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Posts Tagged ‘Heal Paradise Village’

Adventure-seeking Aussies sign up for Cycle India 2014

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

AN adventure-loving family from Australia admitted they simply couldn’t resist the challenge when they became the latest recruits for UK-based charity HEAL’s major international fundraiser, Cycle India 2014.

HEAL (Health and Education for All) has raised £220,000 from three previous Cycle India events in 2008, 2010 and 2012 and already has cyclists from India, Great Britain, Germany, United States and Australia signed up for 2014.

All monies raised go to help HEAL’s projects in rural Andhra Pradesh, southern India, where the charity offers many hundreds of impoverished, abandoned and orphaned children education and health care, as well as a roof over their heads. The charity, set up by UK medical practitioner Dr Satya Prasad Koneru 20 years ago, will shortly open the doors to its most ambitious project yet, HEAL Paradise Village, which will become home to one thousand needy children over the coming years.

Participants in Cycle India 2014 will stay at Paradise Village, near Vijayawada, and meet with the first intake of children, as well as visiting existing projects such as HEAL Children’s Village at Guntur.

When Australian Ben Pratt, 27, was looking for a new challenge after taking part in a 200km charity cycle ride in Perth, he came across Cycle India and quickly signed up, along with friend and work colleague Prateek Dua.

Excited by the prospect of a 400km bike ride along a stunning coastal route from Mumbai to the popular tourist destination of Goa in west India, Ben soon shared the details with mum and dad Stuart and Shirley … and they were hooked!

Stuart and Shirley Pratt, from New South Wales

“What can I say,” says Shirley, “we’re Aussies, and we love challenges. Stu and myself are both in our 50s and live in a little country town in New South Wales called Quirindi. We moved here about 18 months ago, as we now have a beautiful granddaughter to care for.

“Ben, however, lives in a remote area of the Kimberleys in western Australia, about 5,000km from us, so we are unable to catch up with each other all that often.

“We went to visit Ben in February and one afternoon we started to talk travel. He told us all about Cycle India and we just thought we could combine everything – travel, give to a charity, meet wonderful people, and have some family time as well … there were only positives as far as we were concerned. So for us from that point on it was ‘let the challenge begin!’.

“Stu and I have always loved travelling and have already done a few challenges along the way – trekking Fox Glacier in New Zealand, jumping out of a plane, trekking with the gorillas in Rwanda – all these exciting adventures were done with our daughter and son-in-law, so it’s going to be wonderful to be doing something with Ben.

“He competed in a bike ride last year to raise money for a cancer charity. At the time, he was living in Ayers Rock in central Australia, so training in 45-degree heat was very challenging, to say the least. It was extremely testing at times but when you have the reward at the end it, it is all worthwhile.

Ben Pratt, who signed up for Cycle India 2014, along with friend Prateek Dua

“The bike ride of over 200km in two days was held in Perth and it was a huge success. He enjoyed the challenge so much, he started looking further afield for another one to do, this time overseas, and that’s how Cycle India became his next challenge. His friend Prateek worked with Ben at the time and, coming from India, he also became very keen to do the bike ride.

“Ben loves riding, as does Stu, although he hasn’t ridden for many years. I never had a bike as a child, so I will definitely have my ‘learner plates’ on, but I’m ready to give it a go for the kids, or maybe walk some stages and help out at feeding stations along the way.”

HEAL founder and president Dr Prasad said: “I was very excited to learn that we will be welcoming a group of cyclists from Australia to Cycle India 2014 as this comes at a time when we are close to finalising the creation of a new arm of our charity, HEAL Australia.

“This event will be a chance to bring together not only supporters from HEAL USA, HEAL India and HEAL UK, but now HEAL Australia and other countries too.

“It promises to be a truly multi-national event and those who will benefit are the children in India, who will be given a chance of a brighter future by receiving an education which will allow them to stand on their own two feet.”

Cycle India 2014 volunteer organiser Jem King is already in talks with another group of potential cyclists from Hong Kong and is delighted to see the fundraising event attracting so much global interest this year.

