Aarti 2023
Fitting tribute to Rotarian restaurateur opens in India
Underprivileged women and girls in a small town in India will be equipped with vital culinary skills thanks to a lasting legacy to Maidenhead Rotary Club member and restaurateur Himanshu Patel.
Himanshu, known to everyone as Harry, died from Covid-19 in February 2021, aged just 58. The long-serving Rotarian had run a number of restaurants in Maidenhead, most recently Gourmet Chicken in the town centre. |
More than £2,500 was collected in his memory and as a fitting tribute has been used to set up Harry’s Kitchen at the Aarti Home and Women’s Centre in Kadapa, a small mining town in Andhra Pradesh, India.
The charity provides a home and education for orphaned, abandoned and abused children along with running training programmes for women in its community. A project close to Harry’s heart, Aarti is regularly supported by Maidenhead Rotary Club, and he had met representatives from the charity when they visited Maidenhead several years ago. Following delays caused by the pandemic, Harry’s Kitchen has now been formally inaugurated. A spokeswoman for the Aarti Home said: “With an aim to provide training to the women in the district, we have started training a batch of 30 women. In addition to training them in culinary skills, we are training them in various other livelihood skills like garment designing, basic computer skills, language skills, both local and English, starting a plant nursery, organic compost making, and housekeeping. “By imparting these skills, these women will be able to become micro-entrepreneurs or can seek jobs in the respective fields.” In addition, part of the half-acre site around Harry’s Kitchen has become ‘Harry’s Garden’, growing organic vegetables for the kitchen and to support nutrition and education about sustainability. |
Aarti 2021-2022
And a final word from Sandhya, Founder of Aarti:
“Food brings people together – to share, to be fed, not merely physically, but to be nourished in body, mind and soul, to form lasting bonds and to be inspired by “Harry’s Kitchen!”
“Food brings people together – to share, to be fed, not merely physically, but to be nourished in body, mind and soul, to form lasting bonds and to be inspired by “Harry’s Kitchen!”
Aarti in the Covid Pandemic
2020/2021
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 swept through India, Maidenhead Rotary Club 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 also made 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.
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Aarti Children's Home and School
September 2019
Stormwater Management - Onsite Development Update The club has supported 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 collected in tanks, piped underground to a filtering system and then re-used eg. for the cultivation of vegetables. This farsighted conservation project should 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. |
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 school 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 also been able to provide beds and bedding.
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 school 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 also been able to provide beds and bedding.