£37,080 of £35,000 raised
Currently Fundraising: Bhaktivedanta National School
Building on some of the work that our late founder, Ramesh Shah did previously, we will be expanding an existing school to build a new RCC (reinforced cement concrete) building. The school, Bhaktivedanta National School in Ananad Bazar, Tripura has been operating successfully for the last four years. This school is special to the Shah family because Ramesh Shah dedicated it to his mother-in-law’s memory, and in 2018 Ramesh and his wife Kokila were able to visit the school to witness firsthand the work being done there to improve lives of children through education. We aim to raise £35,000 to complete the project.
£13,455 of £30,000 raised
Currently Fundraising: Tilak House
In continued partnership with Food For Life Vrindavan, we will be raising money for Tilak House – a women’s shelter where vulnerable women are trained in embroidery and needlework. During the training they will be able to sell items they make through the FFLV shop online allowing them to earn while learning. Once they have completed their training, they will continue to work for FFLV Thread for Life program. The money raised will help FFLV complete Tilak House by adding two much needed floors for offices including the office online store as well as residences for vulnerable women who wish to work their way through the program. We are aiming to raise £30,000 towards the costs of this vital program.
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
3 Schools – 1,700 Girls & Counting
Girls with access to better education are more likely to grow into healthier women, earning higher incomes. Additionally they are more likely to marry later, have fewer children and enable those children to have better health care and education. With this new cycle, eventually it helps to lift households, communities, and even nations out of poverty.
500+ Girls Enrolled For Vocational Training
Women often face discrimination and gender inequalities, and so as part of the girls’ education, they learn vocational skills to ensure they are prepared and empowered to effectively compete in the labour market, adapt to a changing world and contribute to their communities. The Gift of Hope is partnering with FFLV’s ‘Thread of Life’ programme at Tilak House – a women’s shelter where vulnerable women are trained in embroidery and needlework. Vocational skills enable to teach women a trade that she can then either use independently or through other partnership programmes.
100+ Girls In Higher Education
We partner with FFLV by funding the building of their schools. FFLV’s educational programmes aim at preventing child marriage by keeping girls in school until the age of 18. FFLV then continues to support the young women into further education, by helping them stand out in the competitive world of employment with a college degree. As college education is a proven to pave a pathway to employment, this enables the girls to end the cycle of poverty. 97% of the girls after finishing school at FFLV opt for higher education over marriage.
Tribal Welfare Project
Initiated by HH Bhakti Purshotam Swami, Ramesh sponsored lots of uprooted tribes across India. He encouraged many others to also support this cause bringing greater attention and much needed funds to the movement.
Self Empowerment Programmes
The programmes that The Gift of Hope Trust are involved in are not ‘just’ educational. Bringing about a change in the society takes much more than just educating a girl. Making her aware of her rights, her surroundings and empowering her from within are essential for her long term goals. Through these multi faceted programmes we ensure the empowerment of these girls and therefore giving them control over their lives and influence in their communities.
Over 6 Million Meals Distributed
The Gift of Hope Trust works with programmes that also care for the wider community around schools that we are involved with building. Since 1991, The Gift of Hope Trust has been involved with the feeding hundreds of poor women and children everyday because no one deserves to go hungry, especially children. This has added up to over 6 Million meals!
Over 8,000 Trees Planted
Making change within a community goes beyond it’s people. Trees benefit communities in so many ways including helping prevent soil erosion by their roots holding soil firmly in place, reducing the levels of carbon dioxide, helping wildlife, providing shade and generally making communities nicer places for all. This is why The Gift of Hope has sponsored projects to plant over 8,000 trees in communities that desperately need it. By planting trees, some of which will live for many of years or more, we hope this ‘investment’ will last far beyond our own lifetimes.
Pollution in Vrindavan
One of the cities we have dedicated much of our work is Vrindavan in India. Unfortunately the increasing numbers of tourists drawn to Vrindavan has brought with them problems such as littering and pollution. In order to combat these problems for a better community for all, we funded an FFLV programme which removes over a ton of trash and rubbish each day from the streets.
To ensure our schools do not contribute to the growing air pollution problem in Vrindavan, we sponsored through FFLV the original eco-friendly mode of transport – 11 bullock carts, which carry hundreds of girls to school each day from over 10 different villages.