“We are thrilled to have our friends from Down Under on board for 2014 and I’m hoping other like-minded Aussie cyclists might consider signing up as well,” said Welsh journalist Jem. “We’re aiming to assemble a group of around 30 cyclists for the ride from Mumbai to Goa. After all, the more participants, the more money HEAL can raise to get kids off the streets, out of the rubbish dumps and slums and into school where they belong.”

To learn more about Cycle India 2014, next year’s itinerary and how to register, go to www.heal.co.uk/about-cycle-india.html or get in touch via our contact page at www.heal.co.uk/contact-us.html

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Posted in Charity Events, children poverty india, Cycle India 2014, Fundraising, Heal Paradise Village, Heal USA | No Comments »

HEAL Paradise Village taking shape

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

HEAL founder and president Dr Satya Prasad Koneru recently returned home to the UK after spending time overseeing the Paradise Village development and remains confident that the school will be ready for its first intake of children later this year.

“I am satisfied with the rate things are taking shape,” says Dr Prasad. “I had two days of meetings with the architects and the rest of the team in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. I am more happy now and everybody is content with the new designs.

Building work progresses on the primary school

“There has been some redesign work, such as changing the main roof to a flat roof to allow us to install the panels for solar power. It is a big financial layout, but all part of our commitment to an eco-friendly environment at Paradise Village.”

HEAL hopes to attract support from a specialist solar power company interested in funding or part-funding the cost of installation, estimated to be in the region of 2.7crore (£325,000).

“Our vision for HEAL Paradise Village is that it will be fully self-sustaining and embrace green technology wherever possible,” says Dr Prasad.

“As for the construction work, we aim to complete the whole primary school building by the end of June 2013 and are hoping to start the academic year with 100 children.

“Dorms should be ready by the end of this year and until that time some of the classrooms will be used for accommodation and offices.

“We will have 16 classrooms, an arts room, a computer lab, staff room, library and a laboratory. In addition, there will be a lobby/gallery, head teachers office, as well as three outdoor classrooms. It is a very large building which will also house stores and laundry on the lower ground level.”

Site manager Mastan Ann reports that work on the dorms has been started and landscaping is going ahead with bougainvillea plants and 150 coconut trees providing a green-wall boundary.

“Each coconut tree will produce hundreds of fruit and each fruit contains a litre of coconut water which contains sugar & minerals, so the children will be able to have a healthy glass of coconut water every day,” says Mastan.

Meantime, while the construction is being carried out, HEAL India’s educational committee will be responsible for buying furniture and stationary and recruiting well-qualified teachers in the coming months.”

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Donate a tree for HEAL Paradise Village

Monday, October 15th, 2012

WORK is well under way on the first phase of construction of HEAL’s eco-friendly
children’s village, named ‘Paradise’, which will provide a home for 1,000 orphaned
and underprivileged children from Andhra Pradesh and other parts of India.

The village, which is located in a beautiful rural setting at Thotophalli in the
Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh, will be a safe haven where children can be
nurtured in a self-sustaining and mutually beneficial community.

Using recyclable materials and ‘green’ technologies, Paradise will be made up not
only of a school and accommodation, but a health centre, a care home for the
elderly, an institute for the blind and facilities for sports and art.

But the village is not just about bricks and mortar. Those fortunate enough to
have visited the site nestled between the stunning expanse of Lake Brahmalingam, a
haven for wildlife, and canals providing irrigation for the local farming
communities, quickly realise where Paradise found its name.

Entirely self-contained and secluded from the busy highway that connects the
village to the city of Vijayawada, the site provides a perfect setting for the
harmonious growth and development of the children who will come to call it home.

An array of sustainable techniques and systems like solar and wind power,
Hydroponic vegetables gardens and solar cooking are incorporated within the site’s
design proposals, including the recycling of waste materials to create energy.

The village will have extensive green cover and planting of fruit bearing and
shady trees has already been started, increasing the scope for self-sustainability.

