Gomvati, widowed and in hospital.

Gomvati was married at 10 years old and widowed at 18. She had her first baby at 12 years old and now, at 18 years old, she has lost her husband and has a 6 year old and a 1 year old to take care of. Making her situation even more desperate is that she is so weak and sick herself that she has been admitted to hospital.

Gomvati lost her husband 2 months ago. He died from a dog bite 4 months after the dog bit him due to lack of proper medical care.

Gomvati has never had a job. She has TB which is contagious, so we cannot employ her or recommend her for employment. She has two small children to look after so it is very difficult for her to work.

Her only family in Vrindavan is an aged mother and one brother, who has lost his wife and has 3 children to support. He pulls a cycle rickshaw, and only earns around Rs2000 per month (US$48) even when it is peak tourist season, so has little ability to help his sister.

Gomvati's mother is now trying to support the whole family even though she only earns Rs 400 per month by singing kirtans (devotional songs) so they have been living mostly on food handouts.

When FFLV staff met Gomvati, they realized that she was very weak. Tests showed that her hemoglobin was only 3.9 which means she could collapse at any time. In her weak condition, she is also breastfeeding her one year old son who she has not been able to afford to buy extra milk for since her husband died.

We made an emergency enrolment and put Gomvati's 6 year old daughter into nursery class and we have started paying for Gomwati's hospital treatment. We are also supplying cooked food, soy milk and bananas for Gomvati's mother to take to her in hospital.

FFLV staff have also donated blood for her and our school nurse has been going back and forth to check on her condition. We are doing everything we can to help her but we need your support.



Pictured above is the house where Gomvati, her mother and two children live. As you can see, the house has no proper roof or door. It is simply a shed, and they pay Rs 200 (US$4.70) per month to live there.

We are currently facing bills of Rs14,500 (US$345), including hospital costs, food donations and travelling expenses back and forth to Narendra Hospital, Vrindavan.

Gomvati's children also need someone to sponsor milk / food for them. To get them 1 litre of milk per day we need Rs26 per day - Rs791 (US$19.00) per month or Rs 9490 (US$228) for one year, until Gomvati has completed a course of treatment for TB and can work.

We are still needing to raise US$425 for Sushant's family (see post below) so we really need your help immediately.

If you can help Sushant's family or Gomvati and her children, please do so. There will never be a better time than now to pledge your support for such needy people.


We need your help for:

Gomvati's medical costs $345
Milk for Gomvati's children $228 (or 19.00 monthly).
and Sushant's family's medical costs, $425


Please pledge your support now through www.fflvrindavan.org or by emailing me at rupa@fflvrindavan.org.

Thank you + Update on Madhu

We are on the way to helping Sushant's family and have received the first donation, of US$50 from anonymous, Kazakhstan. Thank you kind anonymous donor. This leaves US$425 that we need to help the family get over this very difficult time.

To the sponsor who helped Madhu - a widow with 3 children who suddenly collapsed from an unknown virus, I am pleased to inform you that she is not out of hospital and is recovering at home. She is still very weak and we are not sure when she will be back at work. We will let you know when she makes a full recovery.

Another widow, Gomvati (whose husband died only 4 months ago) is also desperately in need of assistance, see next post, coming up soon. Please help us keep this blog moving so we can keep helping people through it.

A family going through a rough patch

Sushant (far left) and his family inside their home

Sushant is one of our 8th graders at Sandipani Muni school. He is a tall, confident and good humoured 17 year old boy who is popular with his classmates. When he is at school with his friends, you would never guess that he is under extreme stress.

Every night for the past few weeks, he has been pulling his father's rickshaw from 6-9pm (as well as his regular part time job from 3-5pm) . He has been doing this to help feed his family and pay their rent because his father has been too sick to work for the last 4 months.

Sushant's teachers wondered why he was not getting his homework done and this led to us finding out about his family's condition.

Sushant's mother, Bhavani, is also ill. She has TB and the family needs US$167 (Rs 7000) to continue her treatment. Bhavani works in an ashram, cooking, and only earns US$24 (Rs1000) per month.

The family pays US$18 (Rs750) per month rent. They have no running water or bathroom facilities, and are struggling not to be kicked out of even this poor room as they are two months behind on rent. (It is FFLV policy not to give monetary hand outs, so we propose to give them rations till they get back on their feet.)

Sushant has been doing everything he can to help his parents get well. He is a devoted son and a good student. We want to help him get his parents back, healthy, so once again, we are calling on the kind readers of this blog to help out.



The help needed for this family includes:

Bhavani Dasi's TB treatment, US$167 (Rs7000)

Medicine previously purchased for Shukumar das, US$21 (Rs850)

Medical checks to diagnose Shukumar's condition, US$71 (Rs3000)

Rations for the family for the next 6 months - until Shukumar can recover enough to pull his cycle rickshaw or find another job. ($36 per month or 216) (Rs 1500/Rs9000)

We are not sure if more money will be needed to treat Shukumar's condition but, at the moment, the family does not have enough to eat, nor do they have the money for the check ups to find out what is troubling him, so, first things first....they need help to the value of US$475 (Rs 19,850) URGENTLY.

