Thursday 20 December 2012

St Lazarus visit to the Mission

With Swami Nityarupananda and the St Lazarus sponsored children

Meeting Swami Nityananda 

Presenting gifts of pencils and geometry sets to Swami Nityananda 

Hearing impaired girls at the School for hearing and sight impaired  girls

Computer studies
At the Leprosy Village with the St Lazarus sponsored Solar Lights

At the Leprosy Colony in Purulia 


Kitchens and lunch at Purulia





The location for the new library in Purulia


At Joyrambati

Edna Green with Surita her newly sponsored child

Children of Leprosy sufferers needing sponsors

On mother and child support training

Posting on the Blog from Joyrambati

An electrical engineering vocational course at Joyrambati

Nurses at the medical facility in Barrackpore




The RV Mission printing press at Barrackpore 

Some destitute boys in the care of the Mission at Barrackpore 


Monday 5 November 2012

Distribution of Solar Lights


Distribution of Solar Lanterns sponsored by the John of Gaunt Commandery
of the Order of St Lazarus

Tuesday 25 September 2012

New children at the R V Mission Purulia branch  India


The Friends of R V Mission  UK has started  funding for sponsoship of four new children from the families of leprosy sufferers at Purulia District of West Bengal,  India,  at the Purulia centre of Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission, starting from the 1st September 2012.

Dr Samir Kumar Ghosh
Secretary  Friends of R V Mission

Sunday 16 September 2012

Donation Received


Our dedicated supporter Pat Scott from Scotland has donated £300 towards our objective by saving coins in a glass jar.  She has also donated £500 last year towards our water project and sponsoring an orphan child at the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission, West Bengal, India.

Our sincere  thanks and  endless gratitude to our friend Pat.

Samir Ghosh
Secretary  Friends of R V Mission

Monday 13 August 2012

Secretary of RV Mission

I would like to let you know that our Secretary of R V Mission Swami Nityananda has improved and his health is better now.  We all hope his complete recovery as soon as possible.

Monday 25 June 2012

AGM 2012


Only the ladies joined in when invited!

Eastern European dance group Opanka entertained us once again

Friday 15 June 2012

Secretary to the Mission taken ill


With intense sadness we inform you that Swami Nityananda, General Secretary of R V Mission has developed a serious illness and has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a reputed nursing home in Kolkata  for a heart condition.  We send him our prayers for his improvement and  rapid recovery and we are keeping in touch with the Mission constantly for information updates about his condition.

Monday 11 June 2012


The following sponsored children have successfully passed their final school examination and will be helped by R V Mission to continue with higher studies.

Sl.
Child’s Name
Sponsor’s Name
Marks obtained
Division
01
Rajkumar Pal
Lynne Jones
510
1st
02
Sakila Murmu
Clair Stebbings
294
3rd
03
Sumati Oraon
Catherine Parry
342
2nd
04
Bappa Mondal
Steven Knowles
521
1st

Friday 1 June 2012

Alice Cruickshank's Birthday Party

Photos from Alice's Casino themed garden party. You may recognise Ian and of course, there's Georgia, Alice's little sister, now almost 13. 

 The sum of £110 was raised by Alice's friends donating their pocket money to the Mission instead of giving her presents for her 18th birthday.

Sunday 20 May 2012

Johanna's Sponsored run

Johanna Wild has completed her sponsored run in Manchester today, you can now support her on-line by selecting the "How you can help" tab and pressing the "donate" button.  You can indicate that your donation is for Johanna by typing under "special instructions"

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Opening Ceremony of Sarada Ma Private ITI


Friends, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome Hon’ble Minister of Technical Education of Training, Government of West Bengal, Sjkt. Rabi Ranjan Chattopadhyay and Sjkt. H.P. De, Director of Industrial Training, West Bengal to this meeting today as they have been pleased to come to our Institution today despite their heavy schedule of activities.
I came to Puri to settle the purchase of a property for the Vivekananda Math with the hope that I would be able to come back in time and join this happy assembly but due to ill health could not attend this very important event. I am very sorry for this. However, through this writing I welcome Sjkt. Chattopadhyay to this Mission today and I express our great satisfaction for his presence at this Mission in this great sun.
The Vivekananda Math & Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission is one of the three Organizations connected with Holy name of Sri Ramakrishna; one is at Belur called Ramakrishna Math & Mission, second is at Dakshineswar called as Sarada Math & Ramakrishna Sarada Mission and third one is Vivekananda Math & Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission at Barrackpore. Sangha does not mean a single Institution but a cluster of Institutions extending its activities in manifold areas.
Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission started its activities with only 20 tribal destitute children in the year 1977 and today it has more than 10 thousand children all over West Bengal. The Mission has been able to develop centers for putting into practice the teachings of Swami Vivekananda at various places of the country. It has 22 centres in West Bengal and 11 centres in the States of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattishgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
This extension of activities was possible because of the unremitted confidence entrusted on us by the Government and the public. While welcoming Sjkt. Chattopadhyay and other distinguished Guests on this formal opening ceremony of Sarada Ma Private Industrial Training Institute I like to mention that this is a part of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary Programme. We are also grateful to Education-Aid-India, a UK based charitable organization who has contributed a considerable amount towards the development of Sarada Ma ITI. We send our best wishes to all of them on this memorable day.
On the recommendation of the State Government this Mission has received National Award thrice in the field of Child Welfare in the year 1984, 1992 and 2003 and once the Government of India awarded its Secretary individually in the year 2007. This is a unique recognition from the side of the Government for a particular Institution. I am grateful to them. This year the Mission has got Jindal Prize for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation amounting Rs. 25 lakhs. I am mentioning this to show that this Organization stands first among social welfare organizations, if we consider it from the stand point of merit. The Mission has been maintaining 1165 orphan boys and girls, destitute and deserted ladies, street children, visual and hearing impaired girls, old age public. We express our deep gratitude to the Government and people for whose support it has been possible.
Our experience from the past shows that Vocational and Technical education is wonderfully useful for the boys and girls particularly for their economic rehabilitation. We are surprised to know that presently Government has launched a scheme named Modular Employable Skill (MES) where the trainees pay their tuition fees during the time of examination but they get the money refunded after successful completion of their training. It is wonderful. We have been running Junior Technical Schools, Vocational Training Centres vis-a-vis general education and it is proved that Vocational/Technical education provide a better and wider scope of appointment for the younger generation and therefore, we should devote ourselves for such type of education for gainful employment of economically backward classes of people.
In Barrackpore we have children under Juvenile Justice Act and we have seen that Vocational training is a very fruitful method for their employment. We like to develop it more and therefore, I have submitted an application to the Government for giving us a dilapidated building within Barrackpore Cantonment which was previously used for the same purposes but now lying vacant. It is adjacent to our Vocational Training Centre at Barrackpore. We hope that Hon’ble Minister will kindly look into our request and help us to fulfil our goal. It may please be noted that we do not want any financial help for this purpose. As a part of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary we also like to start new I.T.I. courses on Surveyor and Auto-Mobile at Sarada Ma Pvt. I.T.I. and a new Pvt. I.T.I. at our Purulia branch where we have adequate land and therefore, we shall come with proposal to the State Government very soon.
At the end, on this Bengali New Year day I pray to Holy Feet of Sri Sri Thakur, Sarada Ma and Swamiji to shower their blessings to Hon’ble Minister so that he could continue his work more widely for the benefit of poor people and I also invite him to pay a visit to our Barrackpore Headquarters according to his convenience.