During a recent visit to the site, HEAL volunteers Becky Curbishley and Charlotte
Boardman were delighted to be asked to assist with the planting operation.

Volunteers Becky and Charlotte plant coconut trees during their visit to HEAL Paradise Village

“We were among the first volunteers to visit the developing Heal Paradise site –
and what a paradise it is, a perfect location in which to expand the Heal family,”
said UK medical student Charlotte.

“We felt extremely privileged to be asked to plant some of the first trees on the
site. Of course, we will now have to return in the future to see our flourishing
coconut trees!”

HEAL will build fruit and vegetable gardens on the Paradise grounds. This produce
will be used to sustain not only the village, but any surplus can be taken to a
daily market and sold to the locals as both fair and organic.

Keen to encourage local wildlife and offer shade from the hot sun, HEAL will also
be planting hundreds of trees around the site and this gives an opportunity for
donors to come forward and help cover the cost of this operation.

Anyone wishing to donate £100 towards the cost of planting and maintaining a tree
will have a plaque with their name on it placed alongside the tree.

The vision for Paradise Village is that it will be fully self-sustaining,
embracing green technology wherever possible. Therefore, HEAL is also looking for
donors to help purchase 40 solar street lights at a cost of £350, or $600, each.
Every street light will have a plaque mounted on it thanking the donor.

If you are interested in further information, please click on the ‘Donate Online’
button at the top of the website www.healparadise.org and one of the trustees of
HEAL UK will contact you to discuss your donation to the HEAL Paradise Village.

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Posted in Charity Donations, Charity Sponsors, children poverty india, Heal Paradise Village, Heal UK, News from the Village, Volunteers | No Comments »

India Night marks HEAL’s 20th anniversary

Tuesday, August 7th, 2012

HEAL will celebrate two decades of transforming young lives through education when it holds its annual India Night get-together at The Cressett in Peterborough on October 6.

Dr Satya Prasad Koneru founded the charity Health and Education for All (HEAL) in 1992 with a mission to offer hope to needy children in his native India by equipping them with the tools to become masters of their own destiny.

Determined to break the seemingly constant cycle of poverty in his former home state of Andhra Pradesh, Dr Prasad has used HEAL to provide shelter, health care and an all-important education to hundreds of orphaned, abandoned and destitute children, knowing that this was the only way to make a lasting change in their lives.

And judging by recent success stories coming out of the Children’s Village in Guntur, HEAL’s supporters and sponsors are already seeing the fruits of their labour.

Children who came to HEAL from all manner of deprived backgrounds years ago are emerging as fully-rounded young adults, ready to stand on their own two feet, often seeking further education and looking to put something back into their communities.

HEAL now has around 1,000 children in its ever-growing family and is marking the charity’s 20th anniversary by embarking on its most ambitious scheme yet, the creation of HEAL Paradise Village.

Work has already begun on the £3m project, which will not only become a focal point for the local community in Thotaphalli, near Vijayawada, but home to 1,000 more severely under-privileged children, saving them from a life of poverty, ill health and deprivation.

All the monies raised from the HEAL India Night will go directly to the Paradise Village project and those attending will hear details of the progress already being made in Thotaphalli.

Tickets for the event are £20 (£15 for under-16s) and Dr Prasad is hoping to raise even more than the £6,700 that was made by last year’s Autumn Ball.

“The Autumn Ball was a change to the HEAL India Nights of previous years and it was good to see some new faces among our many regular attendees,” said Dr Prasad.

“This year’s event will be slightly less formal, but equally important in raising money which will make such a difference to hundreds of children’s lives.

“Fund-raising is obviously one of our main objectives, especially with work already well under way on Paradise Village, but we thoroughly enjoy getting together as part of the fellowship of HEAL.”

As well as authentic Indian food and musical entertainment, guests will hear the experiences of volunteers, including a child sponsor, who recently spent time visiting the Children’s Village in Guntur.

For ticket enquiries please call Helen Rome on 07863 178679.