Donations can be made through www.fflvrindavan.org. Please write "Sushant" in the space provided for "purpose" on the Pay Pal registration page.

We appreciate your ongoing support.

Thank you + update on Gurupal.

Thank you to anonymous, USA, and a new donor, Deepak Seethi, for contributing funds toward the treatment of Gurupal and Madhu.

Gurupal has now been discharged from hospital and is resting at home. I recently talked to his doctor who said he was happy with his recovery but is not sure if he will be able to go back to his previous job.

Help a mother get back to her children

Dearest blog readers,
Madhu, one of the ladies who works in our sewing centre has fallen sick with a mystery virus. She has been in hospital for 3 days on a drip and cannot eat anything. As you can perhaps see from the photo, she is already very thin and emaciated. She works hard 6 days a week and also looks after her 3 children who all attend Sandipani Muni School so she is constantly under stress and her immune system is very weak.

Madhu is a single mother. She has 3 children and, a few years ago, her husband walked out on them.

At this time she came to Food For Life begging for a job. We supported her to do a vocational training course and, after 8 months she passed the exam and became a tailor. She was at the top of her class and chose to keep working for FFLV, making uniforms for the children at Sandipani Muni school.

Madhu's 3 children.

In most affordable hospitals in India, in order for a patient to be admitted, they have to be accompanied by someone who will provide their food and basic needs. Usually a relative does this but Madhu has no relatives in Vrindavan so we have arranged an attendant to care for her while she is in hospital.

Madhu does not have any relatives or neighbours who can look after her children so Food For Life has arranged accommodation for them.

None of this could have been done without the support of our blog readers. For her treatment so far we have been digging into the emergency fund for her treatment, but we need to your support in order pay for her full treatment and move on quickly to the next case (already waiting). We are also getting behind because were still trying to raise $100 that we spent for Gurupal, when this case came up.

Doctors say that Madhu needs to be in hospital for another two weeks to recover properly, and this will cost:

Rs 2500 (US$59) to pay for an attendant to stay with her and bring her food.

Rs 3000 (US$71) to fund her children's care.

Rs 10 000 (US$238) for hospital charges (the doctors assure us that since we are funding her treatment from Food For Life as a charity case, they will not charge more than this)

Rs 4500 (US$108) for medicines.

Rs1500 (US$36) for special food and fruit that her attendant will buy for her to help her make a speedy recovery.

(Plus the Rs 4200 (US$100) that we are still waiting on for Gurupal)

So in total we need your help for Rs25,000 (US$612)

Please let me know what you can do to help. Rupa@fflvrindavan.org

India and the Millennium Development Goals

India not on path to achieve MDGs
15 Sep, 2008, 0623 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: Halfway into the period timeline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) suggested by the UN, India seems to be slipping on most of the eight goals, as per the latest findings of the international organisation.

The global economic slowdown, climate change and rising food prices will make the task of meeting the goals even more difficult, the UN adds.

Explaining the impact of these causes, UN resident coordinator Maxine Olson said: "Recent reports warn that the progress made so far in achieving the MDGs is now being undercut. It is estimated that this will result in an estimated one billion people to go hungry while another two billion will be undernourished."

Regarding the goal to achieve gender parity, she said: "Within primary schools, gender parity is at 95 percent in six out of 10 regions. In India, however, lack of access to water and sanitation has an adverse effect on girls’ attendance at secondary schools. Also the gap between men and women is higher among rural areas and for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.”

“In India, while the target value of maternal mortality is 109, the 2001-2003 figure was 301. By current trends, India is not expected to reach the goal of improving maternal health,” Olson added.

The eight MDGs were adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. The following are the eight goals and India's performance in each of them as per information available in recent reports and the MDG website.

Goal 1 : Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

The problem of hunger persists in India with over 200 million people lacking access to enough food to meet their basic nutritional needs. Over 50 per cent of the children in the country are malnourished and of those, about 20 per cent are severely malnourished.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

In India, however, lack of access to water and sanitation has an adverse effect on girls' attendance at secondary schools. Since almost two-thirds of the world's 110 million children out of school are girls, ensuring their education is a top development priority.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

In India, socially debilitating customs and patriarchal mindsets curtail women's basic rights. Fear and shame prevent many women from speaking out against the declining sex ratio, foeticide, infanticide, domestic violence, dowry deaths, rape, sexual harassment, HIV/AIDS vulnerability Issues and trafficking in women and children.

Goal 4 : Reduce child mortality

In India, 1.7 million infants die every year and an additional one million die before they reach their fifth birthday. More than 64 per cent of infant deaths occur in the first month of life and a majority of them die in the first week.

The main killers are asphyxia, premature birth, diarrhoea, pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Around 30 per cent of newborn babies have low birth weight and therefore face high risk of death.

