Hello, Namaste, and Tashi Delek
As 2013 kicks off I would like to thank everyone for a wonderful 2012. The past year Pennies for Partnerships’ People Feeding People outreach delivered 10 months of rice ending the year with a distribution in December on Christmas Eve.
It brings me such joy to see these folks sitting in the doorway of their new homes. I would like to thank all who have made it possible to conduct the pilot program. We have 2 more deliveries to complete the full year pilot program since we started in March 2012 with the 15 Indian families and 5 Tibetan recipients.
We have been notified that as of November 13 of the 15 families were moved into their new homes. We have yet to evaluate the 1 year pilot program to determine the outcome of how the monthly rice benefited the families.
I hope to return to India to conduct the outcome evaluation but at this time I do not have the necessary funding available to cover the expense. It is believed that the rice program provided the opportunity for the families to save in order to make the down payment necessary for housing; but without the evaluation we can not make the definitive statement. If I am able to obtain the data for the outcome evaluation it is likely the information would help us to acquire grants to expand the project.
In review below is the original data collected on the 15 families in the Indian community who were less than 2 months ago living under plastic tarps draped over bamboo and were without electricity or running water. I would so love to visit their new dwellings; I can only imagine the difference in their quality of life from when we first met. (photo of community before pilot program began)
Below is the review of the families taken less than 1 year ago.
Demographics (unfortunately this program will not allow the wonderful graphs I have to present the data).
Gender
Adult Male= 20 Adult Female= 19 Male Children (under 18) = 13 Female Children (under 18)= 19 Total population 71
There are a total of 32 children under the age of 18. Out of the 32 Children 21 are either attending pre-school or regular school. Others who are not attending are either too young or have been held out of school by the parents to help with supporting the family. This is an area I would like to investigate further to determine if there is a possibility of getting all children into school.
Age (years)
Birth -5 = 14, 6-10 years = 10, 11-15 years = 5, 16- 20 years = 8, 21-25 years = 8, 26-30 years = 10, 31-35 years = 4,
36-40 years = 1, 41-45 years = 4, 46- 50 years = 0, 51-55 years = 2, 56-60 years = 2, 61-65 years = 1, 66-70 years = 2
The Average Age of the community is 21.9
Type of Work and monthly average income:
Calendar Sales = 10 people Average monthly Income Rs 1015/ $ 20.00
Plastic Collectors for recycling= 5 people Average Monthly Income Rs 690/ $ 13.80
Harmonium Player = 2 people Average Monthly Income Rs 1750/ $ 35.00
Blessing Giver = 1 person Average Monthly Income Rs 1000/ $ 20.00
*Ration Worker= 1 person Average Monthly Income Rs 2000/ $ 40.00
*Waste Management Worker = 1 person Average Monthly Income Rs 2000/ $ 40.00
Balloon Salesman= 1 person Average Monthly Income Rs 1500/ $ 30.00
*Laborer = 1 person Average Monthly Income Rs 2800/ $ 56.00
Fortune Teller= 1 person Average Monthly Income Rs 1000/ $ 20.00
*denotes contract work and is irregular
Hunger:
When asked if they experience hunger due to no ability to acquire food 14 of 15 families indicated YES there is hunger and days without anything to eat.
Most Difficult Situation:
When asked what the most difficult situation they face other than the lack of food the responses were:
Not proper House: 10
Medical Complications: 6
Money Problems: 2
No Clothes for the Children: 1
Husband is away most time for work: 1
This assessment was taken March 14, 2012 and I anticipate the opportunity to reassess, dependent on funding. One area we will for certain see a change in will be the elimination of the most common difficulty they face which was housing, at least for 13 of the 15 families. I have no news at this time of the other 2 families.
Review of benefit to the Tibetan Organic Farmers:
We have purchased to date since the start 2011 approximately 11 tons of rice with a direct economic benefit to the Tibetan Organic Farmers of approximately $3500 above what they would have received from the selling to the Distributors.
In 2012 we purchased 205 bags of 25 kg (55 lbs) each of Tibetan Organic Rice in 10 months.
Direct benefit to Tibetan Organic Farmers.
– Distributors pay rs275 (rs11 per kg) per 25 kg bag
– PfP pays fair market value direct to Tibetan Organic Farmers rs700 (rs28 per kg) per 25 kg bag additional rs 425 profit per bag to
the farmers
– 205 bags @ rs425 = approximately $1700 above what they would have received selling to the distributor.
This past year was a great year for Pennies for Partnerships thanks to all who made it possible. The philosophy of this past year was to take a small community with a manageable number of families, turn the program over to the Tibetan Organic Farmers to oversee all the program management on location and see if we could make a difference in peoples lives.
I AM CERTAIN YOUR GENEROSITY MADE A DIFFERENCE!
I would like to thank each and every one of you and encourage you all to keep up the good work. It takes change makers like you to help those who are less privileged. It is with compassion, understanding and outreach that we can all be the change we wish to see for the future.
If you or anyone you know is interested in supporting the continued development of the program please share the link.
Donations can be made via paypal on the left sidebar or through the official Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas website:
http://www.artibet.com/activities/pennies-for-partnerships/
or payments can be mailed direct to:
Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas
c/o Pennies for Partnerships
PO Box 269
Fayetteville, AR 72702
Thank you again!
Kind regards,
Leann Halsey (MSW)
India-Tibetan Social Work 