Heiniwan-o has had a hole in his heart for some time. He, his parents and his three older sisters are aware of this plight. His mother is also ill and his father is a casual worker. For financial reasons, an operation is not an option.
During a visit to Heiniwan-o's home in April 2023, we learn about the boy's significant health problems and finally come into contact with a sponsor from Bamberg who will help and cover the costs of the heart operation. But it will still be a whole year before the nine-year-old boy can be helped.
During a preliminary examination in November 2023, it turns out that the heart now has two holes. Heiniwan-o has to undergo various examinations. And again and again, it is a matter of being patient and waiting for the results.
On April 23, 2024, the time finally comes. The young patient is helped in a three-hour operation at Neighrims Hospital in Shillong. He remains in an artificial coma in the intensive care unit for a few more days. But then things start to improve. The initial severe chest pain subsides over the course of several days and he feels better every day. And just a short time later, Heiniwan-o can move through the hospital corridors under his own power.
Two years ago, in March 2022, we as Khublei faced a major project and thus a major challenge: The Tome Memorial Secondary School in the Mooralong district of Jowai is to be expanded to include grades 11 and 12 to form the Tome Memorial Higher Secondary School. We are getting to work acquiring and collecting the financial resources for this ambitious project. The new school has two floors: ground floor and first floor with a total of eight classrooms. In addition, there is electrical installation, paint and blackboards, teacher desks and school furniture. After almost exactly two years, it's done! All financing is in place and the school building is finished to the point where it can be inaugurated in a magnificent and impressive ceremony on April 12, 2024. The celebration is accompanied by music, dancing, singing and celebratory speeches. In the presence of the entire school community, Bishop Ferdinand of the Diocese of Jowai, the Khublei association with Gerhard and Ulli Albert, Angelika Kraus and Norbert Röhrer, our partner Jaintia Hills Development Society with Rev. Manbha Pakem Denis Kurkalang and Ma Francis as well as several church and political dignitaries, all those taking part in the celebration experience the great moment of the ceremonial opening of the new school building.
Self-determination and hard work change people's lives. This is what happened to a single working woman from Mihmyntdu village named Lumbiang Sana.
As a poor single mother, Ms. Lumbiang Sana has to look after her three children since her husband left her. Furthermore, her burden becomes even greater as she has to take care of two more children of her disabled sister and her poor old father.
In order to support the whole family, Lumbiang Sana does not have a regular job. She has to go from house to house asking for work, sometimes getting work washing clothes, washing dishes in the tea shop and sometimes knocking stones in the mines. Since she cannot find a permanent job, she has problems feeding and educating her children, which is why she has to send her children to a free school with a low level of education.
It was in February 2022 when Lumbiang Sana came into contact with JHDS through a local catechist. In addition, she also personally met Mr. Gerhard Albert, Chairman of Khublei Germany, during his visit to Meghalaya. After this meeting, JHDS and Khublei decided to help this family by providing educational sponsorship to their niece, Glory Sana. At the same time, the two organizations decided to also support the woman financially.
In recent years, Ms. Lumbiang Sana had worked in a restaurant for a while and therefore has experience in making chow and momo, the famous fast food in Meghalaya.
In order to generate additional income for her family, the woman decided to start making homemade food with a small investment and the financial support of Khublei Germany. She started preparing the cooking materials in the evening after dinner and started cooking early in the morning at 4:00 a.m. In the beginning, she sold the packaged food items by going door to door and sometimes to a local tea shop.
After a few months, her business grew as she received orders from three customers within a short period of time who found her food very tasty. Now she no longer has to go door to door to sell her products, but receives constant orders from three salespeople.
Personal words from Lumbiang Sana:
“Now I no longer worry about daily work, I no longer have to go door to door asking for work. If someone calls me to work, I go, otherwise I can support my family with this business. However, this is part of my additional income. I can also provide daily wages if an employer needs me because I can only run this business in the evenings and mornings. I am very grateful to JHDS and Khublei Germany for giving me this opportunity. My thanks also go to the person who supports me financially and the godfather of my niece Glory Sana. May God bless them all.”
The Dkhar family in Mihmyntdu, a village near the town of Jowai, lives in a house that is in a disastrous condition; a barracks would be a more accurate term. They are the family of our sponsored girl Emika.
We have chosen this family for the first house of our new house building project.
The demolition The dismantling of the old house is very simple: The house consists of metal panels that serve as walls. They are nailed to a wooden frame. These panels are removed in a few easy steps. During this work, the family carries their few belongings out of the house. Finally, the wooden frame is toppled over and disposed of. That's it!
The New building takes a little longer. In our case, this is mainly due to the weather, as there are often heavy monsoon rains in Meghalaya in May/June. Nevertheless, after seeing the old house in April 2023, we can celebrate the inauguration of the new house in October. The family is overjoyed. Many neighbors and friends are present at the house inauguration and are happy for them.
A family of seven in the village of Khanduli lives together in a very small dwelling - the kitchen is outside in a separate hut.
We can help here because we have fortunately found a sponsor for a new house for Jeral and his family.
