Two new ladies were referred to us today. This is the first: her name is Maiya and her husband simply disappeared over a decade ago. She bought up her four children on her own, two of whom are now married. The other two are teenagers and live with her – they survive in one very basic room but her sacrifice has allowed her to keep her children in school. She is a very worthy recipient of our support and we really hope to be able to help her.
Maiya
And this is Hasta, the other lady who joined WWR this week. She is just 34 years old and her husband died five months ago from a heartattack. She has three children who depend on her, all of them teenagers and she suffers from many health problems herself. Please do pray for her and her family.
We are absolutely delighted that three girls who live with their mothers at Grace Women’s Home have won prizes in an inter-school competition. Until two years ago these girls were not in school and were visibly malnourished – now they are champions! It costs just £4 per month to keep a child in school; please do consider if you could set up a regular payment to help WWR give children a chance. Education is the best way to break the cycle of poverty. Visit http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/donate/donate_b.asp?charityid=2881 to set up a regular payment.
Today, 8th March 2010, marks the centenary year of International Women’s Day and Women Without Roofs – Nepal would like you to invite you to remember all the women in Nepal we help. Recently we have begun supporting several new women and this is a story about just one of them:
Meet Uma
Uma with her family
She is 31 yrs old and has 3 children. 11 yrs daughter, 7 yrs boy and 6 years boy. Her husband left her about 5 yrs ago and took her 6 yrs son with him. Her husband has another wife. Now she is living with just 2 of her children. She works at a carpet factory and lives in one room and cooks on a kerosene stove and has no good bedding for sleep. Her daughter goes to school but she does not have money for her 7 yrs boy to go to school, so he does not go to school. She needs also support from WWR.
Womenswear for WWR
Renee, one of our trustees, will shortly be leaving for a visit to Kathmandu and it would be fantastic if she could take some gifts to the women who have so little. Almost all of the women have never owned new clothes and we would love to provide them this basic luxury, that we take for granted. We would be hugely grateful, if you our supporters, could purchase just one new item of clothing, perhaps a t-shirt, pair of socks or cardigan and send it to Renee (or give to Anna or Marilyn) for her to take to the women. Perhaps you could select something for them next time you do your supermarket shop, it need not be expensive, for instance M&S sell fairtrade t-shirts for just £5.
Particulars
1. Clothing should be between the UK sizes of 10 to 16 and sizes 12 and 14 would be most useful.
2. Clothing should be new, we know you probably have lots of 2nd-hand clothing we could pass on, but we would really like to treat the women to something new and Renee only has limited space in her luggage allowance.
3. The women in general wear Nepali clothes and so it would be most useful for them to have something they could layer such as a t-shirt or cardigan.
4. The deadline for clothing items to reach Renee is Friday 19th March. Please e-mail us at renee@wwr-nepal.org for the address to send items to.
5. Should you wish to hand Marilyn (in Reading) or Anna (in Watchfield, nr Swindon) the items for them to post on with other garments that have been collected, then the deadline is Monday 15th March. Please e-mail anna@wwr-nepal.org for their addresses also.
6. If you sponsor a specific woman and would like the garment to go particularly to her then please write her name and yours on the label.
Thank you so much for you support. We really do appreciate it and know that it makes such a huge difference to the lives of the women in Nepal, all of whom burst into tears whenever we give them a gift! Please do not hesitate to get in contact with us if you have any questions.
Last week the trustees of WWR met together in the stunning Devon town of Lynton for 24 hours. As a result of the meeting they have a combined total of 49 actions to achieve and will be very busy for the next while!
Some of the main points you might be interested in are:
Marilyn will be taking over organising pashmina orders – her e-mail address is pashmina@wwr-nepal.org.
Renee will (hopefully) be visiting Nepal during February and March and will be assessing each of the women we support and ensuring they have a basic standard of living. She will be checking to see that they at least own the following items:
Bed
Salt & Rice
Jacket
Blanket
Large Water Container
Hat
Pillow
Stool
Gloves
Metal Crockery inc Beaker
Cupboard/Food Store
School Uniform for children
Saucepan/Stir fry pot
Shoes
Shawl
Pressure Cooker
Socks
Stove & Gas
Serving Spoon
Thermals
If you sponsor one of the women and would like to know what their needs are and what we will be buying for them, then please let us know.
Our income has crossed the £5,000/annum threshold and consequently we will be fully registering with the Charity Commission (at the moment we are registered with HMRC only for tax purposes).
Once Renee returns from Nepal we will be putting together a DVD to demonstrate the work we do and the plight of the women we support – we will let you know when it is completed so you can see it.
If you’d like to know what the other 45 action points are then get in contact and we’d be happy to send you a copy of the minutes…..!
Posted by annamtownsend 