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Posted in Charity Balls, Charity Events, Child Sponsorship India, children poverty india, Childrens Achievements, Fundraising, Heal Children's Village, Heal Finances, HEAL India Night, Heal Paradise Village, Heal UK, Volunteers | No Comments »

Family tragedy sparks charitable act

Tuesday, August 7th, 2012

A BIRMINGHAM doctor will dedicate a new institute for the blind to his son when he travels to his native India to lay a foundation stone at HEAL Paradise Village later this year.

Dr Dhanum Chunduri, a GP at the Sparkbrook Community Health Centre, where his wife Vijaya and daughter Jyothi also work, has donated £71,000 towards the building of the Phanendra Chunduri Institute for the Blind at the village, being constructed by the UK-based charity HEAL (Health and Education for All).

Dr Chunduri’s 22-year-old son Phanendra died in 2000 after contracting fulminant viral hepatitis while studying medicine in Debrecen, Hungary.

Daughter Jyothi suffered from glaucoma since childhood and lost her eyesight eight years ago, and the family were inspired to create an institute for the blind in India after visiting a rehabilitation centre in Peterborough, the city where HEAL founder Dr Satya Prasad Koneru works as a GP.

The Chunduri family

“I first met Prasad in 1982 when Heal was just in its infancy,” said Dr Chunduri. “He was distrbuting leaflets at a function and we were very impressed with his charitable activities and used to help wherever we could.

“My family originally supported an educational college in India and set up the Phanendra Chunduri Memorial Trust in my son’s name. We donated nearly £100,000 for the construction of lecture halls, and a science laboratory at Noble College in our native Machilipatnam, where one room was allocated as a museum for the Trust.

“My daughter has been blind since contracting glaucoma in 2004, so we thought of setting up an institute for the blind, something Indian people are desperately in need of.

“When Prasad came to me and told me about HEAL Paradise we decided to fund an institute for the blind there. We wanted to do something for the public, as there is very little help from the government for blind people.”

Phanendra Chunduri

Paradise Village, at Thotapally in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is the brainchild of Dr Prasad and will become home to 1,000 orphaned and destitute children when it is completed next year.

Dr Chunduri, who has four brothers and three sisters, will be accompanied by younger brother Krishna Babu when he revisits Paradise in November. Krishna Babu, a neurologist based in Dallas, Texas, has donated funds for the building of a vocational centre at the Village and will also lay a foundation stone on the same day.

For more information on HEAL Paradise Village and how to make a donation, please visit www.healparadise.org.

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Posted in Charity Donations, Charity Sponsors, children poverty india, Heal Paradise Village, phanendra chunduri institute for the blind | No Comments »

‘Green’ bricks in production at Paradise Village

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

CONSTRUCTION work at HEAL Paradise Village will take another step forward following the arrival on site of equipment to create fly ash building blocks.

The fly ash brick-making machine

Paradise Village was planned as an eco-friendly project, making use of renewable energy generation, such as solar and wind power, sustainable systems, including irrigation and waste recycling, and the use of cost-effective materials and construction techniques.

An array of sustainable techniques and systems are incorporated within the site’s design proposals and the village will lead the way in construction, using recyclable materials and ‘green’ technologies for electricity, water, sewage and edible plantations.

Billions of clay bricks are produced globally every year, requiring not only costly mining, but baking in 2,000°F kilns that devour fuel and produce harmful pollutants.

In India, fly ash bricks are used as a more environmentally-friendly alternative for construction, helping to offset millions tonnes of fly ash produced every year in the country’s thermal power plants. Instead of causing potential contamination to land, groundwater and air, the post-industrial recycled waste is used as a component in the bricks, the fly ash being mixed with sand/stone dust, lime, gypsum and cement to form an efficient building material.

Trial batch of bricks at Paradise Village

The fly ash brick machine being used at the Paradise Village site creates the blocks by means of a compression process, producing a strong product with good insulation properties as well as environmental benefits. The bricks solidify under pressure, not extreme heat, so manufacturing them saves energy and costs significantly less than traditional clay bricks.

