Message from Project Mala: Spread the word

It was good to receive a message recently which Project Mala sent to all its sponsors. Messages to sponsors from Project Mala are not so frequent they become troublesome...but received often enough to know I am not forgotten. This latest message is interesting as it is giving sponsors an opportunity to help in a small way which can make a big difference. The message asks sponsors such as me to consider putting a link to the Project Mala website on any websites we have. Apparently this could increase the likelihood of Project Mala appearing 'higher up the list' of results when surfers search the internet. Obviously this is crucial as many Project Mala sponsors find Project Mala through an internet search. It is only through more potential sponsors finding Project Mala and agreeing to sponsor a child that more children who need the help that Project Mala can provide will benefit from what Project Mala does. I already have the Project Mala website link on my Facebook page but as soon as I can I must think of other sites that I could add the Project Mala link to. Project Mala offers to help e.g. by supplying further information or the logo.

Another suggestion Project Mala makes in its message is to use printed media to get Project Mala into the public eye. They offer to supply any of us with press briefings about the work of Project Mala and/or the carpets if we would like to write to, or for, a local paper about our work. Perhaps I can approach some of the organisations I work with who have an interest in literacy. Can you think of anywhere or any way you could spread the word about Project Mala?   

It is good to see yet again how hard this charity works, dedicated and determined to reach as many potential sponsors as possible, thereby helping more children.         

London Marathon

 

While watching the Virgin London Marathon last Sunday I wondered whether anyone may be running to support Project Mala, the charity through which I sponsor a school child in India. I notice from the running vests and a quick look at the London Marathon website that some of the participants are supporting very large charities who arrange child-sponsorship agreements.

I sometimes find it frustrating that because Project Mala is a small charity, there are not more people who know about Project Mala. I am sure that if more people did know about Project Mala they couldn’t fail to be impressed by its work and achievements and want to sponsor a child. This is important because whilst there is already a huge amount of work being done to help the children in India which Project Mala works with, the charity needs more sponsors because there are more children in need.

Just a couple of the things that I have found particularly impressive about Project Mala which I don’t think you find with a large charity are: Firstly, the incredibly low overheads of Project Mala meaning there is very little of the money donated that is needed for the charity’s essential running costs rather than going directly to the children, their education, their food, their uniforms and their schools. The charity achieves this efficiency through the generosity of its staff who are mostly unpaid for all of their hard work.

Which brings me to the second point, the ‘personal service’ you receive as a sponsor. I have mentioned in other blog entries how impressed I have been whenever I have received communication from someone in the Project Mala team that the response has always been prompt and polite as well as appreciative.
 This is why I am interested to find ways to ‘spread the word’ about the work of Project Mala. Any ideas? I hope that this blog will be one way of encouraging other people to sponsor a child through Project Mala. Another way of raising the profile may well be through events such as the London Marathon. But I am under no illusion about how difficult and demanding it must be to run the 42.195km ~ even if it is just once in a lifetime. Having said that I am mindful that many of the Project Mala children have to travel half of that distance every day to attend school ~ but they do so gladly, such is their determination to take up the chance of the education that Project Mala can provide. Yet another reason why supporting Project Mala is such a worthwhile thing to do and why I hope more people will want to do so.

Project Mala provides bicycles free of charge while the children are at middle school so they can cycle the 10km or so between their home and school. You can read about this in a recent Project Mala newsletter.

A sponsor's visit to a Project Mala school

My last blog entry reflected on the email I had received from Project Mala about a trip that is being organised for sponsors. I mentioned that Project Mala is willing to welcome individual sponsors to visit its schools in India and commented that I expect it would be an amazing experience to do so.


Well Celia Davies and Jonathan Waters, Project Mala sponsors who have had the experience of visiting a Project Mala school have written the following few lines of their impressions of the visit to the school and given permission for me to add their account to this blog.


Reading about their visit is another reminder to me of how much I would like to visit one day but in the meantime how pleased I am to have come across the charity Project Mala and enter into a sponsorship arrangement so for just a few pounds a month from me a child in India can receive an education … and so much more. Please read on to see what I mean. Please visit the Project Mala website if you can sponsor a child.


