The effects of rain in bhuj

More pictures from the days of rain from Bhuj.

In front of the School Campus


The Amphitheatre Lawn


The School Playground


The Hill overlooking Bhuj


Shanthinagar-locality from where students come


Ashapuranagar


Fishing at Ashapuranagar

Rainy Days at Bhuj

Its a very rare but welcome sight when it rains in Bhuj which is in the Kutch District one of the 2 most driest place in India, the other being in Rajasthan. Therefore when it rains, people unlike elsewhere do not run into their homes, but on the contrary run out into the streets to enjoy every bit of the ever elusive waters from the skies. Even when it is as devastative as was the case the last couple of days!

It was a very painful sight to see people having water run into their homes due to overflowing of water from the local Amritsvar Lake, which was again due to heavy rains. But as I went around trying to measure the extent of damage, it was a very happy crowd that I saw around, happy for the coolness in the middle of heat. I had captured some pictures of the levels of water flow & also some of the excitment in people, some even fishing as the fish were forced out of the lake. Take a look and enjoy!

Happenings at the School.

Well the school has re-opened aftert the Summer vacation break. Lots of new faces around along with the older members of the school. New year, New students, few New teachers, new plans, new classes. It has been a time of news. I shall update the pictures very soon. Lots of news to share. We have started a new training workshop series for the teachers. Sports camp for the local youth. So just wait a bit more, to see and hear about the happenings at the Center of HOPE.

The Centre of HOPE image from Satellite through Google Earth.

SUMMER OF '07 - A CAMP

Come summer and all children get excited about the vacations where they can have unlimited fun, and children at our school are no different. Some have left town to spend their days with relatives in other cities. SOme have a good time planned by their parents to go places as tourists. Some are left behind due to various reasons. What ever be the reasons, we planned to help them have fun. I would like you to join me as I take you along through a journey to see what the've been upto this summer.

Welcome to the Summer Camp of '07

Learning tips on the Gujarati Language

Story Telling time

Listening to Moral Stories

Learning the Art of Colours

Applying it

Almost done

The product of Learning

Lessons on Gardening

Practical Demonstration

We've had fun.

What about you?

The New Look at School

The Summer's here. Along with it the new look at the school campus. I have tried to capture the bright crimson leaves for you, as it beautifies the Center of HOPE.

The Kitchen Garden

After a while of waiting finally its here! The first vegetables from our own Kitchen Garden. The first harvest were used in the mid-day meal for the school children. It was so exciting for all of us. Check out these pics below.

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Our School Annual Day - Celebration Time

Our School celebrated its Annual Day on the 9th of March,2007. It also completes 5 years in active service to the community. The day was well spent by cultural events by all the grades at school. All the winners of the Annual Sports Day events received their prizes from the cheif guests, who were : Fr.Kunnath (from Kutch Vikas Trust-KVT invovled with the school from its conception days), Mr.Mark Pitchamuthu and his wife Mrs.Jasmine Pitchamuthu from Mumbai, close friends of the HOPE foundation. The parents, relatives & friends of our students came in good numbers to be part of the evening, which also included a 10 min. video collection of previous events of the year gone by. Most importantly the children of the school enjoyed such break before the Final Examinations in April. Below are few of the pictures of the day. Hope you like it as much as we enjoyed it.

Welcome by pre-primary


Dance by Junior Kindergarten


Dance by 1st Grade


Dance by Muskaan - 1st Grade


Our friends


Dance by Rajpreet - Senior KG


Dance by 2nd & 3rd Grade Girls


Boys of 3rd Grade


Parents with friends


Dance by Dinesh - 2nd Grade

Kitchen Garden

Dear friends of HOPE.
I am glad to share this news with you. We had planned for a garden within the campus where we could grow vegetables for the school mid-day meal program. In the beginning of Feb'07 we began working on a small patch as a pilot project. It was Mr.Rajakumar (a multi-talented person) working as an admin.asst, who did all the hard work.

The land was tilled and soil loosened, then seeds of Beans, Brinjal, Ladies Finger and Tomato were sowed. As expected the plants have sprouted out and with much care and support we will soon have our home grown vegetable in the mid-day meal menu. Enjoy the pictures!

Part - 1 : The preparation work begins...



Rajakumar watering the patch


Well watered patch



More watering




The patch ready


Part - 2 : The evolution of seeds into plants..





The young sproutings




The patch slightly turning green




A closeup of greenery




The bean patch






The closeup of bean patch



More of these in days to come



Overhead Shot