Purple Martini Diwali Visit, Mapusa, Goa
The very kind souls at @purplemartinigoa invited 100 children for a Diwali Meal at the beautiful new restaurant in anjuna. In the end around 80 fitted onto two buses as some were heading back to their villages for family Diwali celebrations, but 80 was still a big group to organise and filled the two buses we had rented for the day.
The children arrived at just gone midday and settled down in the sea view restaurant. All the children were given several small courses of food starting with Chana Masala and Large Puri's, then Pizza, two sweet dishes, chocolate, mango juice and more. Just before leaving all the children were presented with a wrapped present to celebrate Diwali.
As always the staff and owners were so very welcoming and went above and beyond to make the day special for the children.
Here are a few photos, although most had finished eating by the time I got the camera out (it was a busy day)....
Happy Diwali Everyone!, Mapusa, Goa
This Diwali has been so very busy and we were blessed by some great support - The contents of the Diwali bags were all given by the staff at Hilton, Double Tree in Panjim who have been super kind to us over the last few weeks. We have another trip planned for the children who haven't been to sample their hospitality at the hotel this week. As well as the dry goods and health care items supplied by the hotel, as an extra bonus for the children we received beautifully presented Indian sweet boxes for each of the children.
The sweets that were a last minute addition were given by Vidhya, Tanya Oak family, Somani family, Sheetal+ Viru family, Medha Savera, Himaneesh family, Tulsiani family, Rahim Laila family, Gayatri + Karunesh. THANK YOU ALL
This is just the start of the fantiastic Diwali items, lots more to tell, but for now - here are some of the children receiving their large Diwali Bags and sweets.
#DoubleTree by Hilton Goa-Panaji
FIFA U-17 Women´s World Cup 2022 - Quarter-final, Mapusa, Goa
The children were invited to see the Quarter Final of the Fifa U-17 Women's cup in Margao yesterday, it was a very busy day at Goa Outreach as it started off by some visitors bringing some sweets to add to our Diwali Bag Distribution (Each year we give out dry goods, health care items and oil etc to the children) this year, and we needed to give some out at several of the families were heading to their villages for the Diwali Holidays so we gave out just over 30 Diwali bags. We also managed to fit in getting show sizes for the children who came ready for the plimsolls which most of the schools need after the holidays.
The Bus arrived just after 1.30 and we headed on our way with a wait in Panjim as we collected the tickets. Thank you to the Kadamba bus company and driver who ferried us safely both directions (and I hope you didn't mind the 36 children singing loudly for most of the journey back ??
On arrival at Margao we were given 'food parcels' and formed a queue to head to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium along with so many other schools children who had also been invited from schools around Goa.
As soon as we got inside the stadium, the heavens opened and the match started off dull and wet, but thankfully after 20 mins the rain subsided and we warmed up and watched the young players fight it out.
Thank you to all the volunteers at the stadium, the police men who help all the children across the road and to the organizers for the free tickets.
Aquib's birthday, Mapusa, Goa
A very fun day celebrating Aquib's birthday on Wednesday. The couple brought cake, pasteries and drinks for the children and spent the afternoon playing games and dancing! Everyone enjoyed.. Thank you Both!
we have given out 20,000+ packets of biscuits, Mapusa, Goa
Biscuits - Over the last few weeks we have given out 20,000+ packets of biscuits to our children and to lots of children attending local Govt and Govt aided schools. We received so many boxes of biscuit so we packed them up into groups so each pack had a good selection of the different brands of biscuits. We are thankfully getting to the last boxes now and most will go once we have given out Diwali presents this week (hopefully).
Thank you once again to Travel Food Services (TFS) for donating the biscuits and all the staff and children from all the schools we have donated to.
Giving Out Bisuits, Mapusa, Goa
We gave out packs of biscuits at a local govt primary school. The children were delighted to receive them.
Thank you to all the staff and children for their time
Children Visiting Double Tree Hilton, Mapusa, Goa
The kids enjoyed a lovely meal courtesy of DoubleTree by Hilton Goa-Panaji during their visit this week. The children had a buffet stye meal with various curry (Chicken, Fish, Paneer and more) along with Rice, noodles, prawn crackers, salad and more. Some of the younger lads went 3 or 4 times to refill their plates. To finish the meal off they were given chocolate and walnut cake and a small bowl of ice cream. Yummy!
Once again, a huge thank you to Sanah and Shiv for arranging the trip and all the staff for being so welcoming during the whole day.
The children rarely get the chance to play in a swimming pool so they cherished their time and really did not want to get out of the pool for lunch.
Most of the kids were happy just playing and posing for photos but a few wanted to learn how to swim, although did not like getting water in their ears ??
A Huge thank you to Sanah and Shiv for arranging the day and all the staff for being so welcoming.