Water Science Workshop - Wednesday, March 23, 2011

It was a perfect sunny day for Briony's water workshop! There were lots of curious and happy faces blending and stirring liquids with the different elements provided during the experiments. Soap, oil, water coloring, and even water purifying powder were used to show the children how water reacts varyingly when combined with any of them. It is remarkable how such simple and fun activities help our kids (and us!) understand our environment better.

A huge THANK YOU to all our eager participants and to Briony for making this rewarding and exciting event possible and for giving us, at the same time, the opportunity to continue to raise money for Aarohan. We will later confirm the amount of money collected.

A letter from Rani Patel, founder and director of Aarohan

Below you will find excerpts from a letter received today.  While Rani's kind words put our fundraising efforts into perspective, it was her photographs that really struck a chord.  Please take a moment to look through the following... 

 

"I want to take this opportunity to thank CDL profusely for the unconditional support that they have given Aarohan right from the time it was taking baby steps. The entire credit for Aarohan’s remarkable growth goes to the staff, children and parents of CDL. I have no qualms in admitting that without CDL’s compassion, we wouldn’t have embarked on such a fulfilling journey. Every initiative you take for our children leaves a strong imprint in Aarohan’s history. I sincerely hope and wish that this fruitful association stays on.

I’m really overwhelmed by the blog you have started for Aarohan -- and it’s perfect. We won’t waste any opportunity to post comments on it and keep you abreast with the progress and the activities being undertaken here from time to time.

I want to share one of the proudest moments and achievements of Aarohan. The first batch of our students enrolled for the basic course in computers, conducted by Habitat Extension Learning Centre (an organisation based in New Delhi), outperformed every other NGO by scoring highest marks and receiving certificates of merit. This was indeed a proud moment for us. 

We are eagerly awaiting information pertaining to your forthcoming fund-raising/awareness initiative on World Water Day and, optimistic that like other initiatives, it too would be a roaring success.

Yours faithfully,

Rani Patel" 



If you would like to sponsor an Aarohan child for 150 chf per year, please email:  kcbnuk@aol.com

OR
 

Donate to Aarohan directly by clicking this link!

March 22, 2011 is World Water Day!

World Water Day highlights the need for clean and accessible drinking water for everyone, worldwide.  While we enjoy plentiful and delicious water in Switzerland, many countires are not as fortunate.  The children served by Aarohan know this all too well.  When we asked founder Rani Patel if the children of Aarohan have issues with clean drinking water, this is what she had to say: 

"Since most of the children reside in slum dwellings on the bank of an open drain where dirty sewage water accumulates, they don’t have access to clean drinking water. To top it all, the houses they live in don’t have a provision of taps. The slum-dwellers meet their water requirements through a public supply system through taps which have been put up at sundry places outside their lodgings. The height of these taps is so low that the dirty sewage water gets mixed up with the supplied clean one which poses a serious health hazard. As a result, both children and parents are afflicted with chronic ailments which most of the time go untreated and end their lives."

In order to promote awareness,

CDL's science teacher Briony Taylor and the Primary Charity Committee

are organising some fun and relevant student actitivites

on World Water Day, 22 March, 2011.

Moreover, in celebration of both World Water Day and the International Year of Chemistry,

Briony and the Primary Charity Committee will run a science work-shop for students at CDL on Wednesday, 23 March, 2011 from 3.30 pm till 4.30 pm.

Donations of 5 CHF (minimum) per student to benefit Aarohan

If you want to sign up, send your child’s name & teacher to cdl.water.experiments@gmail.com

To learn more about World Water Day, follow this link: http://www.worldwaterday.org

It's Official -- Pancake Day was a HUGE success!

It's official!

The counting has been done and the Pancake Day Sale at CDL made CHF 610 for Aarohan.

World Water Week - 21st-25th March, 2011

Pancake Day at CdL

Pancake Day at CDL was a great success! Everybody seemed to have gotten the message that the most delicious homemade pancakes were on sale to benefit Aaroahan.  There was a veritable scrum at the table; ten minutes after the break started, all pancakes were gone and Aarohan was around CHF 500 richer!! We have still to count the exact sum, but with 250 pancakes at 2 CHF a piece, even I can do the basic maths! Well done to the pancake day marketing teams: Chandler, Evie, Caspar, Coco, Laura and Jonathan.  Well done to the baking teams: Norling, Tipple, Immell, Browne and Tholstrup families -- and well done to the selling team: Lea, Malin, Desirée, Lucie and Suzie!

International Day 2010 at College du Leman

The most anticipated event in College du Leman's primary school year calendar, International Day is a celebration that captures the true spirit of our multi-cultural school.  100+ nationalities represented within the CdL community come together to share their traditions as well as learn about the cultures of others in a festive atmosphere.  Last year's International Day was a huge success!

 

  

 

The day began with a Parade of Costumes.  Children were encouraged to wear their country’s traditional dress and join the parade which proceeded country by country through the school grounds.  The costumes were beautiful and the children proudly waved their country’s flags; the colors alone were a sight to see!

The school grounds were filled with games, arts and crafts activities, face painters and jumping castles for the children’s enjoyment.  In addition, our students provided wonderful entertainment during the talent show -- which was a truly wonderful display of how creative our children are!

The day continued with ‘Taste Around the World’, a culinary exploration of the various cultures and countries represented within our school.  The parents of College du Leman prepared a wide range of foods and sweets and created what was unquestionably one of the highlights of International Day!

 

Guests found many other diversions as well.  There was a used book sale, a raffle with wonderful prizes and the ever-popular Silent Auction -- which raised 20,000 chf for Aarohan!  CdL's generous families and local neighbours donated a range of wonderful items to the silent auction this year which included:

A new Kona bicycle (worth 1,800 chf)

5 shares in Farringdon Capital's hedge fund (worth 1,200 chf)

Family portrait photography sessions

A Thai dinner for 10, cooked and delivered to your home

Links time on a beautiful golf course in Scotland

Baboo airline tickets

A birthday party at Rainbow

and many more!

Huge thanks go to our art teachers who helped each class create a unique piece of art which was then auctioned off with much success!  It was a fight to the end to win many of the pieces. 

 

We are very much looking forward to International Day 2011!