October 2021 update
Aarti helping the community in the pandemic
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Since the start of our relationship in 2012 with Aarti Home and School in Kadapa, Southern India, the Rotary Club of Maidenhead has been impressed by their tireless work in rescuing babies, girls and young women from abuse and abandonment, simply due to their gender. Aarti gives these children a home, an education and opportunities to become independent, self-supporting adults, who are now proving themselves to be valued members of society.
As the Covid pandemic has swept through India, the Rotary Club has continued to support Aarti in its endeavours to help its local community by making hygiene awareness banners, sanitation packs, Covid patient kits, and assembling food parcels for the most disadvantaged families. They have also been making face masks for frontline workers, whilst also adhering to home-schooling and supporting children, who live with their parents, but have little food and no means of learning at home. Whilst carrying out this work, which has had an enormous impact upon the surrounding community, the huge Covid wave has increased and continued to devastate India. Far away from any major city, with poor access to medical aid, Kadapa has struggled to cope. Aarti, with its existing infrastructure and capabilities, then started an appeal to try to find oxygen to save lives in the wider local area, where recorded cases had already exceeded 78,000. In May of this year, we were pleased to be able to contribute to the Operation Oxygen Kadapa campaign, which successfully raised enough financial support to bring 107 Oxygen Concentrators to the district and to build two Pressure Swing Adsorption Plants to this hard-hit region. |
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Emergency Covid treatment tent in Kadapa
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107 oxygen concentrators arriving at Aarti
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October 2020 update
Donation keeps disadvantaged children fed during lockdown
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A donation from the Rotary Club of Maidenhead is helping
to keep disadvantaged children in India fed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 2012 the club has supported the Aarti Home in Kadapa, Southern India, which provides a caring home and education for orphaned, abandoned and abused children. Its school also welcomes children from disadvantaged families in the local area who would otherwise receive little or no education. Maidenhead Rotary Club’s International Committee has now donated an extra £500 to fund nutritional kits for children unable to come to school due to the local Covid-19 lockdown. |
Thanking the club for the additional support, Aarti spokesman Sunilkanth Rachamadugu said: “Usually during school days, we provide three nutritious meals for the children - breakfast, lunch and an evening snack. As most of the children come from highly disadvantaged backgrounds, these tend to be their main meals. However, due to the lockdown, children could not come to school and their parents have been unable to provide good nutrition and consequently the children’s health was impacted.”
The donation has enabled the charity to provide 150 children’s nutrition kits for four weeks which contain:
“We once again thank you sincerely for your continued and timely support,” added Sunilkanth.
Below: Preparing and distributing the nutritional kits funded by the latest donation from Maidenhead Rotary Club.
The donation has enabled the charity to provide 150 children’s nutrition kits for four weeks which contain:
- Ragi (millet powder), a traditional superfood
- Jaggery (unrefined sugar), which is very high in minerals and iron
- Kandipappu (lentils), which are high in protein
- Eggs
- Fruits
- Soap and toothpaste
“We once again thank you sincerely for your continued and timely support,” added Sunilkanth.
Below: Preparing and distributing the nutritional kits funded by the latest donation from Maidenhead Rotary Club.
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April 2020 update
Aarti Home on the frontline in battle with Covid-19 in its impoverished community
One of 1.000 public information banners produced by Aarti to raise awareness about the virus
Aarti's women's co-operative has been producing 1,000 masks a day for frontline workers since March
A message from a senior district official thanking the charity for its work
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The Aarti Home, in Kadapa, which has been supported by Maidenhead Rotarians since 2012, provides a home and education for orphaned, abandoned and abused children. It also runs training programmes and raises awareness of good health and hygiene in its community, a small quarry mining town in Andhra Pradesh.
