Our donors
Our activities are funded through individual contributions of the members of Friends of Orchha without whom we could not have conceived the project. We are very grateful to the German Consulate in Mumbai who gave us a small grant in 2007 for improving water supply and sanitation, to the Swiss Commune of Vandoeuvres and the Josephina Stichting in the Netherlands that have helped us invest in the construction and furnishing of the home-stay. The 1% for Development Fund in Geneva supported our efforts to improve public health in the Ganj neighbourhood through the construction of toilets and bathrooms for the twenty poorest families. We are especially grateful to some of our guests who contribute regularly to scholarships for the children of the home-stay families. All of them now go to good private schools. We pay their fees while the families pay for their uniforms, books and transport.
Contribute:
We can assure you that every cent we receive is well invested in improving the living standards of the people of Orchha. We are still looking for sponsors for the school fees of some of the children that amount to about INR 7,000 per year per child. Our bank details are as follows:
Account holder: Orchha Mitra Vikas Samiti
Current Account no.: 31680924222
Bank address: State Bank of India, Pratapura branch, Orchha
IFSC: SBIN0001942
Volunteer:
We have had good experiences with students doing internships with us. Laurie Roubas and Guillemette Sassolas, two students from the Ecole de Management, Lyon, spent 5 months with us in 2007 doing market research on eco-tourism, teaching English and establishing the Youth Centre.
In 2009, Marine Gueltas and Ludivine Mouton who had specialised in Eco-tourism from the Business school in Rennes spent five months in Orchha helping us to market our home-stay accommodation. Delphine Douçot, a young Swiss engineer offered us her services in mapping solid waste generation in Orchha. She developed a plan for ecological waste management that we have submitted to the municipality. We intend to demonstrate some of these measures in the neighbourhood of Ganj.
Marisa Perrier, otherwise known as the 'lady in red', came over for a month from Australia in January 2010 to teach English to young people at the Youth Centre and to the home-stay families. She will be back with us this December
Virginie Lemasson arrived in Orchha on her bicycle intending to stay a couple of weeks but ended up staying a couple of months with one of the home-stay families. We made full use of her proficiency in French and Spanish to prepare documents for the Home-stay and she was the star of the Women's Day celebration in Ganj.
Simon and Enzo spent the month of August helping us with the Home-stay. Thanks to them we now manage our reservations on line with a Google calendar. They were followed by two young Finnish girls, Aniina and Satu, engaged in Development studies in Helsinki. They worked on the database that helps us keep track of occupancy rates and the earning of the host families. Emmanuel, who became a favourite with all the children of Ganj, continued this work. Céline spent a month with us, making computer wizards of several children in Orchha.
Several others have volunteered since: Lukas Steigmaier, Maxim Berman, Angus Fulton, Malvika Kamat, Caridad Rios, Isabella Kaplan and Tanuz Kalita....
A big thank you to all these generous people for their assistance in improving the home-stay and animating the Youth Centre. Everyone in Orchha misses them and is waiting for them to return.
If you would like to share your expertise in management, catering, working with youth, civil engineering, health care or teaching English, we would appreciate the investment of your time.
For it to be profitable to both, you would need to spend at least three months here with us. To live in Orchha you will require about 200 Euros per month. Do send us an e-mail if you are interested in volunteering.
