SOLIDARITY DINNER AND FUN

On May 16th, Lliçà Solidari, a socially-oriented association with headquarters in Lliçà d’ Amunt (Barcelona) hosted a solidarity dinner full of exotic flavors, colors and ethnic variety.
Lliçà Solidari has been organizing this get-together for the past few years. The aims behind it are:

• To facilitate coexistence and acknowledgement of people from other countries that live in the municipality of Lliçà D´Munt.
• To present the projects it supports and to raise funds for them. This year, just as last, one of the NGOs whose projects it will back up will be Fundación Asha-Kiran.

Around 30 people prepared food from their country of origin so that the diners could sample an assortment of dishes from Bolivia, Nepal, Belgium, France, Ecuador and Senegal. Counting cooks and diners, around 250 people enjoyed both the dinner and the brotherly and festive atmosphere.

After the dinner, there was a short Indian dance show to round off the get-together.

Lliça Solidari states: “From Lliçà Solidari, we will continue to work together with Asha-Kiran so that they may carry on with their solidarity endeavors in India.”

From Asha-Kiran, we are once again thankful for being able to go on walking hand-in-hand with Lliçà Solidari.

Uttam Módenes.

ASHA-KIRAN in BOLLYMADRID 2009

The second Bollywood and Indian culture festival will take place in Madrid on June 5th, 6th and 7th.
Organizer: Madrid Central District City Hall and Lavapiés Neighbors Association

• Multidisciplinary and integration Indian culture week in the Lavapiés borough.

• It will take place throughout Lavapiés, with a wide array of cultural and visual features.

• The cultural agenda will be distributed in themes among the following town squares:

- Food at Lavapiés Square

- Bollywood films at Agustín Lara Square

- Handicrafts and design at Corrala Square

At Corrala Square there will also be separate spaces for several NGOs that work in India and wish to make their work known to the public, enlist new sponsors or simply carry out activities in relation to the themes in question.

Just as last year, FUNDACIÓN ASHA-KIRAN will have a marquee and a handicrafts stand at Corrala Square, and will also organize various activities and children’s workshops.

COME SEE US AND FIND OUT ABOUT OUR SOCIAL ENDEAVORS

Place: Corrala Square, Lavapiés Borough (Madrid). Metro Lavapiés.
Schedule: from 10 am to 8 pm

For further information, please contact us at:

(+34) 913 920 688 fundacion@asha-kiran.org.es

www.bollymadrid.com

4 LÍRICAS CHARITY CONCERT IN MÁLAGA

On Saturday, May 2nd, the quartet 4 Líricas gave an Opera and Zarzuela Concert for Fundación Asha-Kiran in Málaga, Spain, which around 250 people attended, the benefits of which will go to our Projects with vulnerable children in India.

After all the preparations that a cultural and social ceremony such as this entails, we feel deeply grateful and pleased with the outcome and everything we received.

We wish to thank the members of 4 Líricas: León, Bernardina, Juan Manuel and Sergio for the generosity of their voices and their hearts.

Our thanks to Antonio, Ángel and Javier, from Málaga County Council, for their availability and for making it easy.

Thanks to Daniel Muriel for his musical whirlwind and his personal touches.

Thanks to Carmen, Ana, Esther, Mª Ángeles and Esther Gálvez for their cooperation, solidarity, effort and for spreading the word.

Thanks to all of those who participated in, were moved by, and enjoyed the performance; to the children who came and to their parents for coming with them.

Thanks to Kamar, the “fifth rose” (she already knows why).

Thanks to Hansa and José Luis for BEING THERE.

Thanks to those who couldn’t come, but were present in our hearts.

Thanks to those who believed in order to see, and also to those who had to see in order to believe.

At Fundación Asha-Kiran, we wish to keep on making Art and Creativity available. This way, we hope to contribute to the building of a better world, a better society, a fairer future. Art opens us, it connects us, it invites us to dream.

Signed:
Remedios Montoro, Board Member of Fundación Asha-Kiran.

FUNDACIÓN ASHA-KIRAN AND FUNDACIÓN SEUR: UNCOVERING NEW PATHS

On April 20th, Hansa Sousa, Vice-president of Fundación Asha-Kiran, and Ramón Mayo González, President of Fundación Seur, signed a cooperation agreement through which Fundación Seur launches a new Project called Abriendo Caminos.

By this agreement, Fundación Seur will back up the social endeavors of Asha-Kiran’s Project Day Care Centers for Vulnerable Children by providing 60% of the Project’s budget. A-K will be responsible for the remaining 40% of the budget.

