Update posted 23/9/06

2003 - 2006

The Church Schools of Ely Diocese

and the Diocese of Vellore

In the Summer of 2006 a group of Cambridgeshire teachers went to Vellore in South India. They were able to visit several of the projects which had been supported by the Church Schools of Ely Diocese over the last few years. Did your school raise money for these poor Indian schools and Dalit village communities? Here are some of the results of your generous giving:

(Double click on the photographs for a larger version of the image)

2003 Bishop Anthony's Harvest Appeal

In 2003 we showed you these photographs of Selambu School in the South of the Diocese of Vellore. The school was in a very run down condition and the village had been promised a new building - but the money was not available, and for five years the headteacher and staff had only the footings of the new school. Bishop Anthony sponsored a Harvest Appeal to build new schools in three rural villages, including Selambu.

Here is the new Selambu School - a generously sized building with room for two classes. The plaque on the wall celebrates the kindness of the Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council (that's you!) in supporting the school. The whole village is delighted with this development and sends their thanks. Two other small village schools at Chengulam and Vilachiteri were also rebuilt. All three schools serve poor Dalit communities.

2005 Bishop John launches a school roof appeal

In the Summer of 2005 we heard that 30 Elementary Schools in Vellore Diocese were faced with imminemt closure unless they could replace their palm leaf school roof in line with new fire safety standards. In many schools this meant a complete rebuild, because the walls of their buildings were actually inadequate to support a heavier roof. In a few short months the schools and parishoners of Ely Diocese raised £12,000 - together with the money raised or borrowed by the Diocese of Vellore itself, this was sufficient to save all the threatened schools. The photographs below are of the renovated Ashram Elementary School which serves a poor area of the town of Vellore. See how the children of the Diocese of Ely are named on the renovation plaque.

The 2005 Christmas Catalogue

In 2005 we launched the first "Christmas Catalogue" of gifts to support rural Dalit communities in the Diocese of Vellore. As a result, pairs of goats were distributed to the poor mothers of the village of Ananthapuram, milch cows were distributed at the village of Sainathapuram, and at Kassam they are using your gifts to excavate the local wells, some of which are filled with sixty feet of silt! When repairs have been made the farmland will be brought back under cultivation again. All these communities send you their delighted thanks; for the village families owning animals means they will be able to make some income from selling milk and later they are hoping for calves and kids to be born.