HEAL’s site manager Mastan has been overseeing the process and commented: “We started the fly ash brick production on July 20 and are satisfied with our trial batches of a few bricks.

“We will now press ahead with production while achieving HEAL’s target of saving on cost, protecting the environment and managing waste.”

In addition to recycling waste materials to create energy, the village will have extensive green cover and the planting of fruit-bearing and shady trees will increase the scope for self-sustainability.

Setting up the power generator on site

HEAL’s vision is for this centre to be a model of excellence in design, sustainability and management, which will care for the most needy children and prepare them for adult life with education, skills, an awareness of their responsibility to protect valuable resources, and a caring attitude to the less fortunate people in society.

HEAL is appealing to individuals and businesses to help speed this project along by sponsoring a classroom, a dormitory, a workshop or arts building, or by providing funds for tree planting, or eventually by sponsoring individual children.

Sponsors can even have rooms and buildings named after themselves, a business or a loved one, and trees can be planted in memory of a loved one, and a name plaque attached. If you would like to support the project, and help to improve the lives of thousands of Indian children in the future, please contact us at healsec@hotmail.co.uk.

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Dallas doctor donates vocational centre to Paradise Village

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

AN Indian-born Dallas doctor is appealing for more like-minded professionals in America to join his crusade to give impoverished children in his homeland a start in life.

A college reunion four years ago brought him back in contact with former classmate Dr Satya Prasad Koneru, founder of the UK charity HEAL (Health and Education for All), and since then Dr Chunduri hasn’t looked back.

Dr Krishnababu Chunduri, left, with HEAL founder Dr Satya Prasad Koneru

He took part in a gruelling event, Cycle India 2010, to raise funds for HEAL’s projects and was so moved after meeting some of the children in the charity’s care that he knew he had to do more to help.

“When I was young my father died and my two brothers took care of eight of us. I always felt so much in their debt,” said Dr Chunduri.

“And when I first became involved with HEAL I saw this as a way of ‘paying my dues’, but after seeing the kids at the Children’s Village in Guntur I knew that I was going to be involved forever.

“I also remember during Cycle India 2010 seeing these people from the UK, some of who were barely able to cycle for one reason or another, but they carried on regardless and I thought ‘Why are these guys putting themselves through this?’.

“This, too, inspired me and left me feeling that my involvement with HEAL would be on-going, not just for the one time as I had imagined. I salute them for doing this for other human beings.”

Dr Krishnababu Chunduri, left, with fellow US cyclists at Cycle India 2010 and HEAL founder Dr Satya Prasad Koneru, right,

A family bereavement prevented Dr Chunduri from participating in Cycle India 2012, but he was determined to be involved and flew to India to make a personal donation to HEAL’s ambitious new project, Paradise Village, which will soon become home to 1,000 orphaned and underprivileged children.

“I met up with the cyclists after their ride and I told Prasad that I would like to donate $100,000 towards a vocational centre for the Paradise Village and a further $20,000 to build a guest house cottage there, too.

“I saw this as my destiny – it was something I felt I had to do – and I hope I can do more in the future.”

An artist's impression of the school block at the HEAL Paradise Village, under construction in Thotapalli

Now Dr Chunduri is hoping to reach out to other like-minded people in America to support HEAL’s good work.

“The sad situation in India is that there are super-rich people, but others are so poor you cry when you see them. The rich people don’t care about the poor people,” he said.

“There are only a few of us in HEAL USA right now and we need to recruit more people. There are a huge number of people like myself who left India to come and work in the States.

“Many of them are already donating to other charities, or projects such as temples and colleges back home in India, but HEAL needs help to give these unfortunate children a future by putting them into education.

“The beauty of the charity is that they have no paid staff and no administrative offices, so the money raised and donated goes directly to where it is needed most and I have seen the difference it makes with my own eyes.

“We are already looking at the possibility of holding a Cycle India event in America to raise awareness of HEAL and will be actively seeking more sponsors to support the Paradise Village project.”

