ManASVI

ManASVI
Registered Charity No. 1023

Address

Mill House
Glen Road
Colby
Isle of Man
IM9 4NY

Photos

Select a photo to view a larger version.

Adrian Arbib/ManASVI

By courtesy of Hallmark Public School, Gwalior.

Contact Details

Mr Alan Whybrew

Telephone: 07624 422929

Email: [email protected]

Other Contacts

Who we are
Mann Aid and Support to Village India (ManASVI) is a Manx charity working through local charities in the Gwalior region of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Many charitable organisations are working to relieve the hardship and precariousness of third world rural life, yet, despite this it is still easy to find villages quite isolated. Places where poverty combined with misfortune will reduce a family to destitution. Even small amounts of aid, if carefully targeted, significantly help to improve the lives of poorer families.

The founder of ManASVI has worked as a volunteer for a charity in the Gwalior area for some years and has grown to know the difficulties faced and sometimes the desperate needs of the rural poor in this area.

Where we work
North India within and around an area bounded by the cities of Gwalior, Jhansi, and Shivpuri in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Despite beautiful countryside and many historic sites, this is an area largely unvisited by overseas visitors. It is also overlooked by many of the leading international charities and aid agencies.

We work to help the poor in their villages and also in the illegal settlements around the major city of Gwalior, where rural people have moved to find work.

Our aims
To improve access to medical care and education for the poor, especially the rural poor, in this one small part of India. As a start to achieving our aims we must make the problems faced by these people known on the Island so that we can gain both financial and practical support.

The poor ManASVI helps do not beg. They are much more likely to share what little they have than ask for money. Nevertheless, money is needed. Quite small amounts, carefully targeted, can achieve a lot.

The work we do
ManASVI listens to the poor so that we provide the assistance they will find the most helpful in their situation.

We will work:

Through local charities to achieve our aim
Directly with families where a desperate need is brought to our attention
Directly through a school or hospital to address the needs of poor families
To find sponsors on the Island for children or families in need.

Appeal
ManASVI will make a special appeal for funds to assist where a child needs urgent medical treatment and this is beyond the family's means.

How you can help
Find out more about the work we do. Please contact 07624 422929.

If you are an organisation a presentation can be arranged. As an organisation you may decide to adopt ManASVI as your charity of the month.

If you are one of the many fundraisers then make ManASVI a beneficiary.

Volunteer to help (either on the Island or in India) or become a member of the Charity.

Sponsor a child.

Donations
Please use our secure PayPal online donation facility or by post to the address given.

'Giving to those who have taken little'

ManASVI would like to thank Capstone International Limited (IOM) for their help and support.

Projects

Can you help Sandhya and children like her?

Status: Currently seeking funding

Sandhya (Sanskrit for 'Evening Prayer') Aged 8

This is Sandhya. Her parents cannot afford her keep, she must work in the fields as an agricultural labourer. It is common for the children of the rural poor to work as labourers or servants. They work simply to survive and often suffer indifference and exploitation, if they run away they are in danger and at greater risk.

Sandhya is one of a number of children being watched over by a young Indian couple, Evangelist Christians, who carry out social work in the very poor area in which they live. They, and their church, have even built a small orphanage to house and take care of children like Sandhya.

ManASVI are donating £1,000 per annum towards their work and are looking for another nine partners who will do the same. If reliable funding can be found the orphanage can be opened, providing a safer and much more promising world for Sandhya and other children in similar circumstances.

If you can help towards funding please contact ManASVI.

Rupa and her daughter Puja need sponsorship

Status: Currently seeking a sponsor

Rupa and her daughter Puja (aged 7)

Corporate Sponsors, please consider sponsoring Rupa and her daughter, Puja. We do not know much of Rupa's past only that she was placed with her daughter in the Government Mercy Home in Gwalior in 2004.

Rupa suffers episodes of mental illness and has either been abandoned by her family or has run away. When asked about her past she will weep. She has without doubt suffered cruelty, and this is probably because her mental illness can lead to her lashing out. Rupa is devoted to Puja and will not allow her to be out of her sight.

