Whispering Hope is 7 today!

Yippee! My baby Whispering Hope is 7 years old today! Its a lovely morning and I pray that all of my family, my friends, my sponsors and well wishers be blessed abundantly by our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name miracles happen. While my charity works have been going on for the last 15 years, it was christened Whispering Hope on the 8 December 2007.

A Christmas Celebration - 7 Dec 2014

When the Brilliant Bakes (Ashley & Helen and their son David & his wife Malka) and the Awesome Alves (Andy & Anita) from Sydney decide its time to help the poor through Whispering Hope, we can expect a multitude of stars to light up the lives of the poor. On this occasion, Whispering Hope under the guiding hand of Rev. Fr. Arockiasamy held a Thanksgiving Mass for these sponsors and their families at a little church dedicated to Christ the King, in Alampuram, West Godavari District. A colourful carpet was gifted to this humble church to mark the 2nd Sunday of Advent and snack packs distributed to the faithful gathered there. From there we moved onto the premises of St. Mary's School where the hostel boys gave us a hearty welcome and a variety entertainment which kept us amused. Santa also made his appearance delighting the kids gathered there. Speeches, thank you's, dancing, fun and games kept us busy most part of the afternoon. After this a sumptious lunch with palav and chicken being the main course, was served and I am now told that the number of people who were fed were 186 at the final count! Imagine that! Isnt that wonderful? I take this opportunity to thank our sponsors, Ashley & Helen, David & Malka, Andy & Anita from Sydney and Guruvaiah and Ramesh from Guntur for their contributions which made this event a memorable one, not only for Whispering Hope but also for the parishioners of Alampuram and the hostel boys. Surprisingly all the sponsors have sons and most of our guests were boys! This event seemed to have ended on a perfect note. I would also like to thank Rev. Fr. Arockiasamy and his team for giving us this opportunity to serve and also Rev. Sisters Mary Mathew and Subha for gracing this occasion with their presence. Our photo album has the story in pictures.

Celebrate Children's Day With Us

Come 14th November and children all over India jump for joy as they fondly remember Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday which is termed as Children's Day! As Whispering Hope had planned to visit the Carmel High School in Chebrol, West Godavari District, on the 15th November, the Principal and the staff decided to postpone the Children's Day celebration by a day. With volunteers rolling in from Bangalore (Fenella Patterson), Chennai (Judith Glassford) and ofcourse Guntur (Ranjita Rajagopal, Deena Kumari and ME), we headed out for our exciting rendezvous. The cab was packed with all the goodies that we had and off to Chebrol we went! 30 children were selected for a sumptious lunch during which time, prizes were given out for the Lucky Badge, popular games were played, everyone 'boogeyed' to the all time favourite 'put your right hand in, put your right hand out, put your right hand in and shake it all about; Do the boogey boogey....'. After a delicious lunch of Palav, fried chicken - that could put the KFC out of business, and raita, the children jumped for joy when a fun loving, dancing Santa Claus entered and added to their excitement. Gift bags containing toileteries and a few surprises were given out. Oh yeah! Christmas did come early to the sleepy village of Chebrol. From this little event, we moved onto the concert put up by the other school children. While wishing all the children success in their forthcoming exams, I made them do the 'boogey' too! The teachers, students and service staff were treated to a light snack of fruit cake, laddu, mixture and freshly brewed tea. Our Photos will also tell you how happy the kids were. You will see some of the little ones showing off their pretty necklaces brought in by our volunteers Deena Kumari and Judy. It gives me great pleasure to thank our main sponsors of our Children's Day event for their contributions - Carmel Lobow, Vivienne & Greg Manuel from Sydney, Sharon & Troy Gomes and Yvette & Vicky Mohan from Melbourne. Special thanks also go out to our volunteers mentioned above without whose help, I would have been left stranded without the wheels to get there! Thanks to Ranjita, Fenella and Wendy Daunt from Bangalore for pitching in towards the cab fare. Thanks also to Preethi Bagrecha for giving us those colourful bags from Roop Rang for the goodies. Lets give them all a big hand, shall we? Thank you Folks!

Birthday Dreams

Birthdays are that special time when we dream of chocolate cake (my favourite), presents, friends and a real good time. When you are a 6 year old little girl, it takes on an entirely new dimension as the excitement that precedes the big day is enormous! Dreams came true for Whispering Hope's protegee, little Miss Bommi, when her birthday was celebrated with much gusto early this month. The photographs displayed mirror the muted excitement and awesome wonder of our little friend. The surprise element was the gift of a bicycle which she was hankering after these last couple of years. Our heartfelt thanks go out to the PINTO family from Sydney who made this possible. Thank you Cedric, Maureen, Charleston, Craig and Cassandra for the generous contribution towards this noteworthy celebration. We also thank Yvette Thomas Mohan for giving us the birthday dress.

Mother Mary was there!

When Rev. Fr. Arokiasamy (Samy for short) told me that a certain gentleman from Chennai had promised to donate a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes to his village church (Thondanandal) and didnt do so, I was so distressed. I immediately offered to pay for the statue and Rev. Fr. Samy got into action and went ahead with the building of the grotto and ordering of the statues with able assistance from the village community. A year has passed and on 8th September 2014, a grand celebration was held and the first anniversary of this little grotto was celebrated with much ardent fervour and gusto. Rev. Fr. Arokiasamy could be contacted on +91 95 539 52320. His email to me is given below: Dear Madam Thank you for your love and support. The statue of Our lady of Lourdu which you Sponsored is really a graceful one.It gives us a prayerful atmosphere. All my village people Conveyed their best regards to you. Yours in Christ Jesus Fr.Samy

Drumming up the School Fees

Once the school year beings in June, Whispering Hope goes all out to drum up the much needed school fees from friends and sponsors alike. Giving praise to the Almighty God, we managed to sponsor the school fees of about 15 children across two States - Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. Its a privilege to thank the angels who came forward to help us in our hour of need. A big 'Hooray' goes out to Anil Rao from Dubai, Biju & Sudha Damodaran from Muscat, Lakshminarayan & Mahalakshmi from Mumbai, Anita Mawdsley from Chennai, Ashley Bakes from Sydney, Lochlan Fernandes and Glady Fernandes from Melbourne, Don Garrison from the US, Zafer Atici from Turkey, Altemir Wolman from Brazil and a very special Angel from Mumbai who prefers to remain anonymous every time. Thank you for being a part of Whispering Hope. The children also thank you for your generosity and said a prayer for each of you.

Photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/108867049774053916394/WhisperingHopeSSummerSpecials#

Meet the Angels

Our warm thanks go out to the following people who pitched in to make our Summer Holiday a happier one. The Staff and Management of the Olde Bangalore for giving us a complimentary stay at their unique resort in Bangalore. www.oldebangalore.in The Sales staff at the Regaalis Hotel in Mysore and Bangalore for giving us a good room rate and the lovely pastries for our long journey back to base. www.ushalexushotels.com We thank Tripta and Manoj Barai from Bangalore for the lovely dinner treat on our first day at Bangalore; Tom Mathew for the awesome Chinese meal at his place in Mysore; Mrs. Mangala Chengappa for the lovely Coorgi lunch that she hosted for us in Mysore; Fenella Patterson from Bangalore for the roast and cutlets prepared for our long journey back home and for taking these young adventurers on their shopping spree in Bangalore, despite the rain; Bina Shah, also from Bangalore, for providing some food for the train - it really was a long journey from Bangalore to Guntur and the delay in travel didnt help us one bit. We thank Noreen Joseph from Vizag and Shameem Hassan from Bangalore for the pocket money given to these young travellers. The youngsters were so overjoyed that they enjoyed their shopping sprees all the more. We also thank Helen Bakes from Sydney, Biju and Sudha Damodaran from Muscat, Sangeetha Veena from Chennai and Jackie D'Cruz from Vizag for pitching in some money towards the expenses. May God bless all of you for making this an unforgettable wonderful experience.

We're all going on a Summer Holiday!

So sang Cliff Richards in one of his hit albums and thats exactly what Whispering Hope did. We selected three young adults from Vizag - Fenella Das, Serena & Wayne Adams - and took them on an exciting trip to Bangalore and Mysore. There was a rush for train tickets as it was season time, arrangements at hotels were made and on the 1st of May we embarked on this eventful trip. For Fenella, it was a trip of a lifetime as she hadnt left the shores of Vizag neither had she ever travelled by train! And she is all of 23 years old. At Bangalore, we stayed overnight at an exotic place and experienced nature in all its glory. Beautiful flowers, pretty chirping birds, lovely gardens and the works to make this place a paradise in Bangalore which cannot be called the 'garden city of India' anymore. Pls check this place out on : www.oldebangalore.in. From Bangalore, it was onto Mysore where all the tourist spots were visited and the photographs taken could fill up a number of albums. These photos speak volumes for themselves so there is no need to elaborate.

Summer's here!

Schools close, books are put away, and the only thing on our minds is: 'its holiday time'. Plans are made to go places, visit relations,catch up with good friends,throw a party or anything else that doesnt say 'gotta go to school or college'. Whispering Hope took the time out to give the less fortunate a break from the usual routine. The first week of April saw Judy Glasford (an orphan living at the Salvation Army), Shoba and her daughter Bommi (WH's protegee) heading out for Guntur for a fun filled ten days. Parks were visited, shops were browsed thru, good food was eaten. Judy even met up with her estranged brother Everad who lives in Vijayawada and met his grand daughter. Its a real shame that they have to live apart but circumstances are such. Some photos are displayed alongside.

We keep moving on

With the Christmas excitement out of the way, Whispering Hope started on other projects - distribution of blankets to keep the little kids warm thru the cold winter nights; pensions were distributed to the ladies on our list; bank accounts were opened for the young kids and protegees of Whispering Hope; a little financial help was given to some people who were going thru a tough time. We try to reach out in many a way and hope our efforts will not go in vain as we spread Jesus' love all around. May his abundant Glory work wonders for the sponsors of Whispering Hope and its beneficiaries. Praise the Lord!

The list gets longer

We are so happy at Whispering Hope as many angels came forward to make the Christmas programs a huge success. We wish to thank each of you and implore the Almighty God to shower his abundant blessings on you and your family all thru this year. Thank you very much, my dears - Pavan and Ramakrishna Reddy from Guntur, Bridget Kumar from Bangalore, Jennifer White and her sister Sonia, Deborah Thomson, Jude Joshua, Aunty Hermie Vanspal and Regina Rani from Chennai, Bernie from Shillong, Vikram, Kalpana from Mumbai, Balasubramaniam from Hyderabad, Florence Barnes & Philomena Harding from the UK and Lochlan & Patty Fernandes, Sharon & Troy Gomes from Melbourne and Biju & Sudha Damodaran from Muscat. A very special Thank You to Rajan and Poonam Sekri from Chennai for rustling up the gifts for the children.

The Festive Season draws to a close

Whispering Hope moved onto Chennai for the last of the Christmas activities. On the 29th December, the tiny tots and their moms were invited to a burger & coke affair at American Fried Chicken (sorry Kentucky!!). Dressed in their best, these little tots had a whale of a time and enjoyed the evening to the fullest. The photos alongside speak for themselves.