To all our greatly-valued Supporters,

We have returned from another two months’ work in India, overseeing Sarva’s various projects in the northern state of Uttarakhand. To be back amongst these people, even in what is a miserably overbuilt, polluted valley, has been wholly enlivening, challenging and joyous. However, a peculiarly wet, hot summer has sped many deaths in the three leprosy colonies, and we have been alarmed at the loss in just nine months of many friends, a number of whom would be very familiar to those of you who have seen our presentations over the past few years. Those who remain, maintain their gentle, philosophical outlook and have been characteristically generous in their hugs, kisses on our fingers, shared laughter, and in the confiding of their secret sorrows.

It is with delight that we can report a number of changes that are hugely exciting. After determined, even heavy-handed, appeals for better medical care for the forest leprosy colony, a new charity doctor has been appointed, who shows no signs of the cruelty or habitual malpractice of his diabolical predecessor. In addition, in our presence, an NGO has been brought in to provide fitted shoes for the first time, which should begin to address the enduring problems of chronic foot ulceration, whilst another is to provide proper dentures (rather than those picked up second-hand from roadside vendors), which may finally begin to address the enduring agonies of gum damage that result in the chronic abscesses we too often see. A surgical team from a local hospital has now offered free

ulcer care, whilst we are trying to locate an affordable source of night-time hand-splints in an effort to treat the debilitating clawing that affects so many people damaged by leprosy.

We are certainly now seeing marked progress in the general condition of wounds, and continue to provide hands-on care, and advice to all those with whom we work. One of the greatest dangers to those affected by leprosy is the loss of feeling in the extremities. For example, we arrived here shortly after Diwali, and found that Usha had burned her wrist on one of her little, festive oil lamps. However, this was not a mere skin scorch. Unable to sense the flame ravaging her skin, she had charred flesh and sinew deep into her forearm. Daily cleaning, dressing and the provision of a never-before-seen rubber glove (an unfailing source of great bemusement) has seen a marked improvement in her cavernous injury.

newsletter 2009

Likewise, Daulat’s ill-fitting, scavenged shoes had caused a simple blister. Unable to feel the swelling, he had left it unprotected and without the body’s natural defence of a limp. The result has been truly ghastly infection, with ulceration so severe that it has exposed his bone. Private hospital visits and medication are bringing about sufficient improvements that his foot, if not lower leg, may now be saved.

With great relief, we have found that those in the river slum isolated by the ravages of leprosy remain unmolested by the slum mafia’s thugs. This is, of course, due to Sarva’s perpetual Medical Fund – still providing all dressings, disinfectants, antibiotics, anti-fungals, ulcer ointments, fever medicines and dietary supplements – for which they repeatedly call blessings upon the heads of those who make possible this freedom from violence and cruel intimidation. Thank you for your donations!

In addition, the 1,400-foot wall constructed around the largest of the slum colonies has now enabled its residents to turn almost every patch of unused ground into a

productive garden. It is a miracle that they have been able to bring pale, arid dust to such abundant, verdant life. They are now producing so much crop – onions, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, ginger, chillies, pumpkin, aubergine, chickpeas, lentils, carrots, radish, spinach, loofah, papaya and basil – that they are not only looking much better fed, but are beginning to sell the surplus to increase their communal income. We have now added to their potential yield with the provision of a seed stock that will produce an even wider range of vegetables next season. Again, they and we sincerely thank you.

It is with gratitude to our friend Jo, in memory of her late parents – and to the woman behind the BA desk at Heathrow Airport who battled on our behalf to break the rules and pass a prohibited luggage allowance at no extra cost – that we have been able to provide the most impoverished of all three leprosy colonies with good-quality blankets. The residents gathered to stare in quiet amazement at the heaps of warm woollens, whilst I struggled with tears to see them hug these gifts tenderly and plunge their faces into the unaccustomed softness. The mountains’ winter winds are chilling and nights here bitter, so this generous donation will not only provide rare comfort to these neglected and abused people, but also protect against seasonal infections to which they are most vulnerable.

