Taking it easy in 2015!

Its now the end of January and I just realised I have been very lazy and not touched this blog for a long time. Maybe one of the reasons was that I wasnt my usual self with ill health adding to my woes. I have now decided to take things easy in 2015 and go slow on my charity work, though once you are in it, you always remain in it and cant really let go. While I will be making a plan to check out which direction Whispering Hope should move in, I am always ready to serve the under privileged on your behalf. Some photos of the recent activities are being uploaded into the album. Check it out!

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.