the children in order to give them a chance to live a purposeful life.
At this point of time I would seek your help for some donation as you deem fit for medical rehabilitation of orthopaedically handicapped children undergoing treatment at the Centre. In the past you have always been kind enough to donate to RCFC on several occasion. We fervently appeal to you for help and would also request you to approach benevolent donors to extend their helping hand to generate fund for the welfare of this Centre. (All payments should made in favour of REHABILITATION CENTRES FOR CHILDREN)
Kindly note that donations of RCFC are exempt from Income Tax under Section 80G
Please help us to continue the work Jane started by giving us your financial and emotional support.
Thanking you once again and we look forward to your esteemed response.
Yours Faithfully,
A.B.Choudhuri
Sr.Vice President
==========
I had been hoping to visit the centre but as it is quite far from where I live, I asked RCFC to visit us to pick up the donations I collected from the coin caddies and kind well-wishers in Japan. Mustard Seeds was able to donate Rs. 7000 to RCFC and with the remainder, we have become Lifetime Members so that we can stay abreast of the work being done at RCFC. Also, children at the library donate from time to time by dropping coins into the coin caddy that sits on the shelf; we for our little stamp collectors, we also collect used stamps and sell them at the library. This money also always goes into the caddy. Today we gave Rs. 110 from the children and have started the collection again by placing the empty coin caddy back on the shelf at the library.
Special thanks to Adarsh Sharma, Noriko Takemura, and Hiromi Yamamgami in Japan for their efforts to collect contributions for the treatment of the children at RCFC. A very special thanks to Mary Ohdai who has been handling the mustard seeds postal account in Japan.
http://www.avinner.com/578.html
Rehabilitation Centres for Children
59, Motilal Gupta Road
Kolkata – 700 008, West Bengal, India
Cheque should be drawn in favour of "Rehabilitation Centres For Children"
Bank account number for foreign donation
Name of the bank: Standard Chartered Bank
Bank's address: 41 Chowringhee Road, Kolkata - 700071, India
Savings Bank Account Number: 332-1-00-6193-8
======
Dear Maura,
I would like to take this opportunity to write to you about RCFC once again. We are very proud to have your name on the list of donors and we hope that you will wish to continue helping us in whatever way you can.
Started by Jane Webb in 1973 for rehabilitation of orthopaedically handicapped children, we are still continuing the services relentlessly. We are doing 25 operations per month and patients are coming from remote areas of not only West Bengal but also from Bihar Jharkhand, Orissa, Bangladesh. Around 50 to 60 children are staying at the centre for treatment.
RCFC is now suffering from an acute financial crunch. All the services are continuing but we are facing great difficulty in meeting the expenses since no fund is forthcoming from our foreign donors almost over a year. We are managing both ends with great hardship with our strong determination and goal of services to the children in order to give them a chance to live a purposeful life.
At this point of time I would seek your help for some donation as you deem fit for medical rehabilitation of orthopaedically handicapped children undergoing treatment at the Centre. In the past you have always been kind enough to donate to RCFC on several occasion. We fervently appeal to you for help and would also request you to approach benevolent donors to extend their helping hand to generate fund for the welfare of this Centre. (All payments should made in favour of REHABILITATION CENTRES FOR CHILDREN)
Kindly note that donations of RCFC are exempt from Income Tax under Section 80G
Please help us to continue the work Jane started by giving us your financial and emotional support.
Thanking you once again and we look forward to your esteemed response.
Yours Faithfully,
A.B.Choudhuri
Sr.Vice President
==========
I had been hoping to visit the centre but as it is quite far from where I live, I asked RCFC to visit us to pick up the donations I collected from the coin caddies and kind well-wishers in Japan. Mustard Seeds was able to donate Rs. 7000 to RCFC and with the remainder, we have become Lifetime Members so that we can stay abreast of the work being done at RCFC. Also, children at the library donate from time to time by dropping coins into the coin caddy that sits on the shelf; we for our little stamp collectors, we also collect used stamps and sell them at the library. This money also always goes into the caddy. Today we gave Rs. 110 from the children and have started the collection again by placing the empty coin caddy back on the shelf at the library.
