Tracking Children with HIV

Social Welfare Institute gladly announces the starting of a new Project on tracking children who are living with HIV in the district of Malda. This is a pilot project in the area with an objective to identify the probable children who could be affected by HIV and still are not detected, and to help them brought within accessible medical help. The project will cover just five Panchayats in three months, although the program may be expanded to more areas at a later stage. This project is being supported by the Clinton Foundation. This project will be rolled out in the field from 16 Nov 2007 for a period of three months and will be coordinated by Ms. Barnali Roy.

Anti-Trafficking and Social Welfare Institute

Social Welfare Institute along with the Regional Forum ABCD will shortly launch a pilot program on anti-trafficking. Although until now we have limited ourselves to awareness building and occasional detection and rescue of women / girls in danger, this full fledged program will take care of both. Sr. John, FIHM at Bishrail will be the program coordinator. Since rural women are targeted mostly, we have concentrated on the Banshihari block of South Dinajpur district which sends a junk of girls and boys as cheap labourers to other parts of India. We wish Sr. John and her team all the best in controlling trafficking of humans.

Viable Vision

The Director R. Puthumai A. Nazarene, is attending a workshop with FVTRS arranged along with SES, and with Manfred Maurer as the facilitator. In the first group work, the team in which the Director of SWI was, presented a beautiful definition of a Viable Vision for an Entrepreneur. We state it here : " A viable vision is a Dream of the entrepreneur that is accepted by all as their common vision, and to the achievment of which all resources are pooled together over a period of time enabling the success of all--individually and collectively".

A New Health Project

SWI will begin a new Health Project targeting the immunization of all children under the age of five in 78 Panchayats (counties) covering approximately 250,000 children and pregnant women. The project will involve a vast army of about 250 Staff and volunteers and an year to achieve the goals. Watch out this space for more details. The first training for the Staff is scheduled for 15 - 17 Oct, 2007. The project will be done in full collaboration with the District Administration and the Health Department of the districts of North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda.

SWI goes Wi-Fi

Another crowning moment was added to the Social Welfare Institute! We have gone wi-fi. We have connected to the services provided by the BSNL, the national telecom service provider through their "dataone" broadband service, and on our own we have converted it into wire free! So, the next time you carry a laptop into SWI, wait for a pleasant surprise... you will remain connected to the world, without any of the other accessories that you may have, or you may not have. We thank the BSNL officials at Raiganj, specially Mr. J.K. Saha and his team for taking extra trouble to get this done. Enjoy the wi-fi spot, the first among all the partners in West Bengal!

Local Government Reduces Taxes of SWI

The Raiganj Municipality has reduced the Municipality Tax to be paid by Social Welfare Institute each year by fifty percent. As a mark of good relations with the Municipality and in appreciation of the works done by SWI, the Raiganj Municipality within which SWI offices are located have been asked to pay just Rupees 4,500 only, with a possibility of further 10% rebate if the money is paid in advance. This is a big relief, as the new taxes imposed on others has gone up by 3 to 7 times in parts of Raiganj. In actual terms, the present tax would mean just a raise of fifty rupees only under the new revision, which has taken place after five years, and the new tax will be applicable for the next five years.

At a meeting held on 5, Oct 2007 it was agreed between the Municipality officials and Puthumai A. Nazarene, the Director of SWI, that the new taxes will be applicable from the next quarter. SWI thanks Mr. Mohit Sengupta, the Chairman of Raiganj Municipality and all the Municipality officials for their assistance and support in this regard.

Arrival of the SEA

On 14th morning Scott, Erin and Andrea (SEA) arrived from Seattle, U.S.A. to Calcutta, and Puthumai A. Nazarene brought them to Raiganj on 15th morning. Since then they are involved in the activities of Social Welfare Institute as volunteers and they are visiting many places as part of their learning process. Their experiences on the Indian soil is available on their Blogs as well. We will have a link created to their blogs shortly in our blog as well. Erin had taken a short video on the children. You may watch it by clicking on Erin's Children. (2 minutes)

More Visit Photos

If anyone is interested you may also visit the following for more pictures :

1. In the engine cabin of a train

2. The City Square at Madrid

3. At the Entrance to the Senate, Madrid

4. Palace of the Spainsh King

5. On High Way to Frankfurt

6. Mineral Museum of the Suhms

7. Another Picture of the Mineral Museum

8. The Hagen Station

9. The Churras for Breakfast at Spain

10. Cemetery at Geislingen

11. With Ms. Lobo-Badr, Misereor

12. At the Indian Dinner

Stranger on Board !

Once I boarded the plane, I had a strange young woman sitting next to me. I call her "strange" because she looked more like an Indian, but had accent of German English. We introduced ourselves, and it is then I got to know that she is a Russian by birth. Her family had moved into Germany during the fall of U.S.S.R Our dialogue centered around India, her personal tour to Thailand as she was traveling to Bangkok, her family and her studies. She was interested in India because she is planning to get a job in one of the large IT companies operating here. The woman named Xenia A. though still in her mid twenties had enough knowledge of Russian literature. I was delighted to know that she had some fair understanding of Dostoevsky. Indeed she was surprised to know that I had good knowledge of Russia and Russian literature! She is a free bird. She just wanted to be along in Bangkok. Not a running-away-a-sort of thing type. But, had responsibly planned her travel, and had enough material with her on Thai culture, people and places in order to make her stay more memorable. She also exuded special interest in knowing more...hated by a large modern youth, which thinks that everything that media and internet cough up are the best. At Dubai, she behaved like a little child with enthusiastic eyes. She was in Asia for the first time! She went into the large shops selling perfumes of the Arab world, tested almost each bottle and chose some, rejected some.... and planned to buy some of them. We had coffee together and then we bid bye to each other. She still remains in my mind as a child throbbing with life! I took my flight to India and reached Calcutta (Kolkata) at 7.50 a.m. on 12 Sept, and disappeared in the maddening noisy crowd of the great Indian city. (End of European Visit)

Journeying Back Home!

On 10 Sept I spent a lot of time in the morning in packing things and in spending some time with all the family members of the Kusters. We had an early lunch and then Julia, Barbara and me left by car to Seist, nearby town of the ancient Germany. The houses and churches had still the medieval touch. Many of them built in Gothic and Byzantine styles, it was a wonderful journey that included the visit to the Mohnesse lake and a cup of hot chocolate. (Photo : With Barbara along Mohnesse) In the evening we had some dinner and kept talking till almost 11.00 p.m. and then went to bed as I am supposed to leave for India on the 11th.

By 7.00 a.m. I, Julia and Sebastian left by car to Hagen from where the Inter City Express took me to Frankfurt Airport. Once I was in, I had lot of time, because I had reached the place by 11.15 a.m. The counter opened only at 12.15. Once I got checked in, I was a free bird. I moved around the whole of the airport, traveled by the sky train, went to see an A-380, and finally, took some snacks and waited. Believe me, being the 11/9, there was enormous security all over the airport which I had not seen in my previous visits to the airport. Even checking and security check were really strict in every possible terms. But, once it was done, it's time to fly back to India by the Emirates Airliner at 3.15 p.m. German time!