St Simon's students' exam success

The senior St Simon’s pupils with Bidyuta Singh, founder and director of Helping Point India, photographed earlier this year

Amidst these challenging times, we are pleased to share some good news with you from St Simon’s School.

The pupils were able to complete their final high school examinations before lockdown. It’s our pleasure to say that these 20 senior students have now received their results from the Government of Odisha’s Educational Department. Once again, 100% of the students have passed, and 95% have scored very good marks. We are very proud of all the students and sincerely congratulate them!

Many of these pupils have studied at St Simon’s School for 12 years. They will now attend different colleges to pursue their studies further. Helping Point will continue to guide these young and women and we wish them every blessing for their futures.

We would like to thank all of St Simon’s teachers and staff for their tireless efforts. We are also very thankful to our donors and partners for their financial support towards this success.

St Simon’s School teachers earlier this year ahead of lockdown

July COVID-19 update from our communities

Distributing food to local villages earlier in July before lockdown measures increased

In recent days, India has reported a surge in COVID-19 across its states and the impact is also being witnessed in Helping Point’s communities.

There are 22,693 confirmed cases in Odisha and 72,711 confirmed cases in Andhra Pradesh, of which 11,000 are in the north. Hundreds of new cases have been reported in the towns and villages where Helping Point is operating. 

We are still distributing food and supplies to the needy where possible, as India has been under varying levels of lockdown for nearly four months. Many people have lost their jobs and are without income and our support has helped them to have daily meals. However, the situation has become much more difficult and people are very fearful. 

Presently, the local government has imposed strict lockdown rules and regulations once more. In light of this situation, we have had to pause most of our food distribution and awareness programs as it is unsafe for the Helping Point staff to go to the communities at this point. Movement is restricted and no public transportation is operating at the moment. However, we are continuously paying heed to the needs of the people in the villages. As we have reserved food in various places, our local pastors and staff are helping communities wherever possible. 

Many people in the villages where we operate are sick at the moment with fever, cough and cold-like symptoms, including in Liviri, Hiramandalam, Gumma and Lopenta. Some are going to the government-run Primary Health Centres to receive testing and medication, while others are staying at home as they are worried about the stigma. The news of deaths in some local places is causing sorrow and alarm.

Kindly pray for Helping Point staff and the people in our communities. We thank our donors and partners for their continuous support and prayers for Helping Point’s work in India.

The latest on Helping Point’s COVID-19 response

Helping Point is continuing to provide community support in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus in India

COVID-19 cases where Helping Point operates in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh remain comparatively low, but numbers are rising. There are now 355 confirmed cases in Gajapati district in Odisha and 60 in Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh where many of our projects are based, and Liviri village is currently a containment zone. There have been no reported COVID-19 deaths in these areas so far, and we are praying for everyone’s safety. Helping Point’s team and the children and families directly supported by our projects are well.

The situation on the ground remains very challenging due to lockdown. As described in our earlier updates, it is especially difficult for the poorest people in society to be without work, and to maintain physical distancing considering their living conditions. 

Given that St Simon’s School remains closed, the building was turned into a temporary quarantine centre for migrant workers. In May, two large groups (107 people followed by 111) quarantined at the school, and they have since returned to their home villages. The fact that Helping Point has been able to assist the community in this way is one silver lining amidst the difficulties of lockdown. Another blessing is that local authorities carried out various upgrades at the school to prepare it for the migrant workers. This included constructing four new toilet blocks, installing water purifiers and upgrading the electrical system. 

Helping Point has remained busy distributing food and PPE to local people who lost their work due to the lockdown, and is continually seeking to educate people about the virus. So far, our local teams have served meals to 2,000 people and have provided 350 families with groceries. We intend to support double this number of families with groceries in the coming weeks, as lockdown restrictions ease and our team can safely access more villages. Although places of worship are currently closed, pastors have been playing a part by giving out face masks and sharing information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

The children from St Simon’s School and Jhola Children’s Home are still staying temporarily with their parents or extended families. The warden at Jhola and his staff have been checking up on the welfare of the children and all are doing well. The St. Simon’s School teachers have been working for four hours each day, checking up on the children by phone to see what help and support they need. 90% of the children have access to a phone but connections can be poor so this is not an easy task. The team is also arranging for contactless textbook pick up from the school.