Special thanks to Adarsh Sharma, Noriko Takemura, and Hiromi Yamamgami in Japan for their efforts to collect contributions for the treatment of the children at RCFC. A very special thanks to Mary Ohdai who has been handling the mustard seeds postal account in Japan.
http://www.avinner.com/578.html
Rehabilitation Centres for Children
59, Motilal Gupta Road
Kolkata – 700 008, West Bengal, India
Cheque should be drawn in favour of "Rehabilitation Centres For Children"
Bank account number for foreign donation
Name of the bank: Standard Chartered Bank
Bank's address: 41 Chowringhee Road, Kolkata - 700071, India
Savings Bank Account Number: 332-1-00-6193-8
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Learn & Earn at Shikshamitra
There is a new program just being started at Shikshamitra, the school where I teach in Alipore. It's called Learn & Earn. For the older children in the school, the pressure to start thinking about how they will make a living is already on and they have lost some of their interest in pure academics. The Learn & Earn program hopes to expose them to various trades and handicrafts after school, so that they might find a niche which they feel comfortable in.
The program began this week. The older kids will come in two days a week afterschool to participate. CLOTH, as you can see from our bulletin board, is the focus. At least for the first two months. On Tuesday, we held a small exhibition of cloth: cloth puppets, wall hangings, clothing, cushion covers, bags, pouches, ornaments, etc. It came together very nicely, especially as some of the children also remembered to bring something in for the display. One boy brought in his sister's embroidery sampler, and another brought in a small hanging she had in her house. We discussed the connections we have to cloth, and how emotions can be attached to pieces of fabric. Sudeshna showed us a quilt her mother made for her using Sudeshna's very own frocks from childhood. After the discussion, the children got to work making their Learn and Earn notebooks, covered in scrap fabric. On Thursday, we began one of the first production projects. We will focus on creating unique products that may be for sale. To start we will be making some patches to sew on bags which I hope to sell in the US this summer to raise money for this project so we can buy supplies and get the kids set up to start producing and selling for themselves.
We are also looking for donations of CLOTH, any old clothes or fabrics that people want to discard will be recycled here.
Some other possible exposure experiences will involve paper, clay, food, etc.
Wish us luck in this endeavor!!
The program began this week. The older kids will come in two days a week afterschool to participate. CLOTH, as you can see from our bulletin board, is the focus. At least for the first two months. On Tuesday, we held a small exhibition of cloth: cloth puppets, wall hangings, clothing, cushion covers, bags, pouches, ornaments, etc. It came together very nicely, especially as some of the children also remembered to bring something in for the display. One boy brought in his sister's embroidery sampler, and another brought in a small hanging she had in her house. We discussed the connections we have to cloth, and how emotions can be attached to pieces of fabric. Sudeshna showed us a quilt her mother made for her using Sudeshna's very own frocks from childhood. After the discussion, the children got to work making their Learn and Earn notebooks, covered in scrap fabric. On Thursday, we began one of the first production projects. We will focus on creating unique products that may be for sale. To start we will be making some patches to sew on bags which I hope to sell in the US this summer to raise money for this project so we can buy supplies and get the kids set up to start producing and selling for themselves.
We are also looking for donations of CLOTH, any old clothes or fabrics that people want to discard will be recycled here.
Some other possible exposure experiences will involve paper, clay, food, etc.
Wish us luck in this endeavor!!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Boi Mela
This year, the KOLKATA Book Fair was held in SALT LAKE...practically in our backyard! Yes! I found myself at the Salt Lake Book Fair four times -- I was never able to achieve this when Boi Mela was held so far away on the Maidan!
Searching out bargains and requests from Mustard Seed Library users, the kids and I always spend a long time inside National Book Trust and Children’s Book Trust, two government-subsidized publishers, selling a huge array of children’s books in both Bengali and English (at incredibly reasonable prices like Rs. 13 a book). Both our family and friends enjoy the treasures we find at Boi Mela long after the stalls are broken down and the well-tromped upon area where it was located... is breathing again.
Searching out bargains and requests from Mustard Seed Library users, the kids and I always spend a long time inside National Book Trust and Children’s Book Trust, two government-subsidized publishers, selling a huge array of children’s books in both Bengali and English (at incredibly reasonable prices like Rs. 13 a book). Both our family and friends enjoy the treasures we find at Boi Mela long after the stalls are broken down and the well-tromped upon area where it was located... is breathing again.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
MUSTARD SEEDS • CALCUTTA 100 CLUB
A House for Karuna!
While visiting the US last year, my sister Margo and I mapped out a project for the Mustard Seeds fund-raising effort called Calcutta 100 Club. Our aim was to financially assist the village patua artist, Karuna Chitrakar, and her family in building a sturdy-but-simple mud house on some land that she acquired several years back in her village of Pingla, Naya in Medinipur.