With the spread of the pandemic to India, Aarti’s inspirational founder Sandhya Puchalapalli has thrown the charity’s resources into helping the most vulnerable people in Kadapa’s slums. She said: “Our relief operations are centred on four areas - awareness, relief, prevention and support.” Before India went into lockdown in March, Aarti started raising awareness about social distancing with 1,000 large banners giving hygiene guidance and information about the virus which were displayed all over the area. And 5,000 leaflets highlighting the importance of handwashing were also distributed. “We are creating and distributing three kinds of packs for different sections of society – a sanitation relief pack consisting of cleaning supplies and masks; a dry ration relief pack for families in dire need and Covid-19 patient kits for quarantined patients for all their needs,” said Sandhya. “We have made and distributed 3,000 sanitation packs, 3,000 dry relief packs and 35 patient kits. The identification and distribution is being done in close collaboration with the district administration to identify and reach 21,695 families and 700 migrant workers. We are looking to distribute another 7,000 kits. ” Since March Aarti’s women’s cooperative has been making 1,000 reusable two and three-ply masks a day for frontline workers. “This is enabling our women to earn a living while performing an extremely valuable task. Currently, many of our essential workers in Kadapa are wearing masks made by Aarti women,” Sandhya said. In addition, Aarti has donated 10 beds to the Kadapa hospital’s isolation ward and is involved in helping stranded migrant workers who are struggling, without food or shelter, to get home. The charity was sent a thank-you note from a senior local official, the district collector and magistrate. It read: “Thank You! Aarti Home for extending your support in this time of crisis to support the needy in general and migrant workers in particular. We appreciate your work. Your services amid the global pandemic will always be remembered.” Sandhya added: “Our most vulnerable sections of society - children and women in need - continue to face even more danger now. Our helplines and support networks are open and continue to work 24/7.” 
Aarti's inspirational founder Sandhya Puchalapalli (centre) with girls from the home
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Aarti Children's Home and School
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September 2019
Stormwater Management - Onsite Development Update The club is supporting Aarti to become self-sustainable by rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling. With rainfall at less than 750mm per annum, water is a vital and valuable resource. The water is to be collected in tanks, piped underground to a filtering system and then re-used e.g. for the cultivation of vegetables. This farsighted conservation project will not only help to ease the huge financial burden for the Aarti community but also benefit the young people by teaching them the skills to grow their own fruits & vegetables, which will in turn enhance their diet & health for a successful future. |
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Previous History
Aarti Children's Home and School, Kadapa, Southern India
The Rotary Club of Maidenhead has been supporting projects to help Aarti since 2012. Abused, abandoned and orphaned children are given a home and an education by the charity. Aarti becomes their family for life and since the first child was rescued in 1992, these children have been flourishing, gaining qualifications, helping their younger “siblings” and moving out into the world as well informed, highly skilled young women. However, the charity does not stop there. The Aarti family has expanded its work by also supporting the local area, educating the children of impoverished families, training destitute women – often victims of gender discrimination and denied the most basic of rights, to give them work skills, enabling them to become independent and self-sufficient and therefore able to support their own children. Aarti also runs courses to raise awareness of good health, hygiene, women’s rights etc.
Prior to our first involvement in 2012, we had seen for ourselves the conditions in which the rescued children at Aarti were living. They were given love and care, but facilities were basic. Since the Rotary Club of Maidenhead decided to become involved, our fundraising efforts have provided uniforms, furniture, equipment and toilets for the Aarti School.
Meanwhile, a new Children’s Village has been built, where the children now live in smaller family units, each with a “House Mother”. These House Mothers have all previously been girls at Aarti and provide a source of guidance and comfort for their younger sisters, who in turn form support networks for one another. The children no longer need to sleep on the floor, as we have been able to provide beds and bedding.
Aarti Children's Home and School, Kadapa, Southern India
The Rotary Club of Maidenhead has been supporting projects to help Aarti since 2012. Abused, abandoned and orphaned children are given a home and an education by the charity. Aarti becomes their family for life and since the first child was rescued in 1992, these children have been flourishing, gaining qualifications, helping their younger “siblings” and moving out into the world as well informed, highly skilled young women. However, the charity does not stop there. The Aarti family has expanded its work by also supporting the local area, educating the children of impoverished families, training destitute women – often victims of gender discrimination and denied the most basic of rights, to give them work skills, enabling them to become independent and self-sufficient and therefore able to support their own children. Aarti also runs courses to raise awareness of good health, hygiene, women’s rights etc.
Prior to our first involvement in 2012, we had seen for ourselves the conditions in which the rescued children at Aarti were living. They were given love and care, but facilities were basic. Since the Rotary Club of Maidenhead decided to become involved, our fundraising efforts have provided uniforms, furniture, equipment and toilets for the Aarti School.
Meanwhile, a new Children’s Village has been built, where the children now live in smaller family units, each with a “House Mother”. These House Mothers have all previously been girls at Aarti and provide a source of guidance and comfort for their younger sisters, who in turn form support networks for one another. The children no longer need to sleep on the floor, as we have been able to provide beds and bedding.