With best wishes and regards,
Swami Nityananda
General Secretary Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission

Monday 16 April 2012

Happy new year

‘Shubha Nababarsha’  (Happy New Year) to all our Friends at the R V Mission


Gill Robinson, Samir Ghosh, Angela Stevenson, Johanna Wild, Magda Gupta, David Green and all  Members, Supporters,  and Friends.

1 Baisakh 1419

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Purulia

Today, Dr Ghosh spoke to the Purulia Mission  and temperature there  has gone over 45 degree C,  the water shortage is acute and widespread,  the tube-wells are blessing from God to the  sufferers, and their appreciation for the donors is endless.

Donation by Order of St Lazarus

At the AGM of the Commandery of John of Gaunt last Friday, a cheque for £1500 was received.  £1200 is for the support of the 10 children, with the remainder being assigned for the provision of more solar lights.

Solar Lights

Please see attached photos of five solar lights distributed to the leprosy sufferers at the New Leprosy Colony in Purulia District of West Bengal, India.  The lights were bought using the balance left after distribution of cakes to  all children  at the R V Mission from donation by Helen Cruickshank (£100.00) , Sharmin Panna (£20.00) and Gill Robinson (£20.00).  The distribution was organised by our Asst Secretary Swami Nityarupananda and In-charge of Purulia branch Tilak Maharaj.



This simple gift will have a very positive effect to their quality of life, we are  also planning to distribute twenty more lights to the leprosy sufferers and possibly more to other poor families to help and promote education of their children.

Monday 19 March 2012

Visit to the Mission

The Order of St Lazarus, John of Guant Commandery, are planning a visit to the Mission in November, they will visit many of the sites, including the new leper colony near Purulia.  See more about them here.

At the Mission

Our Treasurer Johanna Wild has visited the R K V Mission for two weeks in January 2012 and she was warmly welcomed by everybody.  She has met her sponsored child and the children and staff members at the Barrackpore branch  also celebrated her birthday.  Johanna also visited with the Mission’s teacher, Goutam and also had meetings with the General Secretary Swami Nityananda and Asst Secretary Swami Nityarupananda.  She was overwhelmed with emotion frequently especially meeting the children of the Mission.  It was her second visit to the Mission in India.

Also our General Secretary Samir went to the Mission for one month in January/February his year which he does every year.  He met all sponsored children and took photographs and discussed progress with the Asst Secretary who accompanied him all the time.  Progress reports and photos are sent to the sponsors every year.   Samir also visited our Purulia Primary School and donated books to all children funded by FoRVM.  He has also distributed cakes for Christmas and New Year to all children at the R K V M funded by Helen, Gill and Sharmin. Samir met the General Secretary a few times and discussed several issues.  Samir has also distributed shoes which were individually made for the leprosy sufferers, funded by FoRVM and our Trustee David Green, at the leprosy village of Purulia.  He has also donated on behalf of us five solar lights to the New Leprosy Colony manufactured at the vocational centre of the R V Mission, funded by Helen, Gill and Sharmin.  Samir and Tilak Maharaj, Head  of the Purulia branch, also visited the Leprosy Mission Hospital meeting all patients, staff members including all dedicated nurses and doctors

Samir at the Mission

A disabled poor polio victim  little girl at Purulia needs a wheel chair for her mobility 
Tube-well donated by Broughton Catholic Charitable Society at the New Leprosy village 
FoRVM DVD upgrading by Hirok in Kolkata in his small office

Samir at the Mission

Cake distribution to children  by Samir 
Tube-well at the leprosy village donated by the Order of St Lazarus 
Individually made shoe distribution  to the leprosy sufferers funded by FoRVM and David and Edna Green

Samir at the Mission

Samir with children at Purulia school 
Sweet and cake distribution for New Year 2012 funded by Helen Cruickshank, Gill Robinson and Sharmin Panna 
Book distribution at Purulia school funded by Friends of R V Mission