In The News | Hairdresses are in the house | Prickly Heat Time | 91 Springboard Donations | Visitors : A Celebration | Birthday Parties in local park | Chocolates! :) | Clothes Donations being handed out | Knitted Items

We were happily suprised to get a call from a friend saying 'you're in the paper again', we weren't expecting it so we headed out to the local shop and bought a couple of copies of the herald newspaper.

Thank you to Karsten Mirander for the lovely writeup and The Herald for publishing it in their 'The Fortnight' publication.

A huge thank you to Minette, Awon, Vivika who visited us at the end of March, the ladies are all acomplished hairdressers who like to give a little back in the process.

Minette got in touch with Robert and asked if there were any girls who would like a free haircut. Of course Robert loved the idea and the girls dropped into the centre twice to pamper the girls.

The older girls were a little reluctant to start with but as they saw their peers all glammed up and sporting their new hairstyles they were soon waiting in line for the next spare seat.

The only issue was that most of the girls with straight hair wanted curly hair and most of the girls with curly hair wanted straight hair... It's always the same, doesn't matter where you come from, the grass is always greener on the otherside! :)

Thank you so much ladies for looking after the kids.

Today we picked up 125 bottles of prickly hear powder and the Cash and Carry shop very kindly included two boxes of biscuits for just 10rs! (THANK YOU). Prickly Heat Powder is a life saver in these very humid months (April/May), the powder releaves the pin pricking sensation that is caused when sweat droplets are trapped under the skin, Robert and Yallma went round giving out the powder which will be a great help for many of the children who live in very uncomfortable conditions. Thanks to Ivan from Cash and Carry for always helping out. Hopefully the monsoon will arrive shortly and break the unforgiving heat that builds up before hand.

It was great to meet up with the guys and girls from 91springboard in March. They run a co-working space in Panjim and very kindly provided Goa Outreach with some great stationary supplies including drawing books, white boards, crayons, wax crayons, pen and pencil combos and felt tips.

These will be a great help for the new school year that starts in June.

Thank you for supporting us!

At the end of March we had another very busy day.. A family came to visit us (Madhubala, Mayank and Akshi) who were celebration the end of fasting. The end of fasting is on the 9th day of Navrati (Raam Navami), a Hindu Celebration.

They celebrate the end of fasting by feeding 9 small girls (Kanyaas). We had invited a group of girls to take part and the family provided them with a small lunch box filled with Puri, Halwa (sweet), Chane (brown chickpeas), candies, and a piece of coconut. It was a lovely gesture where the girls were waited on and treated with respect. (girls are normally expected to wait on the males of the family in many homes).

Thank you to Madhubala, Mayank and Akshi.

We would like to thank Birthday Boy Vishal Pal and friends (Nirnay, Saish, Krishna, Subham, Raghu, Uday and Nitesh) for an excellent Birthday treat for the children on Sunday. The boys came and brought treats and it was a lovely evening. It was a joint birthday as one of our children had their birthday on the same day

OK, they're not really a necessity for the kids - but they are very nice. Thank you Stephen for the chocolate and clothes and other donations

A few more photos of the children receiving donated clothes. Thanks to everyone who supported us by donating clothes over the last few months, this is the first real opportunity we have had to give items out as it has been a very busy few months.

We would like to thank all the lovely knitters out there. We have received a good collection of hats, teddy bears and mittens.

You might wonder why children in India would want knitted hats, but they love them! It can get a chilly 24 degrees sometimes - Actually in the winter months (Nov-Feb) the temperature does dip at night and a soft wollen hat is a welcome relief to some of the younger children. Here is one of the younger children with their new hat and gloves.

Not much of a smile as generally babies at that age cling to their mothers for dear life! Thank you to everyone who spent their time to knit the items for the children.