3 Appeal
4 Lord Forsyth
Director’s news
5 Railway children produce mural
From the Chairman
Welcome to the new look “Cini News”. Without doubt, CINI UK’s most noteworthy news It has been just over a year since I joined CINI UK, during which period, I have been working with a fantastic team of supporters and volunteers. We are very excited to announce that CINI has been accepted by the BBC Radio 4 charity appeals on Mother’s Day next year (18th March 2012). To leverage this opportunity, we will soon be launching a new campaign to raise public awareness of the vital role CINI is playing in the lives of the poor in West Bengal. Earlier this year, I visited Kolkata and witnessed this for myself. I was struck with the range of projects CINI is running to address issues of health, nutrition, education and protection. The key is the empowerment of women through our Child & Women Friendly Communities programme. I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the kids in the Education Camps to recite poems and show me their drawings. I also visited CINI Asha’s new Drop In Centre which provides food, shelter and education to the children from the slums or squatter colonies and witnessed the difference the centre was making to their lives.
recently has been Lord Forsyth’s epic climb of Mount Vinson in Antartica in the New Year and the funds he has so successfully raised will allow CINI to carry on with more vital projects in Kolkata and West Bengal. Equally praiseworthy is Scottish Supergran Ros Jarvis who bravely cycled the length of the British Isles, to fund a climate change related project in West Bengal. Young artist and film maker, Lucy Pawlack, was so taken with the CINI’s cause that she spent a month in Kolkata prompting deprived ‘railway children’ to design a journey through life mural in order to boost their confidence. I am very grateful to all our British supporters who are valiantly raising money for CINI, in difficult financial circumstances. Despite India’s sharp economic rise, malnutrition is still very prevalent among the very poor who desperately need our support. Our current Appeal deals with the very core of CINI’s work-in the Emergency Ward and the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC).
Thanks to all our supporters who make this possible.
Odile Slynn, Chairman, CINI UK Padma Moorjani, Director, CINI UK
Contents 3 Appeal 4 Lord Forsyth 5 Railway children produce mural 6/7 CINI’s Case studies 8 The dark face of developing India 12 How to support CINI
www.cini.org.uk