Goal 5 : Improve maternal health

Reduction of maternal mortality depends on the availability of skilled attendants at birth. Currently in India, skilled providers attend only 42 per cent of births.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS malaria and other diseases

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in India; each year over 1.8 million people contract TB and about 450,000 die from it. Also one in 630 people is infected by malaria. According to reports of the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO), India had 2.3 million people infected with HIV.

Goal 7 : Ensure environmental sustainability

Around 40 million households in rural areas do not have a safe source for drinking water and over 100 million rural households live without access to sanitation facilities.

The Indian government has recently released the National Action Plan on Climate Change. However, challenges remain. Increasing population, falling water tables, coupled with serious drought conditions have dire consequences for health, nutrition and the overall development, especially of children.

Goal 8 : Develop a global partnership for development

India in the past few years has seen the initiation of Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative and with recent findings urging developed countries to increase development assistance to meet committed targets by $18 million a year till 2010, India may meet its financial aid requirement.

Thank you

Thank you to anonymous, USA, who has donated $25 to add to our funds for Gurupal. Now we are down to needing $100 for him.

Thank you

Thank you to anonymous, USA, who has contributed $200 towards helping Gurupal. We now have $125 that we need to raise for him.

Thank you

We are grateful to receive the first donation for Gurupal of $50 from Anar Aitekenova, Kazakhstan. Now we have just $325 left till we can help this man and find the next person who is unable to pay for desperately needed medical care.

Help needed for a stroke victim and his family

Gurupal is a 65 year old man who had a stroke last Tuesday (2nd September) He is currently paralysed on one side but showing good signs of recovery and was able to sit up today.

Gurupal is well liked by locals who remember the jhal muri (spicy puffed rice) that he sold on the streets of Vrindavan for the last 20 years. Whilst his job made him a popular figure with locals, Gurupal never earned much by selling these small newspaper parcels of puffed rice.

Gurupal has a wife and two teenage children. His wife, Maya, works as a housemaid and earns only Rs 500 (US $12) per month and, until Gurupal is able to get back on his feet the family will have to live on this.

Gurupal's daughter is currently attending high school. His son is working as an apprentice barber and only earns Rs 20 per day (US$0.48c), hardly enough to feed himself.

This is a terrible economic situation, even before we even take into account Gurupal's medical bills. Gurupal is currently in Ram Krishna Charity Hospital. He has undergone CT scans and other procedures that will come to at least Rs 15, 000 (US$375).

With the permission and help of our blog viewers, we would like to help Gurupal and his family, at least with the hospital costs of $375. Pledge your support by emailing Rupa@fflvrindavan.org

Food For Families

Our Food For Families program is ongoing. If you hear of someone who wants the pleasure of knowing that a family eats well because of their help, please recommend them to the FFF program. Right now we have some urgent medical cases that need attention...

Food For Families

Prince's mother and brothers with their rations.

As many of our faithful readers know, the family of Savita, an 11 year old cancer patient, have decided to discontinue her treatment and let her die a natural death. While disagreeing with their decision, we are unable to contest it. We contacted her donors and most have already agreed to transfer their donation to another needy family (pictured above).

The first on our list of families in need was the family of "Prince", a boy who attends Sandipani Muni school in 1st grade, along with his two sisters Maya and Sheetal. Prince’s younger brother, Kuldeep, was born recently with a blockage in his windpipe.

The family spent thousands of rupees without hesitation on medical expenses in order to save Kuldeep’s life but this naturally took a very heavy toll on this poor family, both financially and emotionally. Adding to the family's difficulties, from all the stress of his son's treatment, the children's father, Ramji Lal, had a nervous breakdown and has consequently been out of work for 4 months.

The family did not ask us for any help and instead took loans from neighbours and sold almost everything from their home to pay for Kuldeep’s medical expenses. We found out about their desperate situation when one of our team members made a visit to the family's house to get some background information on the family for the person who sponsors Prince's education through the 'Gift of Hope Program'.

After having sold everything, the family have nothing left and no one they can borrow from to get money for food. Fortunatly, with the agreement of our kind blog donors, we were able to provide them with rations, (starting from September 1st) and will continue this for the next year, until the family gets back on their feet.

Our Food For Families program currently provides rations to 23 needy families, but there are many more cases that we are aware of where children go home from school and get no dinner or just a few chappatis and some pickle. With your help, we would like to tackle this challenge.

Not only does this help provide basic nutrition to a family, but it also ensures that the family have a strong incentive to keep their child in the Sandipani Muni school, thus ensuring the child a good education. To feed Feed a family and provide a strong education to their children at the same time gives us a chance to really transform their lives, in the present and the future.

We can provide a month's worth of rations for a needy family for US$20 per month (Rs 840). We give them basic food stuffs - wholemeal flour, legumes, oil etc. so that they can spend the little money that they have on vegetables and milk for their children.

If you would also like to help children go to sleep with full stomachs, contribute to our Food For Families program by contacting the FFF coordinator at richard@fflvrindavan.org.