Help us equip and sustain the children's home

There are two ways in which you could look at the wonderful new Children’s Home in Darjeeling, built and sustained by the generosity of our supporters worldwide. You can see the tangible things which money has bought: the splendid new warm, dry and safe accommodation; the new water storage tanks; the wardrobes, built by a local carpenter which are gradually replacing the old rusty metal cabinets; the comfortable new pillows and mattresses which, one by one, are replacing the old, thin and uncomfortable bedding; the store room stocked with toiletries and medicines; a pantry filled with all manner of fresh and nutritious foodstuffs; and so on. Or you can look at the benefits which these tangible goods are delivering for our children.

When one of our trustees visited recently, a teenage boy proudly showed her his new wardrobe which was so tidily arranged that it would put to shame 95% of teenage boys worldwide! When a child’s bedding goes from being lumpy and uncomfortable to being – in the child’s eyes – luxurious, they pick up the subliminal message: “Someone, somewhere, thinks I’m worth it.” And when the everyday fare is goes from being boring, repetitive and of relatively low nutritional value to being varied, tasty and nutritious, it doesn’t just make mealtimes more enjoyable, it contributes to the overall health and welfare of all our children.

I’ll end with a topical story. Thanks to a generous gift from City Voices Bristol, we’ve engaged a choir trainer with a reputation for working musical wonders with children. I’m not sure what my expectations were for the first session: if I’m honest, they were modest. But wow! When children, from across the age range, realised what fun group music-making could be, they invested their singing with tremendous energy and enthusiasm. (When was the last time you heard of children not wanting their tutor to go at the end of a session, as ours evidently didn’t?)

The spirit which the children demonstrated at their first choir session, although obviously a tribute to their inspirational trainer, is surely one of the fruits of the three dimensional products bought with our supporters’ donations. That’s why, for the Darjeeling Children's Trust, success is not measured in dollars spent but in the quality of life we provided to children. When we say “We change lives”, that is precisely what we are enabled to do, thanks to our supporters.

Thank you!

Links:

• Our Spring Newsletter