Sunday 16 January 2011 - Rotary Club of Bingham & District Charter

President Anni Gell held a really enjoyable family orientated Charter celebration at the Yeung Sing Hotel in Bingham. This is a superb Chinese restaurant and it was good to see families and children there enjoying the occasion together.
We were entertained by Steve Short, a magician.





I was so pleased to meet and thank Anni and Colin's daughter Claire, the other half of the Kilimanjaro climbing team which has raised so much for the Indian housing project.

Tuesday 11 January 2011 - Club visit to Rotary Club of Dronfield

This was my 55th club visit and I enjoyed it just as much as the first!

President Eric Beach and the members of Dronfield made me most welcome as usual.
I was delighted to receive a cheque for £600 for the housing project in India.
Many thanks, Dronfield!

4 January 2011 - Leaving India

We have had an amazing three weeks with friends and had many highs and lows as usual.
I am looking out across Hyderabad which really tells you nothing of the life going on down there. Terry and I are now well versed in what goes on here and in particular the vast difference between urban and rural India.
Yes there is wealth but there is far more poverty and we try to help as much as possible each time we come here. We will be counting the days to our next visit.

Thalassemia Society - our sponsorhip

Following our visits to the Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Society clinic we decided to sponsor a child's blood transfusions for year. This costs just 28,800 Rupees (Just over £400).

Pictured here is the young lad with his mother and sister. He needs the treatment to stay alive and we were told of one young girl who has had 188 total blood transfusions already in her young life.
They come into the clinic for the day with a parent then carry on with as normal a life as possible. It is heartbreaking to see but we have to remember that these are the lucky ones who are sponsored and can have the treatment on a regular basis.

1 January 2011 - Thalassemia Society visit again

We returned with PDG Vasant Vora to see the remarkable work being done in a small building by a dedicated group.

I am speaking here with Dr Suman Jain.

There is a worldwide problem with Thalassemia and Sickle Cell and in Hyderabad there was no help for children who need regular blood transfusions to keep them alive.
PDG Vora helped to set up this wonderful clinic when he lost a son to the disease some years ago.

It was heartbreaking to see these children and their worried parents but there is consolation when seeing the work being done to help them.

New Years Day

Just another day - no Bank Holiday here!

All of the houses had decorated their front with drawings and messages for the New Year.

I suspect that Nimmi had been up early to do this.

New Years Eve celebration!

We spent New Years Eve at the Secunderabad Club with Jai, Nimmi and Maithreye Gupta together with many family members.
It was a wonderful evening and we dressed up in the new outfits that Jai and Nimmi had bought for us.

30 December 2010 - journey to one of our housing project villages

After a journey of some 130kms we arrived in
Sangam Khurd, a village near Tandur.
The inauguration ceremony at the site of the project had to be completed before noon.

The Priest guided me through the quite complicated Pooja ceremony which included piercing the ground 5 times and digging 5 times. The final act is the smashing of the coconut which seals the promise to complete the project. I have had lots of experience with coconuts and they are always surprised when I only need one strike! This is a good omen and the fact that I was splashed with coconut milk made it even better!







The villagers were very grateful and it was humbling to have elderly ladies falling at our feet. The first photograph shows one of the house recipients with her Title Deed showing the ownership of the land. This has been given by the Government but these people will never have the funds to be able to build on the plot. This is where we come in.
I met the first 20 land owners and there were many more begging for our help.

The prototype house should be built within 30 days and the remainder done by the end of June.

This is just Phase 1 and we have great potential to build other such houses in 2 other villages as well as help the 120 still needed in Sangam Khurd.

The houses are to be built in clusters with landscaping and each will have a small garden.

29 December 2010 - meeting at National Academy of Construction

PDG Vasant Vora and his friend Narender Nirmala arranged for a meeting with Jai Gupta, Terry and myself with Mr Prabhu, the Director General of the National Academy of Construction, at this very impressive building in Hyderabad.
It was a very productive meeting and we learned a great deal about the various housing schemes available and the types of house recommended for our project.






Mr Prabhu is seen here with his PA and he is very supportive of our project and will give any help needed.

29 December 2010 - vist to a very special school!

One of my favourite places to spend time is the Shraddha special school which is run and paid for by a remarkable lady Sridevi through her father's Foundation. They also have a residential school in a village and I taught there last year.

I have linked the school up with Foxwood School in Nottingham and Tom Evans, brother of our Ambassadorial Scholar Sam Evans, is spending time at Foxwood before going to Hyderabad for 3 months to Sridevi's schools, taking materials and ideas with him.

The letter on the left is very moving and typical.















Sridevi is standing just in front of me on the photograph

29 December 2010 - Visit to the local Temple

There are literally hundred of Temples in Hyderabad and Maithreye took me to this one which is very ornate.

28 December - Visit to speak at the Rotary Club of Jubilee Hills

Back to work! We visited the Rotary Club of Jubilee Hills and renewed our friendship with many of the members including Sharda, Sheela, PDG Sam, Vandana, Ravi and Jai were all there to meet us and there were two surpise visitors in Rajeev Puri and Dr Yadav from the Nizamabad club who heard that we were in town!

27 December - an afternoon off!

We stayed for a few days with our Indian family, Jai, Nimmi, Maithreye and Anirudh Gupta in Jubilee Hills. Maithreye has stayed with us in Nottingham whist studying in London and she came to our Conference in Southport.

Terry was in his element using his considerable dog training skills to show them how to control Vanden, this superb German Shepherd. It was unbelievable to see the dog calm and obedient whilst Terry was walking him and talking quietly to him.