After serving his internship in India, Dr Chunduri took up residency at the VA Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York and currently runs his own practise in Fort Worth.

Explaining his reasons for supporting a vocational centre, Dr Chunduri said that there was a need to encourage training in trades where skills were often learned on the job.

“There is an abundance of high-end technical people, but there is a need for mid-level technical people,” he said. “Some people work as machinists with no training and only hands-on experience. They need proper training and this vocational centre will encourage that.”

He added, “I talked to several kids separately at the HEAL Children’s Village in Guntur and asked them what they want to be. Only one said ‘engineer’. Almost all of them said, ‘I want to help people like me here at the HEAL Village’.

Krishnababu Chunduri, a 61-year-old neurologist from Fort Worth, Texas, was born and brought up in southern India and took his medical training in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, during the 1970s.

“It gave me a lot of encouragement that many of the kids are going to help with HEAL in the future. It is definitely going to make a difference that these children are going to go on to help people, which means that HEAL’s good work will be continued in the future.”

Dr Chunduri’s elder brother Dhanumjay is a GP based in Birmingham, England, and his family is sponsoring the creation of the Phanendra Chunduri Institute for the Blind at the Paradise Village in memory of his late son.

“Our own mother had zero education,” said Dr Chunduri. “It was frustrating for her when she wanted to read or write letters and had to depend on other people. But she still encouraged us and was our inspiration to get a good education.

“My brothers went on to do well in life. My father died when I was small, but my mother was so instrumental in educating us. That is why the vocational centre will be named after her.”

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Posted in Charity Donations, Child Sponsorship India, children poverty india, Cycle India 2010, Cycle India 2012, Further Education, Heal Children's Village, Heal Paradise Village, Heal USA, paradise vocational centre, phanendra chunduri institute for the blind | No Comments »

HEAL puts a smile on Sirisha’s face

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

WORK on the HEAL Paradise Village may not be complete, but the good news is that the project
is already having a positive impact on the local community in Thotapalli.

Steve Sargent, a HEAL volunteer who has spent time at the Paradise site overseeing the early
stages of development, heard about the plight of a local schoolgirl with type-1 diabetes
whose family were unable to meet the cost of her medical treatment.

Eleven-year-old Sirisha attends the local government school, but did not qualify for a
disability allowance to cover the cost of regular check-ups, lab tests, insulin and
syringes.

With the help of HEAL India’s Dr K Jagan Mohan Rao at Nagarjuna Hospital, Steve was able to
establish the cost of meeting Sirisha’s medical needs and a sponsor from England was quickly
identified to assist.

As our pictures show, she is now able to draw insulin from a pharmacy thanks to the money donated every month by a family with a diabetic daughter of the same age.

HEAL have also assisted a five-year-old boy, Aravind, who attends the same school as
Sirisha.

Aravind has a mild form of cerebral palsy and has difficulty walking, so HEAL were happy to
help arrange for him to have a specially-made shoe after consulting with local medics.

Children attending the local school can also be seen carrying their smart, new HEAL bags as the charity does its best to forge strong links with the community.

Paradise itself, when complete, will not only provide vital schooling and a home for a thousand underprivileged children, but will offer much more to local people, including an institute for the blind, industrial training, a health centre and a junior college.

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All systems go for Paradise Village

Monday, November 28th, 2011

THE long wait is finally over and the dream of a self-contained, self-sustaining village catering for many hundreds of underprivileged children of all ages is about to become a reality for HEAL and its visionary founder Dr Koneru Satya Prasad. Admittedly, there is still a long way to go before Paradise Village opens its doors and becomes home to as many as 1,000 orphaned and needy children from Andhra Pradesh and other parts of India. Large amounts of funding are still required to allow HEAL to complete by far its most ambitious project to date, but a significant milestone was reached this week with a successful ‘puja’ ceremony at the site of the village in Thotapally, near the city of Vijayawada.