“We arrived in Varanasi on an overnight sleeper train from Agra. Unfortunately we did not arrive until about 9.00, it should have been 6.30 and we had difficulty with signals on our mobile phones but our Tour leader assisted. Anil picked us up from our hotel around 11.00 so we had time for a quick breakfast before setting off to the schools.


Anil had kindly arranged for us to actually visit all of the classes so we saw children of all ages and had the opportunity to see a wide range of subjects being taught. We were particularly impressed with the maths class where quite young children (I think about 10 or 11) were doing percentages and profit and loss without the luxury of calculators UK children have. Although the classes were large by UK standards the children were working hard to learn and seemed happy and contented if somewhat bemused by these two strangers arriving in their school. One or two older ones took the opportunity to try out their English on some native speakers and the younger classes delighted us by singing us English songs.


All the classes were well attended and the children smartly turned out and despite a lack of resources as we know it, the benefits were obvious.

Anil then took us to one of the other schools but on the way stopped off at a state school with the aim of showing us the difference. As we approached the school it seemed strange that it was so quiet. We spoke with the headmaster and one of the children had been killed in a road accident during the day and the children had been sent home. The school had no toilet facilities and the child had been killed crossing the road to a field. It cast a shadow over what had been a very happy and positive experience.


In summary we were very impressed and very happy to see how so many children benefit by your charity. Our trip was very busy and very varied and the day in Varanasi was actually the only free day we had in India, we consider ourselves very fortunate to have shared it with Anil and his school.”

Thanks to Celia Davies and Jonathan Waters for their account and for their permission to use it here.

An exciting invitation from Project Mala

The latest email I have received from Project Mala, the charity through which I sponsor a child in India, is particularly exciting. It is an invitation to an official opening of the new Project Mala school. Wow! What an amazing opportunity! Since I first started looking at the website for Project Mala and considering whether I would sponsor a child through the Project Mala charity, I was aware that the project allows – in fact encourages - sponsors to visit its schools. One of the pages on the website that I particularly found useful and reassuring when I was considering whether to become a sponsor of a child with Project Mala was the “visitor comments page” which shows comments written by people like you or me who have been able to visit a Project Mala school. See for yourself what visitors have said just by clicking here and you may be as impressed as I was and decide to sponsor a child too! There are also pages on the website where you can read what sponsors have said, look at press comments, see what major funders have said and view for yourself independent reports such as a report from Unesco which states “the work undertaken by the organisation is really of great quality….”. I honestly think it is absolutely amazing what this small charity can achieve through being focused, efficient and receiving the support of individuals who offer to sponsor a child for a fee of £9 per month for primary children or £15 per month for secondary children; an amount which covers the total costs of an individual child, including schooling, uniforms and a midday meal. What better value for less than 50p per day can you get than that these days?

From the quotes I have read by sponsors who have visited a Project Mala school, I am aware that it is an impressive, interesting and inspiring experience to visit a school …something I will write about to share with you in another blog post soon. This invitation to visit though is clearly extra special as sponsors are being given the chance to attend the opening of a school which must be such a momentous occasion ~ a chance to see Project Mala expanding its vital work in order to help more children who need to benefit from what they do. Seeing the children benefiting from the wonderful work this charity is able to do thanks to its sponsors, and at the same time experiencing a trip to ‘Incredible India’ as the adverts say, would be amazing experiences by themselves I am sure, but combined with co-inciding these experiences with witnessing such a special occasion as a new school opening seems like an opportunity any of us would love to take up if at all possible.

The email I have received from Project Mala goes on to explain, helpful as ever, that they have asked a New Delhi travel agent to put together a draft itinerary with an approximate cost. This itinery is just a suggestion though as sponsors are welcome to make their own arrangements and organize a trip that suits their own pace, pockets and preferences. To attend the opening of the school, sponsors just need to be in Varanasi, a city situated on the banks of the River Ganges in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on 9 – 11 February 2011. Varanasi is regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and probably the oldest of India.The email I have received from Project Mala explains more and maps of where they work can be found on the Project Mala website.

