CINI NEWS January 2006

CINI brings relief to earthquake victims

Following the earthquake in Kashmir, CINI UK supporters donated enough money to provide more than 600 people who had lost their homes with the materials they needed to build sturdy shelters capable of withstanding the heavy winter snows The families helped by CINI included that of little Sahiba, pictured on the right in her mothers lap, who was born on October 8th, the day the earthquake destroyed her family’s home in the village of Parampilla in Kashmir. Before the earthquake Sahiba’s father, Mustaque, his wife, Zahira, and their four-year-old daughter, Sabiya, lived with Mustaque’s parents, his sister and his two brothers. Because the earthquake made their home uninhabitable, the family ended up living out in the open in a temporary structure covered with plastic sheets. As the temperature in the region was dropping fast, it looked like the winter might also take the new baby from them. So the family were very relieved when CINI reached their village and Mustaque told CINI’s Director, Dr Samir Chaudhuri, who coordinated the Kashmir relief effort: "CINI’s help will allow me to convert our shelter to withstand the coming snowfall".

Dr Samir Chaudhuri with baby Sahiba, her mother Zahira and elder sister Sabiya

Dr Samir Chaudhuri commented "What has been achieved with the help of CINI UK supporters will make a huge difference in terms of reducing preventable deaths and suffering as a result of the cold in Kashmir. Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who contributed to the appeal."


Awards for CINI’s work with children

On 14th November, the Indian government recognised CINI’s outstanding work to help children and the charity received the National Award of Child Welfare. Recipients for this prestigious award are chosen on the basis of the quality of their work, its significance in leading the way on improving child welfare in India, and the numbers of children whose lives have been touched by the charity’s work.
Four days later Dr Samir Chaudhuri, founder of CINI, was also awarded the Italian Parliament’s Prize for Infants, in recognition of the many years he has devoted to promoting the health of children.
Director of CINI UK, Anna Taylor, said, "CINI has always been held in high regard in the NGO sector, with representatives of many well known charities such as UNICEF, CARE and CRY coming to visit CINI’s work on malnutrition and preventative healthcare to see how its success might be replicated elsewhere. It is really wonderful for all the staff working on the projects that the high standard of their work, into which they put so much energy and determined effort, is now being officially recognised by the Indian government".
"Our warm congratulations to Dr Chaudhuri for winning these well deserved and prestigious Awards which will help raise the profile of CINI worldwide", added Lady Slynn, Chairman of CINI UK.

Fighting female malnutrition in Bishnupur

CINI UK supporters are funding a 3 year project to fight malnutrition, especially combating the causes of female malnutrition, in Bishnupur a disadvantaged region of West Bengal. Nothing is perhaps more fundamental to child welfare than access to adequate nutrition. Perhaps surprisingly, South Asia suffers from staggeringly high levels of child malnutrition with close to half of all children aged under five years old being underweight. In India, one in every ten children born dies before their sixth birthday and at least half of these premature deaths are believed to be related to malnutrition Major causes of the malnutrition problem in India include poor maternal nutritional status at conception, low weight gain during pregnancy due to inadequate dietary intake and short maternal stature due to the mother’s own chronic malnutrition since childhood. It should be noted that South Asia is unique in having higher rates of malnutrition amongst girl children than boy children (usually, for biological reasons, boys are more vulnerable to malnutrition). Work began on CINI UK’s Bishnupur project in August with CINI healthworkers focusing on providing nutritional and healthcare support to pregnant mothers and children up to the age of two, the most critical period for child development. Undernutrition and infections contracted during the first two years of life can lead to lasting physical and mental disabilities and chronic ill health. This project will help children in the region lay a firm foundation for a healthy life – an important step towards helping them escape poverty.

Pregnat mother helped through CINI UK's Bishnapur project

HIV/AIDS awareness street theatre project

HIV/AIDS is a growing problem in India, with the number of cases of HIV expected to exceed that in the whole of Africa by 2010. CINI is playing an important role in fighting the spread of the disease through work on raising awareness of the way the disease is spread, and the availability of blood testing facilities and care and support services for people living with the virus.
CINI UK has funded a season of 20 short dramas, requiring the minimum of props, to be performed over 6 months at busy thoroughfares like bus stops, taxi stands, railway platforms and in front of cinema halls – where crowds of people willing to watch the shows can be found at any point in time. The shows are designed to have mass appeal and include question and answer sessions to involve the crowd actively.
The aim is that, by the end of the show, spectators will have a grasp of the ways the virus is passed on and what they can do to protect themselves. They will also understand the importance of supporting people affected by HIV and not compounding the disadvantages of living with HIV by abusing sufferers.