Final drawings have been submitted to the local authorities and among the VIPs who attended the laying of the Ceremonial Foundation Stone on November 16 were Dr Manga Devi, who runs the school next to HEAL Children’s Village at Guntur, and Dr Bala Vardhana Rao, Member of the Legislative Authority for nearby Gannavaram.

One hundred people were invited to the puja ritual ceremony – performed to bless the building and the project as a whole, regarded as an important stepping stone to ensuring its success.

The ritual for the Paradise Village was performed at 9.54am local time – an auspicious moment, or ‘suba muhurtha’, calculated for a particular geographic position within the frame of a specially chosen day and using the time of sunrise for that particular position as the starting point. Among the many HEAL representatives from India and the UK in attendance was Amanda Smith, who has been visiting Andhra Pradesh to check on progress prior to taking up her new role as vice- principal of the HEAL Paradise Village.

“HEAL Paradise is a kernel of hope and from the 16th of November we can begin building a school and a future for underprivileged children to have the best education we can provide,” said Amanda.

“The school I am here in India to set up ready for admission in June 2012 may not yet have been built, I am assured that once building work commences, it will happen very quickly.”

In addition to providing vital schooling and a home for many, many children, Paradise will offer so much more to the local community, including an institute for the blind, industrial training, a health centre and a junior college. Much detailed planning has gone into ensuring that the village operates in a self-sustaining and eco-friendly manner, taking care of the children in a holistic environment that will help them to develop to their potential. To achieve this the Paradise Village aims to make use of the latest technologies in energy generation and conservation.

The site itself is nestled amidst beautiful surroundings, its borders demarcated by the expanse of Lake Brahmalingam to the south-east and canals to the north-east and south-west, which provide irrigation for the local farming communities. Entirely self-contained and secluded from the busy highway that connects the village to the city of Vijayawada, the site provides the perfect setting for the harmonious growth and development of the children who will come to call it home.

An array of sustainable techniques and systems like solar and wind power, hydroponic vegetable gardens and solar cooking are incorporated within the site’s design proposals, including the recycling of waste materials to create energy. The village will have extensive green cover and the planting of fruit-bearing and shady trees will increase the scope for self-sustainability. HEAL’s vision is for this centre to be a model of excellence in design, sustainability and management, which will care for the most needy children and prepare them for adult life with education, skills, an awareness of their responsibility to protect valuable resources, and a caring attitude to the less fortunate people in society.

Plans are in place not only for the construction of a school, family-style dormitories and a range of recreational facilities, but a visitors’ centre, auditorium, artistic and manual workshops, which will combine to maintain the traditional Indian ‘gurukul’ system, whereby residential students are provided with education, values and life-skills. HEAL is appealing to individuals and businesses to help us to speed this project along by sponsoring a classroom, a dormitory, a workshop or arts building, or by providing funds for tree planting, or eventually by sponsoring individual children.

Sponsors can even have rooms and buildings named after themselves, a business or a loved one, and trees can be planted in memory of a loved one, and a named plaque attached. If you would like to support the project, and help to improve the lives of thousands of Indian children in the future, please contact us at healsec@hotmail.co.uk.

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Heal Paradise Village

Monday, August 29th, 2011

HEAL’s latest and most ambitious project is to build a village and school to care for and educate 1,000 orphans and the poorest children from anywhere in India.

A 20-acre site has already been acquired and cleared and is ready for construction.

Donations are needed to help turn the dream of ‘Paradise Village’ into a reality, with sponsors being offered the chance to fund a classroom or building, perhaps in the memory of a loved one or maybe in the name of a company.

In this short video, HEAL’s Steve Sargent shows the stunning site of the new school in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, and explains what will soon be provided for the children.

He also talks about the poverty trap in this part of rural India and how the creation of a self-sustaining and mutually beneficial village community can help to break that cycle of poverty to bring hope to this and future generations.

Please watch the video, see how you can help, and then contact us through this website for details of easy ways to contribute and improve the lives of thousands of needy, orphaned and underprivileged children.

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