Jee-news - Spring 2008

Letter from Mark

It was with a familiar mixture of elation and trepidation that I set out to get to know better three of Jeevika Trust's new partners in Tamil Nadu. Visiting India somehow always involves jolts to the imagination and perceptions. This started with adjusting to the degree of warmth and community in the villages that is happily extended to outsiders, an art often lost in more consumer-oriented societies. The second thing was a quite vivid realisation of what can be achieved by dedicated partner organisations using generally modest resources to build the capital and infrastructure of village communities. Goat rearing, bee-keeping and the development of water supplies are relatively straightforward initiatives but they have the potential to transform the quality of life particularly for village women. Finally, it was good to see how the input and initial investment from our local partners ignites the initiative and dedicated energies of the villagers themselves.

Water supplies are dwindling in an already dry state, water tables are falling and river flows decreasing but the traditional water gathering systems or ooranies are sitting there waiting to be brought back into use again. Traditional solutions to the most modern of problems, climate change - solutions that government once thought were outdated and no longer useful - might become the only available sources of water in the area in the next thirty years. Jeevika Trust has been supporting Social Change and Development (SCAD) to restore and improve three of these, bringing not only improved water supplies but providing opportunities for fish farming and increased crop yields.

The goat and bee-keeping income generation projects targeted at women carried out by the Annai Mary Foundation (AMF) and the Mithra Foundation also have great potential in impoverished villages with high proportions of Scheduled Castes or involving people unable to continue with manual labour in the fields due to HIV/AIDS. Given the right support and a modest capital investment they make a real difference and whilst we still have a great deal to learn about strengthening these initiatives this is really what Jeevika Trust is all about.

Mark Roberts
Deputy Director, Jeevika Trust

Rural India Awakening

In his letter, Mark Roberts describes the traditional rainwater-harvesting reservoirs (ooranies) in 3 villages, serving up to 6,000 people, that have now been revived - thanks in part to those who supported our 'Walk for Water' last June - after many decades of disuse. Women are for the first time receiving training in sustainable water management; fruit and other useful trees have been planted round the newly banked-up edges; school children have participated in 'Eco-clubs' to learn the critical need for water conservation. In the remaining months of this pilot project, fish-farming will be started, and community vegetable gardens will be started on the banks. Hopefully the 5 dry months ahead will no longer cause women to walk miles every day to collect household water.

We are now supporting 3 women's livelihood projects based on honey-production - one in the far north, one in Orissa and one, which Mark visited, in south Tamil Nadu: they were started in mid-late 2007 and are progressing well. In the north, SCD has expanded the earlier 7 village project to 5 more villages. In each case subsidiary skills- and awareness-training is built into the projects - such as carpentry, vermi-composting and vegetable growing.

Mark also visited our project 'Mithra' in central Tamil Nadu, which works to identify and give socio-economic support to village families afflicted by HIV/AIDS. Craft facilities have been set up and training, materials and bank micro-loans provided to both women and men for making and marketing greeting cards, candles and rush-matting. Awareness 'camps' have been held to address the problem of community discrimination against HIV/AIDS families; and crèches have been established for the many young children in these families.

New Ways to Help

Helping Jeevika Trust couldn't be easier now, with a whole host of new ways to support us with just the click of a button. Have a look at the 'How you can help' section on our website to see all the exciting new ways to get involved. With everything from skydiving to getting your company to sponsor an event or publication or organising a chai morning to remembering us in your Will, we've got ways we can help you help us. So go on, have a look!

We are really excited to tell you that we now have our very own Justgiving page. Justgiving not only allows us to process your donations more efficiently but it also means that when you organise an event, take part in a sponsored challenge or want to raise money for Jeevika Trust with your friends you can set up a dedicated page with your own personalised message for your supporters. It also means that you can get support from friends and family anywhere in the world. So if you're planning to run a marathon, sit in a bath of beans or join our Walk for Water this year, have a look at our JustGiving page now.

Search the web and raise money for Jeevika Trust with Everyclick.com. Everyclick is a great new search engine. It works just like other major search engines but it also generates cash for us. Everyclick has already raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity - help us combat rural poverty in India, one search at a time by visiting Everyclick now.

A Big Thanks!

Our big thank you this time, without a doubt, goes out to every one of our regular donors. These bastions of support help us by giving a donation every month, it doesn't have to be a large amount but your regular donation allows us to plan for the future. So. THANK YOU!

If you would like to help by giving us a bit each month, visit our JustGiving page now. It couldn't be easier.

We also couldn't let this issue go without giving a massive thank you to Laura Murphy who recently completed a half marathon in Brighton for us in a very impressive 2 hours and 3 minutes. Laura raised an amazing £561.41 - thank you Laura!

Put It In Your Diary!

We've got two great events coming up that you'll be really sorry to miss, so put them in your diary now.

Walk for Water - Sunday 8th June 2008
Last year's walk was such a success that we're challenging you to raise even more this year! Come and join the Jeevika Trust team for a sponsored riverside walk and help us raise money for our water projects. Register your place and set up your own fundraising page now by visiting our Walk for Water 2008 page.

Textiles & Jewellery of Royal & Rural India - Tuesday 8th July 2008
We are privileged to be hosting an illustrated lecture given by Serena Fass at the Royal Geographical Society, London. This evening promises to be fun-filled with a bazaar selling Indian clothing, jewellery, artefacts and much more. More information and how to order your tickets can be found on our website.

We hope to see you there!

Jeevika Lecture 2007
For those of you who were not able to attend our inaugural Jeevika Lecture in November, a transcript of Vandana Shiva's Lecture is now available.