Although Helping Point’s usual operations are still on pause, we have incurred over $20,000 of unbudgeted costs since the virus outbreak. We are not initiating an official fundraising campaign at this stage as we are on standby in case COVID-19 infections increase. However, we would welcome additional donations to help meet increased expenses if you would like to give .

Please pray for safety and protection of Helping Point’s communities as we face this pandemic together worldwide. 

A sincere thank you to everyone who has donated towards or is praying for Helping Point. We greatly appreciate your support. 

Update on Helping Point’s COVID-19 response

Helping Point is working actively to provide support to its local communities as India remains under lockdown to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. 

The official lockdown began on March 24th and has been extended until May 17th. Last week five cases were confirmed in Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh, including a few cases very close to the town of Hiramandalam where Helping Point India’s office is based. 

Districts in India are classified as Red (hot spot), Orange or Green zones, dependent on the number of cases of COVID-19. Srikakulam district is currently classed as an Orange zone, meaning that it is in complete shutdown and only essential services are available. There are currently no confirmed cases in Helping Point’s other immediate communities, most of which are in designated Green zones, meaning a slight relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

The charity’s normal operations closed just ahead of the shutdown on March 24th, and Helping Point is abiding with all government regulations. St Simon’s School and Jhola Children’s Home kids are staying with their parents or extended families. Our staff are regularly in contact with the children to check how they are doing and to see if they or their families need any assistance. Some communication lines are currently down, but Gajapati district (where St Simon’s is based) is a Green zone so our staff can visit in person as needed whilst maintaining physical distancing.

Helping Point staff distribute bags of groceries, masks, soap and gloves from our office in Hiramandalam

Helping Point has already initiated relief programs from a number of its sites. Working with government authorization, a team of 20 Helping Point employees is distributing relief materials in Srikakulam city, Hiramandalam, Jhola, Lo Penta and Liviri. While it is more difficult to assist those in Orange or Red zones, Helping Point is contacting community leaders in those locations to ensure that essential aid reaches those in need. 

St Simon’s school building will be turned into a temporary quarantine location for migrant labourers returning to their areas of birth from the cities. So far there have been three visits from the authorities to prepare to turn the school into a 100-bed centre.

Helping Point also plans to assist 800 local families who have lost their daily incomes due to the lockdown. These relief efforts will ensure that they receive an ongoing supply of groceries and other essential items over the coming weeks while they are unable to work. 

Helping Point is providing the following assistance:

• Providing cooked meals to individuals unable to prepare food themselves; this includes migrant workers returning home. In the first five days of the program, around 1,000 cooked meals were given to people in Srikakulam and Liviri. 

• Distributing bags containing food and other essential items such as soap. In the first five days of the program Helping Point provided 450 care bags. 

• Providing face masks, hand sanitizer gel and disposable gloves from a number of sites.  

• Communicating accurate information and advice in relation to COVID-19.

Helping Point is also working with local authorities to ensure that all community members have the information they need to stay safe and protected. This includes how to maintain social distancing when there are added challenges such as sharing a communal well, and effective hand sanitation when there is no running water. 

Our on-the-ground staff continue to use personal protective equipment to protect their safety while working tirelessly to serve others. Please pray for their ongoing health and security, and for everyone in Helping Point’s communities.

We are assessing the situation daily and planning ongoing relief efforts to respond to the changing situation as quickly as possible. We have not yet launched a formal fundraising campaign, but we welcome additional support at this time to empower us to act as quickly as needed.

Response to COVID-19

Like many nations worldwide, India is currently under lockdown to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. As of March 24th, 2020, the movement of the entire population of 1.3 billion has been limited as a preventative measure.

We are thankful to say that there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Helping Point’s communities. Helping Point is abiding with all government regulations, and the charity’s projects closed just ahead of the shutdown. Our team in India ensured that all the children staying at St Simon’s School or Jhola Children’s Home were safely returned to their parents or extended families.

Helping Point is providing aid to respond to community needs in this challenging time. This includes safely preparing food to be distributed to those in need, and communicating vital information on how to prevent the spread of infection such as the importance of hand-washing and staying at home.