Jai and Nimmi ensure that we have time to relax and each morning I am brought a bucket of warm water to soak my feet!

Jai has a water delivery twice a week, an indication of the shortage of this valuable commodity here.

27 December - meeting another old friend!

We were delighted to receive a visit from Thanssen, sitting between me and Terry.
We first met Thanssen a ew years ago when he was searching for us on a long train journey. He had been put on the train to escort us and we have kept in touch ever since.
Thanssen is an inspirational young man and I spoke at the District 3150 Rotaract Conference in Hyderabad last February when he was District Chairman.
Rotaract is huge in India with hundreds of members in each District.
Thanssen speaks well and has very progressive ideas and we can see him becoming a top Rotarian one day.

Christmas Day in India - just another day!

Well, it may be Christmas Day but there is no sign of it here in rural India.

Ram, Sharat and Sameer are seen here negotiaing about the building of houses with me looking very worried!

We travelled out to the village where we propose to build some of the houses. Seen here are PDG Vasant Vora, PDG Sharat Babu and Ram Bhamidipati whose farm we visited.

The first rice crop was being harvested and the farmers two boys thought that we were a real tourist attraction.

This land will possibly become the site of 15 houses.

Christmas Eve at Secunderabad Club

We spent Christmas Eve at THE place to be - the renowned Secunderabad Club. This is a member only club and one condition is to have been a resident of Hyderabad for 20 years . It was originally for the British and really is an excellent venue both in the buildings and the landscaped gardens. We had turkey and Vasant and Indira had a Christmas cake made specially for us!

This truly is an opulent venue and perfct place to relax with friends.

23 December 2010 - Christmas shopping in Hyderabad

Today we were taken shopping by PDG Vasant Vora and his wife Indira who both came to our Conference last October.

This is a Sari shop and the choice of colours is endless.
You choose the fabric then go outside where there is a lady to measure you and two men working on treadle sewing machines making the complete article.

22 December 2010 - Back to Hyderabad on Indian Railways!

After a really good but hectic time in Hanamkonda we were sorry to say goodbye to our old friends and particularly our new ones.
Rajani insisted on waiting with us for our delayed train. Everyone was complaining of the cold and were wrapped up in fleeces and hats - it was 27c!

22 December 2010 - A truly remarkable meeting with Rajani

We were introduced By PP Sameer to a remarkable young lady, Rajani.
She gave up her job as a nutritionist, sold her jewellery and bought a small house so that she could take in 20 HIV positive orphans which could not be accommodated at the main orhanage in Hanamkonda.
Rajani formed the New Life Society and, together with her mother and other helpers, they care fulltime for these young children.

They had nothing apart from a bed roll to sleep on the floor and a plate and cup.
We were stunned and felt very humble to see this at first hand and it was difficult to speak for a while.

We just could not walk away without doing something and decided to take Rajani shopping next day. We asked her to make out a wishlist without telling her our intentions. Next day we went with PP Sameer and Rajani to buy much needed equipment and the look on her face was a picture! We bought a washing machine, fridge, microwave, rice cooker and a juicer which were all delivered next day. We would have provided a reverse osmosis water filtration system too but the Rotary Club said that they would do this.
Finally, we had a large set of wooden lockers and a built in wardrobe made for the children and bought them a television. Again the Rotary Club are going to give a DVD player for the children.

There is no way that any of this equipment would have been obtainable and it gave Terry and I great pleasure in being able to do this and really change lives. They wanted us to return to Hanamkonda later during our stay to see all of the items in place but time did not allow this to happen. When we next visit we will spend a few days in the area again to meet up with this remarkable young lady, Rajani and the children who owe so much to her.
This is real hands on Rotary and the look on the childrens faces is a tremendous reward for us. Ther are so many wonderful people doing great things in India and they receive so little help.

21 December 2010 - return visit to the AIDS orphange

There is a particular orphanage in Hanamkonda which is close to Terry's heart and where is known to everyone as Uncle Toy Terry!

Here are a few of the fantastic staff, the lady in the middle has taken over from Sister Ciceley who has moved to another orphanage in Goa.

All of the 30 children are orphans and are HIV positive so need special care.


We returned for the fourth time to see everyone and were delighted to see the refrigerator and washing machine that we gave them last year.


Being Christmas they had decorated a tree for us and made a Christmas cake which we divided up between us all. They insisted that I had the first piece which was stuffed into my mouth by a very enthusiastic little boy!

It is really good to see these children making progress each year but unfortunately there are always a few missing faces.





The Rotary Club of Hanamkonda give great support to this worthy project and PDG Sharat and his wife Anu are big supporters along with PP Sumeer and his wife..

21 December - Visit to PDG Sharat 's eye hospital

PDG Sharat and his wife Anu run a very successful eye hospital in Hanamkonda, a relatively poor rural area.
Both are opthalmic surgeons and perform the full range of operations, laser treatment and eye testing with the help of their staff.

They see around 150 patients per day and Sharat also runs eye camps and mobile clinics for remote villages. He has done hundreds of cataract operations free for those who cannot pay.
I am having an examination to see if I am suitable for laser treatment. The equipment is the very latest from the USA, Scandanavia and Japan.
Next visit I will have it done!

20 December 2010 - Train to Kazipet!

We travelled by train from Secunderabad to Kazipet where we were met by PP Sumeer from Hanamkonda Rotary Club.
Sumeer and his wife have adopted these two lovely children who are orphans.
Sumeer does a tremdous amount of good work and lives very simply himself. Truly Service Above Self.














I was delighted to have my first Ayurverdic massage of the visit by two tiny girls from Kerala, wonderful for a tired body!