This contribution will bring us even closer to the Project’s objectives, whose main aim is to offer care and protection services to vulnerable children in the city of Pune, and to foster their holistic development by providing the following:

• Day care
• Nursery and kindergarten services
• Nutrition and health care
• Education
• Creative and recreational activities
• Personalized psychological support

We are indebted to Seur for the solidarity shown through this agreement of joint work. Asha-Kiran commits itself to use all of the funds obtained on the children who take part in the Day Care Centers Project. We hope this will be a lasting agreement, and that many children will be able to enjoy it.

THANK YOU.

Uttam Módenes, President of A-K.

THANK YOU, LLIÇÀ D' MUNT. THANK YOU, LLIÇÀ SOLIDARI

On February 20th, Fundación Asha-Kiran and Fundación Vicky Sherpa made a presentation of their respective aid-to-development Projects before a large and participating audience in a Cultural Hall of Lliçà D´Munt (Barcelona), under the auspices of Asociación Lliçà Solidari.

Lliçà Solidari and Lliçà D´Munt City Hall have been standing behind Asha-Kiran’s Projects since the beginning. Last year, a large portion of the Oral and Dental Care Program budget came from them.

At the presentation, we had the chance to explain where the funds we have received will go, and inform the public about the work that we do for vulnerable children. Vicky Sherpa, a tireless Catalan who has labored for disadvantaged people in Nepal for over 20 years, was also there.

MANY THANKS to the town of Lliçà D´Munt for its generous and caring contribution to vulnerable people’s lives, and MANY THANKS to Lliçà Solidari Association for trusting Asha-Kiran. Your contribution is welcome and will be put to good use.

A warm hug from Fundación Asha-Kiran.

The Regional House of Valencia supports Asha-Kiran

As part of our fund-raising campaign and the dissemination of our work, Valencia’s Regional House, Barcelona Chapter, worked together with Asha-Kiran by hosting a fantastic poetry and music evening last February 23rd in which arts and heart came together. Everyone, artists and public, made evident their solidarity with, and their respect to, disfavored children in India by enthusiastically encouraging us on to continue with our work, with even more determination if can be.





The evening was a success. We had a full house and there was plenty of poetry, music and a great atmosphere. We rest assured that the children in India will benefit not only from the funds raised, but also from the vitality that all who attended the gathering showed us.



















Thank you for your cooperation and support. We hope to have more invitations such as this one.
Fundación Asha-Kiran.

INTO A NEW YEAR...

Hi, there.

We’re back in Spain once again after spending some time in Pune the past holiday season, and full of satisfaction in view of ‘our’ children’s progress.

Many of the children at the Day Care Centers, and all of the children at Yashodhara Shelter, now have the required academic level to receive traditional schooling in Indian government schools, and are attending classes daily with other children their age. After class, they take advantage of the academic support they get from the teachers at the DCC’s and the Shelter, in order to cope with their schoolwork. All of them were completely at ease in our company, approaching us openly and uninhibitedly, showering us with caresses and smiles, and showing great curiosity and participation in the activities that we had for them.

Since the middle of October/08 to the middle of January/09, there have been several initiatives launched from Spain aimed at having a positive impact on our beneficiaries’ lives.

Itzíar Onatibia, our Volunteer dentist, left for Pune in October to check and treat the children’s and their relatives’ mouths and teeth. Not an easy task, since working conditions there often put her patience to the test. Nevertheless, all obstacles – from dental material that ‘disappeared’ from one day to the next, frequent power outages, obsolete premises and equipment (which we couldn’t bring over from Spain), to patients who didn’t always show up for their appointments – were overcome during the three months that Itzíar worked with true dedication, and during which she earned the friendship and gratitude of the people she treated.

Though the Oral and Dental Care Campaign 2008 was a success and another intervention in this area won’t be necessary in the near future, we plan to go on with dental treatments. In fact, a few of the children will need to have braces put in.

Montse Álvarez, our technical Project Coordinator, was in Pune from October to December to monitor and evaluate our Projects on the spot – an important task that adds credibility and professionalism to our work.

From December 20th on, Ane Mujika, also from Spain, gave pottery and painting workshops to the children, which lasted done week each. The children were delighted to explore new possibilities in arts and crafts, and became quite proficient with the new techniques after a few days.

More recently, Tritoma S.L. from Madrid donated a much needed van to Asha-Kiran Shelters Foundation. With it, we’ll be able to run countless errands for which we formerly depended on public transportation in Pune, so we are very thankful for their generosity.

Finally, Asha-Kiran participated in two flea markets in Spain – one in Arroyo de la Miel, Málaga, and the other one in Plaza de Lavapiés, Madrid. They both lasted a month, and the funds collected from the sales of Indian articles went to our Projects, as always. MANY THANKS to all the Volunteers who backed us up in these endeavors, as well as to those who came to India to assist our children in taking new steps in their development process.

We urge you to take regular tours of our blog and our website in order to be informed of our ‘whereabouts’. We wish you the best in the coming year and are delighted to have your presence and support.

Until soon,

Fundación Asha-Kiran