While our school children in Penthakata have been attending school again for a while, the reconstruction of the school grounds is also slowly coming to an end. 

It could have been worse for the Penthakata School. Fortunately, the school building was able to withstand most of the cyclone Fani that struck Odisha in May 2019. Nevertheless, right after the storm, the area had to be cleared of fallen trees and exposed power lines in order to ensure safe school operations. Already at the beginning of the new school year the site was replanted with new trees together with the school children.

The next step was to rehabilitate the power and water lines on the property and repair the windows of the school building. In addition, the walls around the school grounds and the entrance gate had to be reconstructed.

We hope that the soon completion of the key renovation work on the site will bring back normality to the life of the students in Penthakata and allow them to concentrate fully on their education and the foundation for a promising future.

Since little Fionn Lewin saw the light of day on 29. May 2019, he has been supporting the Usthi projects in India.

With the money collected on the day of his birth, he helps to provide many children with education and health care.

We would like to thank Fionn Lewin, his parents and the many donors for this important contribution.

Dear Fionn Lewin, we wish you good luck and health and hope your generous act inspires further people for an engagement!

We just received exciting news from our tuition centres in Hyderabad. All the students did very well and scored excellent grades in their recent exams. And thus lay an important foundation for their future.

A total of 38 students across the tuition centres wrote their 10th grade high school government examinations this year. The results of these examinations were declared last month and we are very happy that all of them have passed with excellent grades. Two of them were even able to top their schools by scoring 10 points, which is the highest grade possible.

The students at the various tuition centres continue to perform exceedingly well in their schools. On average the children who visit our tuition centres regularly scored 83% in their recently concluded examination, exceeding the average performance by their peers and often topping their respective classes.

Our tuition teachers not only help the students academically but also encourage them to pursue extra-curricular activities in their schools. Our students play football and cricket, run relay races, dance, sing and practice other sports and cultural activities.

After cyclone Fani hit the fishing village of Penthakata hard, the local population was in need of support. Thanks to generous donations, Usthi was able to provide emergency relief in collaboration with its local partner. After the situation has calmed down and our students are back at school, the emergency relief is considered complete.

Cyclone “Fani” caused severe damage on the east coast of India and, despite extensive evacuation, caused many deaths and injuries. Countless families have lost their homes and income. Until state aid reached the village of Penthakata, they were urgently in need of help. Part of the Usthi school grounds was also damaged. The windows and a large part of the school books and computer infrastructure were completely destroyed and have to be replaced.

Since the walls of the classrooms are very massive, the rooms could fortunately be used as emergency accommodation for the families affected during the cyclone. After the cyclone, the families of our pupils and other severely affected families were able to obtain food and building materials from our partner organisation in order to make ends meet in the critical phase immediately after the storm.

Until Mid-May, hot meals were distributed daily for about 600 people. In addition to food and building materials, clothing was also handed out if urgently needed. Meanwhile a little normality has returned and the distribution of food by our partner is no longer necessary. By now many households have electricity again, which also makes the cooling of the fish catches possible again and gives the inhabitants of Penthakata back their livelihood – to some extent at least.

The clean-up work on the school grounds is already well advanced, the power supply has been restored and the school was able to resume operations on the 17th of June. This also ensures that the children continue to receive a warm meal every day. Together with the pupils, new trees were planted on the school grounds. It is still necessary to replace part of the teaching materials and the computers. Usthi assumes that these can be replaced by donations in goods.

Since the costs for the distribution of goods are slightly below the budget and the exchange rate was in favour of Usthi, the costs for the reconstruction of the school did not exceed the original emergency aid budget of CHF 55,000. The actual costs amount to CHF 54,689.

Thanks to the great solidarity of private donors and institutions, the costs for the emergency aid could be fully covered. Usthi would like to thank everyone for the great solidarity, which has enabled us to help the people of Penthakata in these difficult times.