The situation is especially challenging for Helping Point’s communities, as many people rely on daily wages from agricultural work to feed their families. As for so many workers worldwide - especially those in unstable employment - being unable to work is extremely worrying. The majority of homes in Helping Point’s communities are very small. Many of them of mud brick and grass roof construction with no running water, electricity or sanitation facilities. Therefore, not being able to go outside is especially hard for people, especially in temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius.

Please pray for everyone in Helping Point’s communities, in India, and worldwide, for safety and provision as we face this pandemic together.

We will be in touch again soon with further information, and details of how you can support the relief efforts.

An update from our communities

Here’s what was happening in Helping Point’s communities prior to the lockdown in response to COVID-19. For an update on how the charity is responding to the coronavirus, please see this post.

Daycare Centres

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, Helping Point has been providing meals four days a week to 150 children aged between 5-12 years old via our daycare centres. The new meals program is in response to the drought in 2019, which left many impoverished families in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh without the means to adequately nourish their children. 

Following the overwhelming response to our Christmas fundraising campaign, the meals program was going to be rolled out to five of our daycare centres from this April. This is currently on hold due to the lockdown, but once restrictions are lifted, operations will resume and the program will launch in more locations. 

Malnutrition is one of the most significant issues Helping Point encounters amongst the children we serve, and we have already been seeing a hugely positive impact from the program. The children’s concentration and capacity to learn has improved, attendance rates have risen and the kids seem generally brighter and happier.

St Simon’s School

Various developments were underway at St Simon’s prior to the current crisis. Construction work has been in progress to improve the school’s infrastructure, to comply with government safety regulations which mandate that all buildings must be cyclone-proof with concrete roofs. 

A new third floor is being added to the modern hostel block. When completed, it will be used as the boys’ dormitory, releasing the ground floor to function as a dining hall and as a church on Sundays. The windows and electricity were due to be installed on the third floor soon, but this is on pause due to the lockdown. Work was also underway to construct a secure boundary wall around the school - a huge task, as it first involves breaking up large rocks into smaller pieces suitable for construction. 

The third floor of the dormitory building is currently under construction

There is also a new teaching block next to St Simon’s hostel building, with 12 classrooms which will enable the school to increase its capacity to 400-450 pupils. Soon, the old tin- roofed single storey classrooms at St Simon’s will be removed, leaving space for further construction in the future if required. The bricks from the old girls’ dormitory will be reused elsewhere, whilst the boys’ old dorm will be used as a storeroom.

The new teaching block

In February and March, 12 St Simon’s pupils were preparing to face their final school examinations. However, all exams became suspended at short notice due to the COVID-19 crisis. Arrangements for rescheduling of exams are not yet known.

Once the students’ studies at St Simon’s are completed, these 16-year-olds will then move to junior colleges in Gumma or elsewhere. It is encouraging to hear of the difference the school has already made in the lives and life prospects of previous pupils, and we wish them every success for the future.

Jhola Children’s Home

A new girls’ dormitory for Jhola is currently under construction but this project has suffered a number setbacks to the timetable, firstly due to adverse weather (Cyclone Fani and then an extreme heatwave) and more recently due to the COVID-19 lockdown. All at Jhola are eagerly awaiting completion of the new building once lockdown restrictions are lifted.

We are pleased to report that a new well was installed in May 2019, funded by Helping Point Canada, to provide the Home with a reliable fresh water supply. See the photos here.

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

We reached our Christmas fundraising target!

Thanks to your generosity, we met our fundraising goal of $12,000! We're thrilled to say that this will enable our team in India to provide 36,000 meals to children in need.

What impact will this have?

These funds mean that we can provide evening meals 3 days a week at 5 of our Daycare Centres for an entire year, feeding 250 children. 

This will relieve hunger following the drought that has left many in Helping Point's communities struggling to feed their families.

Longer term, providing these meals across the year will help address chronic malnutrition too – nourishing children so that they can learn and grow, and helping to strengthen entire communities. Helping Point Canada's supporters have made this possible.

We will keep you updated in future newsletters and social media posts this year.

Thank you once again!

Why are we fundraising this Christmas?

This Christmas we’re fundraising to give the gift of nourishment to children attending Helping Point’s daycare centres in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. 

Why give?

Crop failures caused by a blisteringly hot summer and late monsoon season have left many families in Helping Point's communities struggling to feed their children. To offset the impact of this drought, Helping Point is fundraising to provide weekly meals to children in the most affected locations where we operate.

