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ASHA's 20th Celebration

Village Baptist and ASHA New Zealand would like to invite you to attend the 20th Anniversary of the ASHA Ministry in India....

The Jeanette Wakefield Hall at Godipokhari

ASHA works for the educational, social, spiritual and economic development of the downtrodden communities in India and aims to bring lasting changes into the communities they support. One such community is Godipokhari, which is in the Khordha district of Odisha.This community speaks Odia, a language spoken in eastern India. Their staple food is rice, ragi (a type of millet) and vegetables that grow throughout the different seasons. Most of them do not own any land and work as daily labourers. ...

Thousands Flee

The state of Manipur in India has experienced a violent conflict that has resulted in many deaths and displacements. The conflict started when some groups opposed the demand of another group to get special benefits from the government. The groups belong to different ethnicities and regions of the state.The situation turned violent when a rally by one group was attacked by another group. This sparked a series of clashes and riots in several state districts, where mobs attacked homes, vehicles, an...

40C heat pounds India

The heatwave that has been plaguing the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in India is forecast to continue through the coming week. Daytime temperatures of 40C have been recorded for several consecutive days in these regions, about 5C above the seasonal average.Click the link below to read the latest weather updates.Weather tracker: India temperatures hit 40C as heatwave continues | Environment | The Guardian...

Heat Wave

We have just had an update arrive from ASHA India "Now we have a little rain so we are very happy because the summer heat was very much unbearable to us."Please see below recent news article In 2022, India recorded its hottest March. This triggered an early onslaught of heat waves that engulfed several states across North, Central and East India from March-May this year, according to a news publication. Heat-wave like conditions prevailed in 16 states of India from March 11-April 24, 2022, stat...

Vaccine Roll-Out

Over 1 billion people in India have had their first Covid Vaccine and 329 million are now fully vaccinated.  These are staggering numbers however it represents only 23.8% of the population being fully vaccinated. We received news over the weekend from our ASHA India Team confirming that they too are dealing with significant price increases  ranging from 100% to over 400% for the basic commodities of life. E.g. Petrol was Rs60 now Rs112, LPG refill was Rs414 now Rs834, Dal was Rs70 now...

Site Manager Update

Our Site Manager brought great news to us this week.  He reports that all is well with the sponsor children.  They are so very grateful for the continued support from the sponsors.  They are also extremely thankful for the assistance from New Zealand which has enabled them to provide additional emergency care packages to those most impacted by COVID19.If you would like to make a donation to the ongoing COVID19 Emergency Appeal Fund click here....

A powerful cyclone has torn into Eastern India

Cyclone Yaas, which intensified into a "very severe cyclonic storm", hit the states of West Bengal and Orissa - also known as Odisha.  This is the second cyclone to hit the country in a week after Cyclone Tauktae killed more than 150 people. It comes as India is already struggling to deal with its Covid-19 outbreak. Yaas lashed coastal areas with ferocious wind and rain as it made landfall in India, damaging homes and bringing waves that swamped towns. More than one million people were evac...

India struggles with COVID

Even though the COVID situation in India is grim, we are grateful that technology has allowed us to keep in regular contact with our ASHA India Team.  They want you to know that all financial support, via our child sponsorship and general donations, is making a huge difference.  In many cases, it has meant life to those who have received ASHA assistance. If you would like to make a difference by financially supporting ASHA’s work in India please head to our ‘DONATE’ page....

Construction Projects in Full Swing

We are very excited that building work at our new centre is now in full swing. It is great to see this project nearing completion as it means that we will no longer be reliant on rented accommodation for our children.  We are also about halfway through building staff accommodation at our hostel site, this is also great news for the team in India....

Experts say a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases ‘alarming’

Experts say that poor adherence to safety protocols is driving the surge. There were 37,000 new cases reported on 21 March, a sharp increase from the low of 10,000 per day experienced earlier in the year.  More than 40 million people in India have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine so far, but that's less than 4% of the country's population....

Meri Kirihimeti

When we look back on this year, we are very thankful to our sponsors for their generous support. The COVID-19 relief that was sent twice during the desperate time was a blessing. It was very badly needed and we got it at the right time to provide food items to people in need. Because of Lockdown, there was no work, no money, so no food for people who are daily labourers and poor. So ASHA reached out to those people and provided them relief assistance.  Due to this lockdown, many people in I...