There are, however, big problems yet to solve. For example, the other slum-dwellers have now taken to tossing all their waste into the leprosy colony boundaries, resulting in great swathes of rotting rubbish. The immediate risks to health of the residents need not be described.

On a happier note, to our delight we have fresh strings to pull upon in the form of two newly-made mates in state government: the Secretary of Health and Secretary of Environment. It is due to their interest in our work and their subsequent dogged persistence that, just one week ago, the Delhi government released £40,000 to provide a sewage system and electricity to our leprosy colonies. This is an outcome for which we had neither planned nor dared hope.

Our broadening education projects are now not only financing yet more captivating educational puppet shows in the slum and local village schools, as described in last year’s report, but we are now also providing daily rations of milk and a multi-vitamin supplement to the most poorly nourished children.

We took the opportunity on this trip to visit every one of the children your donations are supporting through higher education or vocational training, most of whom have grown up in the leprosy hostel with which we work. The seven girls training as nurses in Medical School are blossoming. Our first two nurses complete their three-and-a-half year course this spring, and the State Secretary for Health has guaranteed them immediate professional placement. These girls and their families are now assured a future that would have been unimaginable to them just four years ago. We, like they, thank you.

The impact of Sarva’s Education Fund was especially brought home to us by the change in two of the boys undertaking a four-year training in Hotel Management. Where once they were isolated from their peers, crushed by years of abuse for their backgrounds, consumed with such self-doubt that they could barely raise their eyes to meet ours or their voices to be heard, they are now smiling, proud and flourishing. For the first time in their lives, the boys are with people who have no idea of their backgrounds or the stigma that has laid so heavily on their shoulders. For the first time in their lives, they are standing in the world as equals. Their teachers are thrilled

PO Box 3034

Eastbourne

East Sussex

BN21 9ED

England

www.sarvashubhamkara.org

info@sarvashubhamkara.org

Charity registration number 1116069

sarvashubhamkara is a small organistion that works with ‘forgotten people’.

Our mission The relief of poverty, sickness and distress of those in need and to advance

the education for children and young people in India and Nepal, including the award of

scholarships and bursaries

with their dedication to their studies, whilst we watched them cook a meal in full chef-uniforms, then serve us in their ‘practice restaurant’. And this is all because of your donations, which now enables us to support 43 socially-excluded young people through an education or training that will secure them a future otherwise denied them because of their caste, poverty or leprosy parentage.

We are pleased to report that we now have 34 people who have signed up to Sarva’s Direct Debit Scheme, providing our projects with a secured income of £274 per month. These guaranteed proceeds are so important as they enable us to plan ahead, adding yet more children to a steadily growing number with the sure knowledge that we

can see them through to the completion of their life-changing training or education. Should you know anyone who might wish to contribute a monthly minimum of just £5, please pass on our details, or direct them to our website at www.sarva.org.uk.

Lastly, we would like to take the opportunity to mention that David’s first book, In the Shadow of Crows, is published on 23 April, by Reportage Press. Already available for pre-ordering at amazon.co.uk and reportagepress.com, the book gives an account of two journeys across India that resulted in a remarkable friendship, which in turn led to the founding of Sarva in 2006. Whilst promotion for the book will ensure increased media coverage for Sarva and its work, the publishers have also

contracted to give a percentage of their profits directly to our projects. Should any of you belong to a book club, library, school or church group that might like to invite David to speak about the book and/or the work of Sarva, do let us know.

Please believe that our gratitude to you all, though repeatedly expressed, is heart-felt and sincere. We could not undertake any of these projects, nor pledge our long-term support of these increasing numbers of dispossessed children without your generous contributions to our cause.

Until our next,David & BernardFebruary 2009.

IN THE SHADOW OF CROWSDavid Charles Manners

Two Journeys Through India...