Help Orphans In India (GSAM General Fund)

If you have been following our weekly newsletters you probably already know that our annual Summer Games program has just wrapped up. The Summer Games is a month long event that we run for our kids during their school summer break. This was our 9^th Games. Filled with games, challenges and programs designed to build our kids confidence, entertain and create memories that will last a lifetime, the Games are truly something special.

Each year the kids are split into four coloured teams, this year it was the Red Knights (red), the King Sharks (black), the Thunderbirds (blue) and the Hunters (green). Competition between the teams was fierce as they completed daily tasks, challenges, competitions and events for points. The team with the most points at the end of the Games would be crowned the Summer Games Champions and receive the covetted Summer Games Cup!

After 4 weeks of challenges and with points absolutely neck and neck, the Red Knights scraped through for final victory and were crowned the Summer Games Champions. Congratulations team!

We had an absolute blast running the games - our Summer Games Committee did an incredible job managing daily fun! We have no doubt that our children will look back positively on these games for years to come. They have all gone off to school this week – sharing stories with their classmates of the exciting (and sometimes disgusting) challenges/fun they had over the summer break.

We want to thank all of you who have supported us through the last quarter, work and life continues well here on the Mission. Our new Kindergarten construction is well underway with the foundation now being completed (just in time for the monsoon which hit last week). Our fields are going well, we have planted a large crop of sugar cane and will soon be planting our regular rice crop.

It is through your support that we are able to continue to make a positive change in the lives of our kids; we could not do this without you.

Links:

• Learn more about the Summer Games...

When last we reported we were heading into Christmas - which is always a lovely time of the year. If you are following along with you weekly newsletters, you already know that our Christmas was a wonderful one. We had plenty of past staff and children return home to celebrate the season; there were bonfires, presents, snacks, picnics, games and everything you would expect from a GSAM Christmas.

We are now headed into summer. Blankets and sweaters are being packed away, we're spring cleaning and enjoying the warmer weather before the tormenting heat of summer sets in.

When we say "all our children are happy and healthy" this is not something we take for granted, especially in the difficult times we live in. We are indeed grateful for good health, for the food on our tables and the safety that we live in. We had a wave of the Omicron variant roll across our campus however it was quick and relatively painless - most everyone had it and recovered from it within a period of 10 days.

There has been plenty to do this last quarter, the most notable of the long list of work being:

• We started construction on our new Kindergarten building; the next big step in our school campus vision.
• Our mustard crop was harvested. Poor weather conditions meant the crop was not amazing, but we were luckier than most farmers in our area.
• Our kids are now all back in our school. COVID-19 protection protocols are in place, but it's great to have them all learning in a classroom environment again!
• We started our Northern Field Fencing Project which is also being fundraised for here on GlobalGiving.

Of course there have been hundreds of other things happening, day-to-day activities, micro-projects, repair jobs both big and small, birthdays, events and even a state election! If you would like to hear more about these types of things please do consider signing up for our weekly newsletter, you can see a sample of them here.

Looking forward, the next big job that we have ahead of us is finding sponsors and support for 8 more of our kids who are interested in persuing university degrees through our Mission University program. It's a massive job, but we've already seen the incredible difference a degree from a good university can have through Our First Graduate.

Through it all we are grateful for the incredible support we have seen from each of you as well as from GlobalGiving themselves. We're confident that this next quarter is going to be just as active, fun filled and adventurous as ever and look forward to partnering with you through it.