Margo collected approximately $240 from her friends in Batesville, Arkansas and I sold some of Karuna’s paintings and other Indian handicrafts to raise approximately $600 for Karuna and other organizations in Kolkata while I was in Chicago and Florida (and Japan in November).
Planting another Mustard Seed -- The following people helped to build a house!
Margo Baker and Family • Suzanne and Charlotte Schaeffer • Tad McNulty • Mary Clock • Sandy Taylor • Gayle Ross • Beckey Dickey • Robin King • Linda Baker • Jayne McClure • Charlotte Finney • Cindy Kallshick • Sue Ellen Dial • Angela McMahan • Robin Martens • Melissa Cooper • Pat Collins • Rehana Huq • Jan Fujikawa • Deborah Bachmann • Yukie Kaneshiro • Rashmi Ramaswami • ˙Helen Tsatos
Karuna worked out the details of the house construction, while coming back to us to report her plans. In the end, she decided to take out a loan to make it a bit bigger than what was first planned. Her family is already able to live in their house; but the mud walls need to be done later.
We (our friend Bikram, Hiromi who was visiting from Japan, Joydev and I) visited them in mid-January and were treated to sweets, a huge lunch, and a walk about the village!
Mustard Seeds seeks to introduce the traditional art form of pata scroll painting to a wider audience in the hopes that both the paintings and the painters can persevere. Support and encouragement to rural artisans and their traditions is another aim of our small efforts toward empowering people outside of the big cities. Thanks always for your interest and support!
========
For the next fund-raising effort we will collect for GODHULI, an adult education centre located in Nadia, West Bengal. Tarun Bhaduri who manages an organic farming initiative in this area organized this school approximately one year ago. It is open from 5:30 to 9:00 every night except Wednesdays and Sundays since there is an evening market which farmers sell at. Currently there are 29 students: 8 men and 21 women. They are learning basic literacy and can all now sign their names and write their address in order to sign important papers. They can all count up to at least 20. They are all day laborers, working in the fields which are gradually turning over to organic. A teacher's salary is Rs. 1000 (approx. US$ 20). There is one teacher working here at present, Mrs. Maya Mondal. They are also in need of teaching aids and materials such as pencils, notebooks, sample books, etc.
GODHULI
C/O Mr. Tarun Bhaduri
Village Jagganathpur
P.O. Purbabishnupur
Dist. Nadia
West Bengal 741223
While visiting the US last year, my sister Margo and I mapped out a project for the Mustard Seeds fund-raising effort called Calcutta 100 Club. Our aim was to financially assist the village patua artist, Karuna Chitrakar, and her family in building a sturdy-but-simple mud house on some land that she acquired several years back in her village of Pingla, Naya in Medinipur.
Margo collected approximately $240 from her friends in Batesville, Arkansas and I sold some of Karuna’s paintings and other Indian handicrafts to raise approximately $600 for Karuna and other organizations in Kolkata while I was in Chicago and Florida (and Japan in November).
Planting another Mustard Seed -- The following people helped to build a house!
Margo Baker and Family • Suzanne and Charlotte Schaeffer • Tad McNulty • Mary Clock • Sandy Taylor • Gayle Ross • Beckey Dickey • Robin King • Linda Baker • Jayne McClure • Charlotte Finney • Cindy Kallshick • Sue Ellen Dial • Angela McMahan • Robin Martens • Melissa Cooper • Pat Collins • Rehana Huq • Jan Fujikawa • Deborah Bachmann • Yukie Kaneshiro • Rashmi Ramaswami • ˙Helen Tsatos
Karuna worked out the details of the house construction, while coming back to us to report her plans. In the end, she decided to take out a loan to make it a bit bigger than what was first planned. Her family is already able to live in their house; but the mud walls need to be done later.
We (our friend Bikram, Hiromi who was visiting from Japan, Joydev and I) visited them in mid-January and were treated to sweets, a huge lunch, and a walk about the village!
Mustard Seeds seeks to introduce the traditional art form of pata scroll painting to a wider audience in the hopes that both the paintings and the painters can persevere. Support and encouragement to rural artisans and their traditions is another aim of our small efforts toward empowering people outside of the big cities. Thanks always for your interest and support!