Child malnutrition is a huge problem within Helping Point’s communities and also in India as a whole. 37.9% of children in the country have stunted growth due to insufficient nutrition, and wasting (being underweight for height) is extremely high at 20.8% - the highest rate of any country worldwide, according to the Global Hunger Index 2019. Malnutrition caused 69% of deaths of children aged under five in India, according to UNICEF’s 2019 report. 

The locations where we operate are mostly rural, and the communities directly rely upon agriculture for survival. Many families rent land to grow their own crops to support themselves. Other parents are day labourers, paid a meagre sum for backbreaking work. When crops are bad, many families receive nothing. Even in the best of times it can be difficult for parents in these precarious situations to support their children. Drought, as we have seen this year, can make it impossible. 

Seeking to answer this need, we are looking to fundraise $12,000 this Christmas. This amount will not only help address the current critical needs, but also enable us to plan and provide one year’s worth of meals to areas affected by chronic hunger. This will help address long-term malnutrition, nourishing children and strengthening entire communities. 

How the funds will be used

The funds we raise will go firstly towards providing three evening meals a week to children at five of our daycare centres. Our wider ambition is to provide meals five days a week at all 10 of our daycare centres, and we will do this as soon as we have enough funds to support it. Currently, we are having to prioritize the communities where need is most urgent. 

Alongside the free midday meal that children receive at government schools, the funds we raise will ensure that kids will get to have an evening meal too. Proper nutrition helps a child to be healthy and to grow, learn, and thrive. 

Please consider donating this Christmas. All the money you give will go directly to provide the meals in India. Do contact us if you have any questions, or would like to get more involved with Helping Point.

Read more about ways to give

Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

The latest from Jhola Children's Home

48 boys and 16 girls between the ages of six and 16 now live at Jhola Children’s home, in the care of the Home’s pastor and his wife. The Jhola children continue to attend the local government school, and this year two of the girls passed the exam to attend the same government-funded college as the 10 pupils from St Simon’s School.

Numbers at Jhola have increased in recent years in response to community needs, to accommodate more children who would otherwise be unlikely to receive adequate food and education. A new assistant warden and his wife have come on board as a very welcome addition to the team, working alongside the existing warden and his wife to care for the children’s needs and provide a loving supportive environment.

This year a new well has been installed to provide safe drinking water for the home with the support of Helping Point Canada. Everyone is excited that construction is underway for a new dormitory block for the girls, funded by supporters of Helping Point UK, which should be completed by the end of the year. This is a big answer to prayer, and we’d like to say a big thank you to all Helping Point’s donors!

Update from St Simon's School

It’s been a busy year so far at St Simon’s School!

This year there has been an increased focus on digital learning and on sport, particularly soccer, tag rugby, badminton, high jump, golf, and – of course – the ever-popular cricket.

St Simon’s has been increasing its learning resources this year with the help of Astragen, a Chennai-based organisation which supplies teaching resources to schools in India. Its representatives have trained St Simon’s teachers in the use of a range of new materials including DVD and video resources. The school is also expected to get high speed internet before the end of the year. This will have a big positive impact, including increasing the available teaching resources and platforms.

The new dormitory block is a wonderful addition to the school. At present the building has two levels, with the boys’ dormitory on the ground floor and the first floor for the girls’, with running water, showers and toilet blocks. Construction is currently in progress to add a third storey to the building, paid for by funds generously donated to Helping Point Canada and Helping Point UK. Once construction is complete, the boys’ dormitory will move to the third floor, allowing the ground level to become a multi-purpose dining and assembly hall to replace the building destroyed last year in the devastating Cyclone Titli.

St Simon’s celebrated India’s annual Teachers’ Day on September 5th. Pupils wrote essays about their teachers, their impact on them, and sang songs for them. Three new female teachers joined St Simon's staff recently, bringing the total number of teachers to 18. 95% of the teaching team are fully qualified teachers. The dedicated staff of St Simon’s School want to strengthen and empower their young people to fight poverty. The aim is to equip the children to stand on their own two feet so that in future they will be able to provide for themselves and their families and help transform their own communities.

This year, 10 pupils aged 14 to 15 passed their high school exam and will shortly start attending a government-funded college. Helping Point is very proud that every year some of St Simon’s pupils are able to progress to college to build their future career.