This is the January 2011 newsletter to all our MSF School sponsors and supporters to thank you for your help. Please write back to us and tell us what you think.
We have just put our first video on YOUTUBE and you can see it if you use the button on the right. From the video you can see we are very obviously overcrowded and so from January 1st we'll be renting a new house (left) to take all the nursery children - 60 of them. It may not look much by european standards -- it needs windows and fans and a decent floor but at least it will give us more space.

Jenny Khan is from Aberdeen in Scotland. She is a sponsor and also a very generous donor, and she came to stay with us for two weeks in December.

An ex-primary teacher, she certainly endeared herself to our teachers -- settling comfortably in with them at tiffin-times and discussing their work and the school.

Needless to say, any of our friends and sponsors are welcome to visit us. We have space for you, and a warm welcome.

Free eye check: Jenny Khan got in touch with friends, Phil and Indira Burgul who live in Hyderabad, and they visited the school and will sponsor two children. Indira also volunteered to fund an 'Eyesight Camp' and we emailed the Community Care Foundation who run these. They have agreed to run one on January 4th and we recently met Indira and an Optometrist, Y. Suresh Kumar, seen with Indira left, to finalise all the arrangements.

These 'camps' are incredibly useful. They dispense correct spectacles, plus eye-drops and other medication. The cost will be borne by Indira and the school bursary.

Recently we've been able to offer the whole school a midday meal which includes helpings of vegetables, such as green beans, cauliflower and carrots, not commonly eaten in our community, which usually favours a diet of rice and pulses - mostly dhal.

These meals have been paid for by two teachers from another (expensive) school who were celebrating their birthday and who learnt about our school from friends.

We are getting ready for our picture exchange project with Saltwood Primary School, Hythe, Kent. The 'Saltwood Board Monitors' have been appointed, and the first theme will be "HOW WE GET TO SCHOOL". We are lucky to have an enthusiastic teacher, Melanie Nash, to help us at the Kent school, and we hope the partnership will provide insights for the children of both schools.

Introducing Shobharani: Aged 17 and born in Mahbubnagar, but the family moved to Hyderabad to find work when her father died. Her mother is a day-labourer and she has four brothers and sisters, but only one brother has work.

"This is my first job and I am lucky to have it because I like children and this is a good school. My education was telugu-medium and only to 10th standard, so teaching here is much better than working as a coolie with my mother".

The Zoo visit on 24th December was hugely successful. Many teachers and children will never have seen even these Indian animals so clearly.

Even better, it was wonderful picnicing together and having plenty of space to play games on the grass (in Yellamma-banda we have only rock and scrub).

An interesting comparison: There were several schools visiting the zoo when we were there. It is obviously a popular place for education as well as for picnics.

Lavanya pointed to one group and said "government school". "How do you know" I asked; "no shoes" she said.

Yes! We have some, bananas..... courtesy of our friend Kushal Schofield, who sends us a donation every month in memory of her mother. Enough to give a banana to each child every week and occasionally a small cupful of nuts.

This is all part of our programme to improve the diet of the smallest children, who just don't get a wide enough variety of foods at a critical stage in their development.

Have you got a colour printer? Why not print a couple of copies of this newsletter (just hit Control-P) and pass them to your friends and relatives? Even if they don't wish to help the school directly, they will surely be interested to know what you do.