========
For the next fund-raising effort we will collect for GODHULI, an adult education centre located in Nadia, West Bengal. Tarun Bhaduri who manages an organic farming initiative in this area organized this school approximately one year ago. It is open from 5:30 to 9:00 every night except Wednesdays and Sundays since there is an evening market which farmers sell at. Currently there are 29 students: 8 men and 21 women. They are learning basic literacy and can all now sign their names and write their address in order to sign important papers. They can all count up to at least 20. They are all day laborers, working in the fields which are gradually turning over to organic. A teacher's salary is Rs. 1000 (approx. US$ 20). There is one teacher working here at present, Mrs. Maya Mondal. They are also in need of teaching aids and materials such as pencils, notebooks, sample books, etc.
GODHULI
C/O Mr. Tarun Bhaduri
Village Jagganathpur
P.O. Purbabishnupur
Dist. Nadia
West Bengal 741223
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Mustard Seeds Library February
Every month we put out a display of books on different themes at Mustard Seeds Library. Bapu is in charge of this! Here is our February display showcasing books on Friendship and Love!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Hiromi De-zines
Our friend Hiromi was visiting for about three weeks in Jan-Feb.
She is a member of the Bean Cooking Club at Rakutendo (http://www.rakutendo.com), an organization/shop in Kyoto, Japan that promotes vegetarianism by cooking and eating beans. They study bean recipes from around the world and distribute recipes and bean-spice kits each month to members.
Recently Mustard Seeds accomplished a neat project with Jeevika Development Society, a women's skill-training project, and Rakutendo. They developed a pot cover that not only keeps food warm but allows you to take beans off the gas burner earlier and keep the cooking going for the last 15 minutes under the pot cover.
Sooooo...if 100 people save 15 minutes of gas every time they cook, it really adds up. I like that we were able to develop a product that isn't just something to buy, but something that also protects the environment!
The pot covers are made of handloom kesh made by the Tagore Society in Santiniketan. Old sarees are woven into new thread to create incredible, completely unique patterns. Each label, a little smiling bean (the group's motto is "All we are saying is Give Beans a Chance..."), is hand-embroidered by Jeevika, along with all the sewing on the cover itself. You can see a photo of the Nabe Cover on the Rakutendo website!
They are just completing the second order of 100 pieces to sell in collaboration with WWF in Japan!
Here, Hiromi is designing the next product, a spice holder for members to keep their spice packets (which they receive each month with their Bean Cooking Kits) neatly in their kitchens. These wall pocket pouches will use jute and hand-woven khadi...and will of course have the smiling bean on the side!
She is a member of the Bean Cooking Club at Rakutendo (http://www.rakutendo.com), an organization/shop in Kyoto, Japan that promotes vegetarianism by cooking and eating beans. They study bean recipes from around the world and distribute recipes and bean-spice kits each month to members.
Recently Mustard Seeds accomplished a neat project with Jeevika Development Society, a women's skill-training project, and Rakutendo. They developed a pot cover that not only keeps food warm but allows you to take beans off the gas burner earlier and keep the cooking going for the last 15 minutes under the pot cover.
Sooooo...if 100 people save 15 minutes of gas every time they cook, it really adds up. I like that we were able to develop a product that isn't just something to buy, but something that also protects the environment!
The pot covers are made of handloom kesh made by the Tagore Society in Santiniketan. Old sarees are woven into new thread to create incredible, completely unique patterns. Each label, a little smiling bean (the group's motto is "All we are saying is Give Beans a Chance..."), is hand-embroidered by Jeevika, along with all the sewing on the cover itself. You can see a photo of the Nabe Cover on the Rakutendo website!
They are just completing the second order of 100 pieces to sell in collaboration with WWF in Japan!
Here, Hiromi is designing the next product, a spice holder for members to keep their spice packets (which they receive each month with their Bean Cooking Kits) neatly in their kitchens. These wall pocket pouches will use jute and hand-woven khadi...and will of course have the smiling bean on the side!
Saturday, January 06, 2007
BLOGGING at the library
A few of the members of Mustard Seeds Library got excited about blogging and have set up their own blog using the name of the newsletter we used to print sporadically, Mango Smiles. The site is planned to be filled with pieces by the kids themselves, and it is they who set up the account and have been doing the input all by themselves! We really look forward to news from all the Mustard Seeds members so that we can publish it on the blog. Spread the news
Have a look for yourself:
http://mango-smiles.blogspot.com
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Letter from Kathmandu
We recently had a visit with John Brandi and Renee Gregorio, two poets who live in El Rito, outside of Santa Fe. On the very last evening, we had the pleasure of hearing three of their poems. This one seems a good one to post before elections in the US.