Project Mala advises booking soon because February is a very popular month to visit India due to the temperatures usually being very comfortable. Early booking may also be advisable to maximize the time there is to look forward to the trip! The suggested trip sounds very tempting for tourist reasons alone. As I look through the itinery some of the place names and activities are familiar as I was lucky enough to go to India for a holiday a couple of years ago and enjoyed visiting these places as part of that trip. I found my trip to India was indeed an incredible experience so I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to revisit places such as the India Gate War Memorial at New Delhi ...

... and would love to repeat activities such as an elephant ride in Jaipur.

Seeing the Taj Mahal at sunrise is a highlight for many people.

The Project Mala suggested trip also includes viewing The Ganges, something I did not see during my holiday to India which I hope to experience one day.

But this trip which Project Mala is suggesting to its sponsors has the unique offering of a chance to meet the Mala Team in India, visit rural India to get a first hand opportunity to assess the value of the work Project Mala is doing, see some other village schools, watch some carpets being woven and meet the sponsored child(ren)…it truly sounds awesome. If you watch the film on You Tube you can get a fantastic flavour of the work of Project Mala but to be there is bound to be brilliant. I imagine the team in India as well as the children and staff at the school will be pleased to welcome sponsors to their school’s official opening, some presentations by Mala children and a buffet lunch in a Chamiana (Marquee).

 

My job as a teacher means I am unlikely to be able to take part in the suggested trip because I am committed to being at work on particular dates but I will certainly investigate whether I can take part in some way….wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity like this, would you?

Have you heard of Ploink?

I hadn’t heard of Ploink until I came across it today. Now I know that Ploink is a new website that gives people the chance to donate small amounts of change to charities of their choice. It seems to be an ‘ICT equivalent’ of a jar you put 1p or 2p coins in. We are currently seeing politicians turning to digital ways of getting their message across in an attempt to win every vote in the forthcoming elections. Likewise charities are moving with the times and increasingly using the website as an easy way for people to make donations to causes they would willingly support but perhaps haven’t thought of doing so. I am not sure whether this electronic version is any easier for the donor than putting coins in a jar – or whether it is better for the charity - but for charities that can make a difference with ‘small amounts of change’ and benefit from spreading their message in a way that only the world wide web can do, perhaps Ploink is a good idea.

I am reminded that whilst my standing order to sponsor a child through Project Mala is a simple way for me to regularly contribute to work that makes a difference, one-off donations to Project Mala can make a difference too. Individual expenses such as a school bag costing 63p and a school uniform at just £4.50 for a child for a year could soon be achieved through putting 1p or 2p coins in a jar…. whether it’s the modern ploink version or the traditional glass version!

More Project Mala website developments to come

I explained in previous posts on this blog that Project Mala had recently informed me and other sponsors that they have been working on some enhancements of the website to make it even easier for sponsors to see information about the child(ren) they sponsor. When I had a spare moment the other day I thought I would look through the new pages. When doing so I found a ‘my payments’ button and was a little concerned to find that the ‘last paid’ and ‘next due’ on my records were blank. I hoped there was no problem with my payments but thought I would check. Project Mala offer sponsors a wide choice of when and how to pay. Whether someone chooses to sponsor a primary school child for £9 a month or a middle school child for £15 a month, payments can be made monthly / quarterly / annually. The choice of how to pay includes standing order / cheque / credit card / paypal / bank transfer. It really feels like it couldn’t be simpler. I contacted Project Mala about my query and received a reply to reassure me that there is no problem with my payments but that particular part of the website is currently being upgraded. Once again I am grateful for the personal, prompt and professional service provided by Project Mala….just one aspect of their work I really appreciate.

Technorati

Just adding details of this blog to Technorati, an Internet search engine for searching blogs, because I am keen to make it effective and helpful for Project Mala sponsors and potential sposors. If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch.  

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