Keeping Rupa and Puja together, whilst giving Puja (who is a bright child showing no sign of mental illness) an education and a chance in life, is a problem, but one that the Snehalaya Charitable Trust is ideally suited to cope with. Situated in about 15 acres of farmland about 8 miles from the city it is a residential home for the disabled and base for the Gwalior Childrens' Hospital rural hospital and village clinic service. Snehalaya has a school, qualified teachers and medical staff. There is also a small farm on site which provides work, food and a normal environment. Rupa and Puja now have a home there and will not be separated, however sponsorship for them is essential if Snehalaya is to help others like them.

Sponsorship of £50 per month is required for Rupa and her daughter Puja (aged 7).

ManASVI is seeking a corporate sponsor on the Island, either long term or for one year.

School Buses

Status: Currently seeking funding

Getting the kids to school is an expensive problem for rural families. Public transport is irregular and over crowded, there may not be any. Rickshaw drivers choose to stay in town where an expensive tank of petrol can gain more fares. Then there is the expense of fares - frequently more than a rural family can afford.

Once a child leaves the village primary school this is usually where their education stops however bright they may be. Girls tend to be effected more. ManASVI runs school buses in conjunction with Hallmark School so that Middle and High School pupils from surrounding villages can get to school regularly. Exam results for rural pupils shows that this project is very successful, it is also exactly what poorer rural families ask for.

Annual target £2,000

School Equipment Project

Status: Currently seeking donors

Schools that take the children of low income families often cannot generate sufficient income to buy the equipment required for the State high school syllabus in subjects such as IT and science.

ManASVI will use donations to buy school equipment so that the children of poorer families can complete the course work required for their high school certificate and so have the same opportunities as pupils of wealthier schools.

Target - £1,000 this year.

Village Clinic Project

Status: Currently seeking donors

Like most other countries there is no NHS in India. There are Government hospitals, no free healthcare. All medical consultations, tests, X-rays, medication and surgery must be paid for. Even with charges cut to a minimum this immediately becomes a problem for low income families. Prevention is better than cure.

Village clinics combined with health education are a very useful first line of defense against serious illness.

ManASVI will use donations to help fund village clinics and health education programs.

Target - £5,000 this year.

Will you help these Kids?

Status: Currently seeking Sponsors/Funding/Volunteers

These children are at the State Mercy Home on the outskirts of the city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, North India. Girls sitting from left: Ram Pyari 14, Soni 7, Puja 13, Shahnaz 13, Niketa 9, Fareen 8, Reshmi 13, the boy standing at the back in Ishu 14.

Abandoned or runaway children are found on the streets of all Indian cities. The cleverest survive, but those who fall ill or are not so clever are taken off the streets by the police and locked up in the Mercy Home. Here they will stay until a family member claims them. There is little chance any will be claimed. Some of these children have been transported up to 500 miles from where they were picked up (M.P. State is twice the size of England and Wales). Hair shorn and without hope these kids are trapped and their faces show they know it.

The State Mercy Home is the last refuge for the vulnerable and sick. This one in Gwalior is a high walled compound (once a farm) entered by a single set of steel gates. Here men, women, and children are locked up together, they will be fed, but little else. This is mercy in a country where extreme poverty is common. Many of the inmates are mentally handicapped. Supervision is poor. Women and children are at particular risk.

There is a way out of the Mercy Home - local charities who run orphanages and homes will rescue those trapped there.

Puja, aged 7, and her mother were rescued last year by Snehalaya Trust. ManASVI raises the money needed to support them both and give Puja the future that any kid deserves. £20/month will rescue another child.

Full sponsorship is a heavy and long term commitment for any individual, however group schemes at work or clubs are an ideal way of spreading the load. Annual reports, photos, and examples of school work are generally given to sponsors.

Snehalaya and other homes are open to visits from sponsors. If you wish you can arrange to meet the child and satisfy yourself about their welfare.

In the case of a sponsor having much needed skills to offer such as child care, education and medical/physiotherapy skills, volunteering is welcomed, even if only for a week or so. If you are interested please contact ManASVI.