Recent activities at Sambhali Trust in India

Sambhali Trust Newsletter

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Sambhali Trust in November 2020

Dear friends and supporters,

We hope all of you are well and safe. This month is not an easy one - the COVID numbers of positive cases and deaths are continuously increasing around the globe and governments and the people in general are struggling with the situation. Nevertheless, the official vaccinations and the upcoming new year are a glimpse of hope.

We are all in this together!

Women Empowerment Centers

In the middle of November, Govind Singh Rathore, Sambhali’s Founder & Managing Trustee, has visited all centers to see how the new students are doing and how everybody is coping with the rules, etc. It was great to see that all are doing well and enjoying their daily tasks and activities.

Next to usual embroideries and sewing pieces, each Empowerment Center got the task to create approximately 500 reusable face masks. The women who make the masks are getting paid by the tutors who keep record of their names and the number of masks they produce. We were able to provide them this work thanks to the order of 10,000 masks by the Nagar Nigam Government.

Even though we have worked out specific rules adapting the current situation at our Women Empowerment centers, we decided to close all our centers from 21st November until 21st December. The number of positive COVID cases is again increasing in Jodhpur and therefore, we don’t want to risk anything or anybody. Additionally, it’s also the marriage season in winter so we need to take extra precautions, especially in a time like this.
While the centers are closed, the teachers are returning to summer habits and are coming to the main office every day. They are engaged in workshops to improve their teaching and how to maintain records efficiently. The tutors are taking the lead each day and are sharing their ideas for improvements with each other.

Sambhali Trust is taking its Christmas break earlier this year. We hope that we will be able to continue with our work after the holidays.

Boarding Homes

Although our centers are closed, we decided to keep the tuition in the Boarding Homes running. While the tutors are in the hostels, everybody wears a mask and maintains as much social distance as possible. All Sheerni girls in 6th grade and upwards are attending their online classes on a daily basis and were able to register for their upcoming board exams as well.

Freunde fuer Sambhali (Sambhali Germany) and Sambhali US have surprised our Sheerni girls with additional 8 new laptops for their online classes. The girls were very happy and are glad to not be limited to only a few desktops. To improve their computer skills on a higher level, a computer tutor was appointed for both hostels for 1.5 hours per day each. It is great to see how eager all girls are about working on their technical skills.

Additionally, we wanted to provide the girls a little change in their daily schedule so we organized a drama tutor for both homes for this month. We are excited to see the effect and end results of this training.

Nirbhaya Project

To spread the news of the latest Sambhali project more and more, we are continuously distributing our informative leaflets to the inhabitants of Jodhpur. Consequently, we have organized three campaigns in the last month at different places of the city. In addition to these events, we distribute flyers to the general public and children on the road. The third campaign was done in Osian, Jodhpur in collaboration with the Student Union of the Jai Narayan Vyas University and included sanitary pads next to the flyers.

The workshop on domestic violence by the managers of the project was held in our Women Empowerment centers as well. The team is working on new content for another presentation this month.
While the centers are closed, the workshops will be held at both Boarding Homes this time. The girls had the chance to already write down specific questions after a previous workshop. Therefore, this workshop will address their notes specifically.

Sambhali’s Graduates

Nowadays, around 9 Graduates are working on orders in the main Graduate center. Some of them are also still producing Sambhali face masks which they are taking home to finish all.
For the festival Christmas time, we currently have two orders for decoration and a Christmas Fair. Other orders include tote bags, embroidered cushions and scrunches. Additionally, people from all over the world order our usual products from the catalogue.
The Graduates and the whole team involved in the creative process are very grateful for the people’s support and interest by ordering on a regular basis.

Main Office and Volunteers

On 1st December, our former office manager Mr. Shravan Bhati returned to Sambhali and the main office in the same position. We are happy have him back in the team!

Our Swiss volunteer, Mr. Aram Bishop who joined our team by the end of September, has been working hard on providing Microsoft Office for all office laptops and updating all IT systems. This is a huge step and enables all to improve their typing and IT skills on a higher level.
Our second volunteer, Ms. Carin Troll from Germany who came by the end of October, continuously manages her admin work in the main office and tuition at Laadli Boarding Home. She enjoys her work and is a great role model for our girls.

See you again in 2021!

The Sambhali Trust team wishes everyone a beautiful month of December, a merry Christmas and a good start into the new year 2021.
As 2020 comes to an end, we again want to use the chance and thank all our supporters who stood by our side throughout this year and especially during the intense lockdown period. Many things couldn’t have been possible without your generous help, interest and positive energy, especially our food distribution project in the Dechu Tehsil district. We are very grateful.

Take care and until January 2021
Sambhali Trust

Our Laadli Boarding Home girls on Christmas as Santa Clause last year.

To learn more about volunteering with Sambhali please follow the link below: Volunteer with us

Text by Roxanne N.

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