Working with the next generation

CINI UK is funding an innovative project with adolescents, promoting positive attitudes to female education among this group, discussing the importance of girls being properly nourished for the health of the next generation and discussing family planning issues. The project staff will be tackling ways young people can protect themselves and their families from HIV/AIDS, while at the same time breaking down the myths that contribute to discrimination against people living with HIV. As well as encouraging the young people involved in this project to take greater responsibility for their own lives by making healthy choices, CINI is also promoting the benefits of young people being responsible citizens and working together to bring about improvements in their local community through initiatives such as litter collections.

Adolescents discussing health issues

Some ways you can help CINI UK

Have you considered supporting CINI UK through payroll giving? This is a valuable, long term source of revenue for CINI’s work, providing regular income to help us budget and plan ahead more effectively. Under the scheme you can make regular donations to CINI UK directly from your salary. The donation is tax-free, so for example £5 per month to support our Adopt A Mother programme will generate an extra £1.90 a month in reclaimed tax, plus a 50p bonus from the government to help us support other projects to help poor women and children in India. For a payroll giving joining form and more information please call us on 020 7358 0309 or email info@ciniuk.org

Have you considered leaving a charitable legacy to CINI UK in your Will? As charitable legacies are exempt from inheritance tax, this is potentially the most cost effective way of supporting your favourite charities

And have you sent CINI UK a Gift Aid Declaration? If you aren’t sure, fill in the Gift Aid Box on the back of this newsletter, and don’t forget to include your full name and address as these are needed in order for us to make the claim. Gift Aid increases the value of gifts from UK income of capital gains tax payers by 28%. We can claim retrospectively on gifts if you haven’t made a declaration before. You can’t declare too many times – so if in doubt, fill the form out!

Students from Villiers High School who helped raise funds for CINI

Children in Southall help children in India Pupils from Villiers High School in Southall have raised more than £300 for CINI UK after being asked to put on their creative thinking hats and come up with imaginative fundraising ideas. As part of their citizenship lessons, year nine pupils had to think of money raising ideas, learn about the work of charities and think about helping people more disadvantaged than themselves.

If you know a school that might be interested in running a similar scheme ring 020 7358 0309 or email info@ciniuk.org

Dates for your diary

26th March – Mothers Day Campaign: Look out for media coverage of CINI’s work to improve mother and child health. CINI is also looking for volunteers to run awareness or fundraising events in the run up to Mothers Day.

16th April – Sponsored paraglide by Director of CINI UK : Anna Taylor and her sister Polly are doing a sponsored paraglide in East Sussex to raise funds to help secure the future of CINI’s services for severely malnourished children. To show your support for their efforts, please sponsor them online at www.justgiving.com/pollyandanna . If you would rather try flying yourself, contact Anna on 0207 358 0309 for further details.

1st July – MAYA: The songs of Bengali cultural icon Rabindranath Tagore, classical and contemporary dance, inspiring music and an uplifting love story all combine in MAYA, a dance theatre production which challenges our assumptions about mental illness. This will be performed at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. To reserve your ticket now email info@ciniuk.org or phone 020 7358 0309

Thank you

CINI UK would like to extend its warmest thanks to British Airways for donating two return tickets to New York and to Tamarind for donating dinner for 2 at is prestigious Mayfair based restaurant which will be raffled in July at MAYA. Cobra Beer has generously offered to supply the drinks for our VIP reception at MAYA. We are also grateful to Charles Worthington which donated a range of male grooming products; City Cruises which donated unlimited cruising for a day for 2 adults, 2 children and 2 dogs; Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes which donated bowling and dinner for 4, Tescos for 2 large tubs of sweets and Krishna Jai restaurant who donated a 3 course dinner for two for a raffle in November.

And of course, thank you to all of you who have supported CINI’s work over the last 6 months.

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CINI UK, Suite 631, 456-458 Strand, London, WC2R 0DZ      Tel: 0207 358 0309   Email: info@ciniuk.org    Web: www.ciniuk.org      Registered charity: 1092674