2006 - £313.00 was sent out to buy sewing machines. 2007 - £1186.00, 2008 - £655.00, 2009 - £630.00, 2010 - £688.66, 2011 - £600.00, 2012 - £576.00, 2013 - £600.00, 2014 - £500.00 and 2015 - £250.00.
That's a LOT of sewing machines! So many girls have been re-homed and with a sewing machine and the skills to use it, can keep not only themselves but their siblings as well.
2016 - £450.00 given
2017 - £540.00 was given (thank you June and Elaine!) and we received this amazing message from Sr. Annet, along with these photographs.
Dear Julie,
Loving Greetings from Sr. Annet Varghese, Amara Prema, Maski!
I am writing these lines just to tell you that we are grateful for the generous help you extended to us recently. Though I don’t remember seeing you, I was told that you have been a long-time supporter of our programmes. I am here, at Maski, for the past four years and I feel happy that you remembered Maski again and renewed this relationship! I pray that God may keep you in good health and may everything go well with you.
With your funds we purchased 6 sewing machines and distributed them to six young girls who have Devadasi family background. They have been trained in our Tailoring Centre here. We chose them also because we found them hardworking and eager to improve their financial condition through alternative self-employment. The cost of machine was Rs. 6000.00 each; and with fitting charges the total amount came to Rs. 37,373.00.
I guess, you are familiar with Amara Prema Project, Maski, in Karnataka. This year we have 85 girls in our Boarding. These girls are, all studying in the nearby school, ranging from Class V to Class X. We are also following up and supporting some children who have completed their Class X and are staying in other hostels to do their Pre-University studies. We run, here, a Computer Centre and a Tailoring Centre. Besides these, we have formed Youth Groups in villages and periodically conduct awareness programmes on health and hygiene, Child and Human Rights, Government Programmes, Climate Change and Environment Degradation, Water Conservation and Management, Agriculture and Farming, etc. We have also formed 28 Women Self-Help Groups and, lately, formed them into a Federation. Both Youth Groups and the Women’s Groups support us in our programme for Children and Child Rights. In the villages they ensure that children do not drop out of school. We run ten Tuition Centres in ten villages to supplement the classes in the government schools where these children study. Our staff are actively involved in these programmes and keep closely monitoring them.
Here, we are three Sisters, in our Community and all are happy; because there is plenty of action, here, to keep us all busy. Once again, thank you for your support. The girls who got the machines are also grateful and feel empowered as they, now, find themselves financially independent! I am enclosing, here, some photos of the beneficiaries.
Thanking you, and praying for God’s blessing on you,
Sr. Annet Varghese 18 March, 2018.
2018 - £540.00 given, which should pay for quite a few more sewing machines - it actually paid for EIGHT! Thank you June and Elaine - you paid for two each! And here they are!
In her thank-you letter, Sr. Annet said:- "With the funds we bought eight new sewing machines and distributed them free to eight Dalit girls who also underwent a six-month training in tailoring in our tailoring center. Needless to mention that these children were the most deserving and would have wasted their training had we not supplied them also the machines! We had not told them till the end of the training that they would be given the sewing machines, hence their surprise, joy and gratitude was boundless when they received the machines! It was a great moment of joy for us too to see the girls carrying (not literally! - they are cast iron and weigh a ton!) those machines as prized possessions! Each machine came to Rs. 5500/- making it a total of Rs. 44000/- The fitting and transportation charges came to an additional amount of Rs. 3816/- Thus the total expenses came to Rs. 47816/- (£67.93 in total for each machine. Last year the cost was £67.18; a 75p increase.) Thus the skill and the machine jointly are going to play a significant role in our efforts to make these Dalit girls free, economically independent and self-governing!"
2019 - £582.55 given. Thank you June, Elaine and Jo.
And then we started the SEW, EDUCATE AND LIBERATE PROJECT!!!! So exciting!!
Click on 'New Project! - Sew, Educate and Liberate' to read all about it and to see lots of photos.
2021 - £250.00 given by DK to pay for sewing machines. Thank you so much!
We haven't heard from Sr. Annet since before Covid, but hopefully they were able to use all the SEL sewing machines to make masks etc.