Our projects
BRIDGE COURSE PROGRAM
Since 2010 the live-in Bridge Course Program run by Sr. Mary Crescence has educated around 150 poor village girls who otherwise would have remained illiterate. Annual costs are around $8,500 for the entire program, study materials, textbooks, stationery for exams, toilet articles, medical expenses, games articles, honorarium for two teachers, telephone expenses, monthly meeting and office expenses, travel allowance, audit fees, and dormitory maintenance.
FREESCHOOLS WORLD LITERACY
We support 28 FreeSchool centers in Bihar, managed by Sr. Crescence of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Bettiah. Children who normally work in the fields and take care of siblings learn to read and write after regular school hours on donated property in primitive villages around the towns of Bettiah and Motihari. Starting with one school in 2000, the program has grown to 28 schools including tailoring centers. Funds raised mainly cover salaries for teachers, support staff, and administrative costs.
2017: THE DISABLED CHILDREN'S VAN
Sr. Ambrose, the Project Director of Sacred Heart Sisters Training School, also manages the disabled children's day care center at the Sugauli SSH convent. Many of these kids live in the radius of 33 kilometers from the day care center. To attend therapy, the staff would take these children from their homes to the center by public transport, which was very difficult and uncomfortable for these children. Sr. Ambrose asked me if I would find a way to raise money for a van, which we did! The price, including a year's fuel, maintenance and driver's salary came to US$14,500 at the time. She received the funds on 4 January 2017 and the van has been a blessing to them ever since! All we need to do now is continue to raise funds for the driver, gas and maintenance = around $2,000 a year!
SUGAULI FREESCHOOLS EDUCATION CENTERS
On 1 October 2018, under the directorship of Sr. Ambrose of Sacred Heart Sisters Training School in Sugauli, Bihar, FSWL inaugurated five new centers in five villages at Sugauli Block East Champaran district. Five teachers were selected, one from each village, and each center was provided with basic supplies. Teacher training sessions were held to focus on selecting the students (ages 6-14), managing their centers, and dealing with the parents. Two field staff, Sonalal Kumar & Rahul John, were hired to weekly monitor and supervise all five centers. We are now in our second year of this program, and have added tailoring classes as well as menstrual hygiene management for the adolescent and older girls aged 12-18. We are now (2020) in the second year of the program.
COVID-19 BIHAR RELIEF FUND
May 2020: As Covid-19 is sweeping over the world, the families in the villages where our boys and girls come from and where we have FreeSchool centers are suffering from hunger. With the sudden lockdown, many of the fathers who work as migrant laborers in distant cities cannot return home and their families have no money for food. Sr. Crescence and Sr. Ambrose reported that there are around 220 families in need, each requiring around $6.50 per week for a diet that consists mainly of rice, lentils, flour, onions, cooking oil, and salt. We are aiming for $5.000. Sr. Crescence is using the funds to purchase those items and prepare a "packet" of food for the most desperate families, which they can come to the convent to pick up. Sr. Ambrose is purchasing the food and using the Disabled Children's Van to bring the packages to the five villages where we have schools in her area.