Taking a break in Rendlesham Forest

Bike Ride and Jump for Jacobs

A gang of intrepid bikers set out from The Fox car park on Good Friday and pedalled their way - largely without mishap - to Rendlesham Forest Centre where they stopped for a picnic. Most of them actually made it home via pedal power too! A nice Friday fundraiser which will be repeated via a different route, on Saturday 6th June.

Numbers are building up for the sponsored abseil from the Ipswich Hospital Maternity Block on July 11th. There is now a team of fourteen 'jumping for Jacob's' (s0me in Lycra - or less - I hear!) so cheque books at the ready please to reward these brave souls with sponsorship for their efforts.

Summer and Nagammal's birthday

Summer has come early and Viji tells me the residents like to sit outside where they hang the washing, under the banana leaf roof in the shade. She has put some beds outside so they can rest. It is very hot, up to 40 degrees, and most days there is a power cut, sometimes all day.

It was Nagammal's birthday recently so the cook made sweets and Nagammal handed them out to everyone. She, like most of the other residents, doesn't know when her real birthday is, but they are all allocated a day which is their special day so everyone can make a fuss of them. It is squite endearing that all their lives they never knew about birthdays but now they all look forward to 'their' day!

Recently an old man who lives locally came to Jacob's to ask Viji if she would help him. He told her he had a wife and five daughters who were all married and happily settled. She asked him how she could help him as he seemed to have a good situation. He told her that all the time he thinks of committing suicide, he thinks of hanging himself or lying under the train. He told Viji no-one cares for him and he is very unhappy. He said he had recently had an operation and is taking medication but when he is feeling confused he doesn't know which medication he should take. Viji took his tablets and divided them into envelopes for him, writing the instructions on the envelopes. We have asked him to come in every day and spend his time at Jacob's with our residents. We will ask Dr Sekar to see him and find out what exactly his physical and mental state is, and hope that we will be able to help. It is good to be a small charity and to be flexible in the ways we can help; depression is a universal illness - I hope we will be able to help this poor man.

February 100 Club winner

Congratulations to Maggie Coles, winner of the February 100 Club Draw.

100 Club December winner

The December winner of the 100 Club draw is Peter West with number 37. Congratulations Peter - the cheque will be with you very soon.

Visitors and volunteers!

Jenny McCombe is going to Jacob's on 8th December for a month to open the new Yuveraj Centre and hopefully get things underway there. Jenny has been to Jacob's twice before, so she knows the ropes and will be enormously helpful. She will follow her month in India with two months in Sri Lanka - good being retired isn't it??

Anna Robertson will also be in the area for a while in January, and I know the residents of Jacob's are looking forward to welcoming her again. Hopefully she too will be able to spend some time at Jacob's and at the Yuveraj Centre. We'll keep you posted!

Masala Project meals for homeless

Unfortunately it looks as though the regular donations from Masala Masala for meals for the homeless are not after all going to materialise. This means that we are going to have to cut down a bit on our usual outreach trips, and drop a couple of the sites we presently visit with food for the homeless.

With the new Yuveraj Centre opening very soon we have to direct our finances in that direction at the moment - however hopefully as time goes on we will again be able to go back to the present level of food distribution for those who live on the street. We will however continue to visit these sites from time to time to meet and talk to people, and to pick up anyone who needs our help.