However, we have to wait until the rainy season is over to start construction because during this time work cannot be carried out due to constant rainfall.
But as soon as the starting gun sounds, there is a flurry of activity on the construction site and the building of the house progresses very quickly. Everyone is pulling out all the stops so that the family, who are very popular in the village, can move in quickly!
For the inauguration, many friends and most of the villagers come together to celebrate the special event of the inauguration with Jeral's family!
I took over the sponsorship of Bonifast in February 2023.
Bonifast comes from a very poor family. He grew up in a small village with his eight siblings. Since his mother died, he no longer goes to school because he has to look after his two younger siblings. They are a little older now and thanks to the sponsorship he has a great chance of going to school again. He moves to his cousin in the city. Bonifast is 14 years old and is in the third grade. Due to external circumstances such as moving to a new location and starting at a new school, he has not achieved his grade goal. That is understandable. But he definitely wants to continue attending school because he knows how important it is for him. We visit him in his new home with his cousin. He is a quiet boy and seems very serious. We meet him several times and he slowly starts to thaw out.
Bonifast is 14 years old and is in the third grade. Due to external circumstances such as moving to a new location and starting at a new school, he has not achieved his grade goal. That is understandable. But he definitely wants to continue attending school because he knows how important it is for him. We visit him in his new home with his cousin. He is a quiet boy and seems very serious. We meet him several times and he slowly starts to thaw out. He has just passed a test as the best in his class - that really motivates him. Bonifast, keep it up! It's not easy, but you have a goal in mind that you want to achieve. Don't give up! I'm very proud of you!
In March/April, schools in Meghalaya hold their annual school sports events. Here, the different teams compete against each other: green, blue, red and yellow teams. This is a big event for both the children and the parents. In some places, the children compete not only in sports activities; there are also "competitions" in impromptu speeches, art, music, etc.
There will also be singing and dancing as part of the supporting program. A great and varied experience that involves all the students at the different schools with their individual abilities! And even if it's pouring with rain, no one will be deterred from making their contribution!
Shortly after our arrival in Meghalaya and after completing the first sewing course, which was attended by interested women, five needy women presented themselves to us with a small business plan. Their business idea: A Tayloring start-up! They learned to sew in the course and now want to open a tailoring business together and support their families independently. This will give them a future perspective. Real help for self-help!
We wish Heini, Riew, Liew, Iaki and Rilis all the best and much success!
It's worked out! While we were still in Meghalaya, we launched a fundraising appeal via WhatsApp. This found open ears and hearts. After just a short time, thanks to generous donations, the five young women were able to secure their own financial foundations. A room was made available to them. To save costs, the "new entrepreneurs" were painting themselves. They were clearly enjoying it. The paint wasn't even completely dry when the sewing machines they needed were delivered and set up. And it beginns! Gerhard can even be there at the opening of your new business! Here you can already see some interesting sewing results:
This year, the two of us set off for Northeast India: Gerhard and I spent 2 months and 1 month in Meghalaya, respectively, and had lively discussions with our local partners, visited sponsored children and their families, and inspected projects. We saw the homes of our Khublei sponsored children, celebrated church services, learned about the problems faced by people in a wide variety of life situations, further intensified our cooperation with our partners, and got to know the country and its climatic challenges.
The special thing about our trip: We got very close to the people in their culture, their needs and their worries. There were many close encounters and touching moments. We experienced a lot of joy, but also a lot of hardship and oppressive poverty up close. In summary, we can say with admiration about these people: They are open, warm-hearted and incredibly kind. In difficult situations, their faith carries them, giving them inner strength and power to carry on. Again and again, we are given lessons in humanity, love and strength! ?
Note: Under the “Media” tab we show photos and short videos from our trip.
Since the beginning of December, women have been trained on sewing machines at the Tailoring Center in order to build their own livelihoods.
How did that happen?
In our Kuno No. 7 in August we presented the “Sewing Machines” project:
NABARAD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of India) has offered 3-month sewing courses to train needy women.
Our partner Rev. Manbha, head of the development company JHDS (Jaintia Hills Development Society), immediately agreed to provide a training room for this purpose. Now "only" 20 robust sewing machines were missing, on which regular sewing and tailoring courses could be held.
Tailoring Center in Jowai
For this purpose, we at Khublei successfully asked Kuno for support in the newsletter:
Thanks to the uncomplicated and spontaneous actions of some of our sponsors/supporters, Rev. Manbha was able to order the 20 sewing machines on site after a short time. They were delivered, set up and then we got started. The courses began in December and our women are eagerly involved - with the desire and the now tangible possibility of building their own existence and thus escaping the spiral of poverty in the back of their minds!
Would you also like to support a project at Khublei?
We regularly present special projects in Kuno in cooperation with our partner Rev. Manbha, JHDS and NABARD. You are welcome to subscribe to our newsletter at info@khublei-indienhilfe.de request.
On our homepage we offer permanent projects to secure the livelihoods of particularly needy families. These include poultry and pig rearing, beekeeping and more. You can find these at Corona call for help.