COVID-19 Update

The number of new COVID cases are slowly decreasing throughout India, and active cases fell below 5 lakh (500,000) on Tuesday for the first time since July.  In the areas we work the local markets and shops are now open and so are the schools.  The people continue to learn how to live with the virus....

Thank You!

Thank you for the overwhelming response to our COVID Relief Appeal.  Our people on the ground will be distributing relief to our ASHA India families and community contacts in rural India. We will update you as soon as we have any further information about the distribution of the relief packages. After having many cities reel under COVID’s effect, there has been a trend reversal with rural districts in many states reporting a spike in cases.  Officials say that more than 80% positive ...

Emergency Appeal

We have just received correspondence from our ASHA India Board further outlining the worsening situation that COVID 19 is inflicting on the communities in which we are working and other individuals associated with our work. Basic provisions have become either too expensive or too scarce to obtain.  This is causing malnutrition, and sadly the emotional toll is also leading some to take their lives.  COVID 19 is directly affecting some of our workers, including the spouse of one worker w...

Children All Well.

Recent contact with our team in India has assured us that all our children are being well cared for. However, one of our team has contracted the COVID virus and is currently being cared for in hospital....

Pandemic Worsens In India

India has now overtaken Russia as the country with the third-highest total reported cases in the world. The disease is spreading quickly, and hospital facilities are already stretched. At this stage, our staff have been in lockdown for some time and thankfully we have received no reports of any cases directly affecting them. In the rural communities where we work, health care is fairly limited, and hospital facilities are both basic and a long-distance away. We are very aware of how vulnerable ...

COVID Relief Package Distribution

We are very thankful for donations that have allowed us to buy relief packages and are happy to report that they have now been distributed by ASHA India....

Things Are Going To Be Different

“We were so heartbroken about the news of Marina.  She is the first person who left us from our ASHA Family, our strongest hope and faith is we will be all together again in one place one day.  The ASHA India family are presently all well.  However, COVID-19 cases in India are growing rapidly.  Things are going to be very different in India in the future and we are starting to face a real problem now.”...

In Sympathy

It is with heavy hearts that we write of the passing of Marina Dinsdale.  Marina was one of ASHA Ministries founders and has been a NZ Board member since its inception.   Marina died peacefully at her home in Hastings on 2nd June.  She was a much-loved friend to all those associated with ASHA and we will all miss her dearly.  She exhibited incredible love and compassion to all she met and was an advocate for the least and the lost. Rest now – until we meet again...

From India

Two things struck my heart this morning. Firstly, I just want to THANK GOD for keeping us safe, from this cyclone, as well as from COVID-19, and secondly, I really felt disturbed for the migrant people who are stuck at the borders of our state and also those who are in the streets and far from their home and family. The situation is such that the people are struggling for their survival and are eager to get back to their homeland. You can imagine how helpless they are, staying without money far ...

Covid-19 Update

The Eastern states where we work suffer 25% of India's natural disasters, which means that the crisis precautions were largely already in place.  Existing cyclone shelters are being used to house migrant workers from other states during the coronavirus outbreak.  In this area, the COVID-19 outbreak has been classified as a natural disaster and lockdown happened early.  Foreigners have been put in home quarantine to stop the spread and drones are being used in some places to monito...

Relief Packages

In the battle against COVID-19, the Indian government has extended their nationwide lockdown. The lockdown has caused economic problems for India’s marginalised poor including the families that we work with. Most of the families rely on daily wages. Just one day with no work and no wages, brings immediate economic hardships. Daily workers rely on daily earnings in order to survive, they do not have any savings, neither do they have support systems to help them in these dire times. ASHA is hel...

Vibrant India

From the Himalayas in the North to the tropical regions in the South, India is a land of colour, contrast and contradictions.  India is rags and riches, the poor and the silver spoons, the monsoon and the drought, hot spices and gentle flavours, tears and smiles, doubt and hope, wrinkles and youth, chaos and harmony.  Area: 3,287,590 sq km Population:  1.4 billion  Capital:  New Delhi Currency:  Rupee  World’s largest democr...

COVID-19

There is a sense of alarm among healthcare professionals across India as the country hunkers down in wait for what many believe will be a tsunami of coronavirus cases.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation, announcing a countrywide lockdown for 21 days.  In a country where day to day living is a matter of life and death for over two thirds of the population, the impact of the virus will be huge, with high death rates predicted.&...