We are so incredibly lucky to have such a continuous supply of volunteers that are willing to live in tight quarters, eat simple food, work for free...and give a never ending flow of LOVE!

Sonal and Nayur from England finished off their volunteering at the beginning of February to travel with their parents. Their presence was deeply missed by the children as they were able to give sooo much in their short time with us. Their language skills allowed them to get closer to the children, achieve more with the children and most importantly have the children get closer to them and truly feel support. We are going to be very lucky to have both Sonal and Nayur return after their travels for a short time.

We had a very short stint of volunteering by Gaelle from France. But the length didn’t hinder us in gaining so much from her. She let nothing stand in her way and was able to get through to the kids very successfully without words. She was able to teach One! a lot through her approaches and energy.

Caroline was a breath of fresh air when she arrived at the beginning of March. We desperately needed extra hands as our number of children in class kept seeming to increase. Caroline’s abilities and dedication seemed like she was adding way more than just two hands. She is a wonderful person with amazing leadership skills balanced with incredible work ethic and determination. Her fabulous organization skills helped us to make classes run more smoothly and efficiently than ever.

Children’s Hope Inc. is an organization in New York who Tracey introduced us to. Our meeting with them was wonderful, and they have sponsored our team reinforcement project which includes both a professional Social Worker and a Hindi Teacher. We are presently negotiating with our Social Worker and will be hiring the Teacher shortly after. Children’s Hope Inc. has generously sponsored the project for 3 years.

Meeting Tracey Jackson face-to-face was great. She has been an incredibly generous, long-term supporter. She has decided to extend her donations to include restaurant meals for the children every Saturday! Wow!

Usually most of the news that we have to tell is about the children, but it is time that we tell news about some of the parents...both good and bad. Fatima is pregnant again with her 8th child. When asked who would be mothering the baby, she answered without a second’s thought: “Reshma”. Her 15 year old daughter. Little Ravi and Raju’s father has a very severe case of tuberculosis, and their mother has a minor one. Both children have been tested and neither have the disease. Both mother and father are taking medication but not very dedicated to the prescribed regimen. Lila (Jayenti and brothers’ mother) has been complaining about pain in her abdomen for a month and so we finally took her in for testing. It turned out to be appendicitis. We got her in for surgery and she is now healthy. Upon visiting the family (at their legal house), suddenly Chaman—Lila’s husband—broke down to tears. He said: “If it weren’t for you, my wife would have died.” The doctor had said that had the operation been left for a week longer she would have passed a way. Brothers, Ashok and Ravi have been forced to work by their parents who simply don’t want to work for themselves. Our maid Deepa ran into Ashok one day and commented thatthings must be better for his family now he replied: “Not really, it just means my parents drink more alcohol.”