Featured Volunter – Isabel Estan

Isabel Estan (better known as “Iz”) has been with Paper Kite Children’s Foundation since our inaugural meeting in March 2009. Iz currently fills the role of Vice President and Board Secretary, and helps out with various other Paper Kite projects.

We asked Iz to share her reasons for working with Paper Kite and she said,  “What motivated me to join Paper Kite is my fundamental belief that every child deserves a childhood.  Paper Kite’s drive to provide basic necessities to the orphans of Bihar, is a noble cause, and it gives me a great sense of accomplishment to be a part of this grass roots charity.  Seeing a child smile is the greatest reward.”

Iz has completed many volunteer tasks for Paper Kite including; graphic design projects, administrative tasks, and volunteering at events. Her dedication and valuable skills were paramount in organizing our participation at the Deepak Chopra event in June 2010. From late nights to early mornings, Iz was committed to doing whatever it took to make this event a success. It is the hard work and dedication of volunteers like Iz that keep a charity like Paper Kite going.

We are honoured to have Iz on our team and look forward to travelling with her to Bihar next year because she is the perfect ambassador for Paper Kite Children’s Foundation.

8,000 families displaced due to floods in Bihar

Muzaffarpur: Persistent rain has caused floods in many parts of the country and situation is bad in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district particularly in Katra and Aurai blocks due to the swollen Baghmati river breaching its embankments at many places.

To check corruption, Bihar govt to give funds directly to anganwadi kendras

After reports of largescale corruption in the implementation of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), the Bihar government is all set to transfer funds directly to anganwadi centres. Bihar, the first state to carry out such an exercise, will conduct a pilot project in two districts from September.

continue reading

Over 50 percent Bihar girls marry before they are 18

Bihar is one of the hotspots of child marriage in India as 51 percent girls there are married even before they are 18 years of age, officials said here Wednesday.

‘Fifty-one percent of girls are married before they are 18 in Bihar,’ said N. Vijaya Lakshmi, managing director of the Women Development Corporation of the state government.

In her welcome address at a day-long workshop on the prevention of child marriage in Bihar, she said the mean age at marriage for girls is 17.4 in the state as against 19.5 for the country

continue reading

Life is without toilets for millions in Bihar

Parvatia Devi and her young daughter, residents of Ranipur village near the Bihar capital, make their way to an open field under the cover of darkness everyday – to defecate. They are the faces of millions of people in Bihar – around 8.8 million households in a state of over 100 million people – who have no toilet facilites.

Ranipur village under Phulawrisharief police station is one such village. ‘Going to a nearby field to defecate in groups in the darkness is a regular feature for these people,’ Rajdeo Paswan, a villager, told IANS here. ‘If you want to see the reality, please visit the nearby field early morning and/or late evening as people are forced to go there to attend nature’s call.’

continue reading

Bihar declares 28 of 38 districts drought-hit

The Bihar government today declared 28 out of 38 districts in the state as drought-hit following deficient rainfall.

The cabinet presided over by Chief minister Nitish Kumar took a decision to this effect after making an intensive review of the situation in the state on reports received from district magistrates and other sources.

The Chief Minister told PTI that he would seek an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek a special package for Bihar under the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) guidelines.

The state is facing drought for the second consecutive year. Last year 26 out of 38 districts were declared drought affected following deficient rains.

continue reading

UN declares clean water a ‘fundamental human right’

The UN has declared that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right.

About 1.5m children under five die each year from water and sanitation-related diseases.

Continue reading.

‘More poor’ in India than Africa

Eight Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined, a new measure of global poverty has found.

The Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, have 421 million “poor” people, the study found.

This is more than the 410 million poor in the poorest African countries, it said.

Continue Reading

Want to Volunteer for Paper Kite?

We are a 100% volunteer run charity. Volunteers enhance our ability to accomplish our goals and diversifying our expertise and knowledge in the following ways:

Marketing and Communications.

Public Relations.

Event Planning.

Event Participation.

Fund Development.

Research.

Administration.

Technical Support.

Field Work in Bihar (February 2011)

If you would like to volunteer, please visit www.paperkitefoundation.com

India ‘diverts funds for poor to pay for Delhi games’

Tens of millions of dollars have been diverted in India from schemes to fight poverty and used to fund Delhi’s Commonwealth Games, a report says.

The Housing and Land Rights Network pressure group says its report is based on official documents obtained under India’s right to information act.

The group says there should be an independent inquiry into how this was allowed to happen.

Government officials in Delhi say they are looking into the allegations.

Continue Reading