= LETTER FROM KATHMANDU =
Friends, let us wake with disbelief,
bare our souls, tell our stories, lose our eyes,
become vagrants of the Sea.
Let us seek the heat
of the kernal that feeds in the dark,
and step aside of men whose twisted lips
pretend to lead, but are not real
in their pursuit of war.
I’ve already seen years
of massacre, hydrogen light the night,
children with ruined eyes, tortured by what
no one should ever see.
Let us leave our security,
open our memory, bring flowers
from the storm, write letters that become
sanctuaries, so that we ourselves
may become sanctuaries.
Friends, a dream
runs up to me smiling. I call on you
to see in the dark, to finish
the song inside you.
- John Brandi
= LETTER FROM KATHMANDU =
Friends, let us wake with disbelief,
bare our souls, tell our stories, lose our eyes,
become vagrants of the Sea.
Let us seek the heat
of the kernal that feeds in the dark,
and step aside of men whose twisted lips
pretend to lead, but are not real
in their pursuit of war.
I’ve already seen years
of massacre, hydrogen light the night,
children with ruined eyes, tortured by what
no one should ever see.
Let us leave our security,
open our memory, bring flowers
from the storm, write letters that become
sanctuaries, so that we ourselves
may become sanctuaries.
Friends, a dream
runs up to me smiling. I call on you
to see in the dark, to finish
the song inside you.
- John Brandi
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Dress up !
Although Halloween isn't much more than something the kids had read about in books, it didn't take long for Mustard Seed Library members to get into the Halloween spirit. We all made our own Jack-o-lantern bags and then thought quick about a costume: we had a Native American girl, a purple fairy, Harry Potter and Hermione, a pirate and a swami guy with an incredibly interesting goatee style! We even did a bit of trick-or-treating that felt like the real thing to me.
After, we raided the shelves and pulled out all the Mustard Seeds Halloween titles for the kids to take home -- and read up more on this newly found festival of fun.
Boo!
After, we raided the shelves and pulled out all the Mustard Seeds Halloween titles for the kids to take home -- and read up more on this newly found festival of fun.
Boo!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
A real get-away
We were visiting the Andaman islands for the past five days. We flew into Port Blair from Kolkata which took a little under 2 hours. We went to visit a small cove, which is the only beach on this main island the first day.
The second day, after purchasing our tickets for the boat to Havelock island, we went to see the Cellular Jail built by the British to lock up India's freedom fighters. The jail was later taken over by the Japanese. The galleries and museum were of great interest. Later that afternoon we left Port Blair and made our way to the coasts of Havelock.
Havelock is part of the very beautiful and remote island chain that extends from below Burma and leads into Sumatra. We enjoyed ourselves to no end, staying in bamboo huts, collecting shells, gliding on the huge waves of the Bay of Bengal, and riding an elephant on the beach (the footprints were enormous).
The huge array of trees are part of gorgeous native rainforests and when the monsoon rains would pour down at night on our little thatch roof, I felt exhilarated knowing that this was all that protected me from nature's forces. It sometimes felt like we'd be swept into the ocean when a huge gust of monsoon wind came with the rains.
Despite the tropicalia, this environment actually reminded me several times of childhood summers spent at Crystal Beach on good old Lake Erie.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
LOOKING FOR CHILDREN'S BOOK IDEAS
Recently I met a very dedicated woman here named Rosalie who is originally from Brooklyn, New York. She comes to Kolkata eight months out of the year to teach underpriviledged children at various locations throughout the city as part of an NGO she started to address the problem of education. The other four months are spent fund-raising in the US. Her NGO, Empower the Children , uses activity-based classes that all include a story and a craft.
She visited Mustard Seeds Library in the hope that she could find books about certain class topics, and I was surprised that we didn't have too many of them to offer! She is specifically looking for children's story books with these themes:
bird
drum
fish
glasses
guitar
heart
jack-in-the-box
jaguar
moon
nose
necklace
pearl
quilt
rattle
snake
unicorn
vegetables
vine
yoyo
yarn
worm
I thought some of the mustard seed friends and family might be able to help her out. If you can suggest titles for children's books that talk about these particular themes, she can purchase them or if you would like to donate them for her use, you can send them to her directly. Just send an email (mseeds.maura@gmail.com) or post a comment if you have book titles or want to get an address to send a new or used copy to Rosalie directly! I'll pass any ideas or books onto her.
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