Chairman's Letter 4
Sat Sri Akal,
The first half of 2006 has been extreamly productive for Aapna Punjab and I want to thank all our supporters for their continued help. Here is an update of our ongoing projects;
School: While the construction of our first English medium school is going on in full swing, we started the school with an initial enrollment of 130 students, in class 1 to 4, on May 1, 2006. We are temporarily using the facilities of the gurdwara for now. We intend to complete the school buildings by July and by next year we intend to enroll an additional 200 students. In this regards, we have also updated our website, such that you can sponsor the education of these childern.
Poohla: After another hard fought battle, we were able to get a pending poppy cultivation case reopened against Poohla. As you may know, his name had been removed from the original FIR. He is now in the process of being booked under the NDPS act, which is a non-bailable offense. Meanwhile, while he has been able to get bail in two of the three pending murder charges against him, he continues to be in jail. He is fighting hard to get bail in the third case. So this NDPS case was an extreamly important development in our continuing efforts to keep him in jail and bring him to justice.
Welfare Centers: We continue to expand and improve the quality of work of our Welfare Centers for Women and soon we intend to begin marketing products manufactured in these centers. If you can help in the marketing of these goods, please contact me. We intend to have samples of their work on the website soon.
Computer Center: Our first computer center was started in village Pahuwind, with computers and teaching staff. We intend to open one in as many villages as possible. Aapna Punjab is a member of Mission2007. If you want to donate computers, please contact me.
Social justice: I continue to fight daily for the rights of the common people. Occasionally, some of these issues are picked up by the press – like the dalit widow beaten and cheated out of her home by dishonest people. We also helped organize a mass marriage ceremony for the poor in late Feburary in Patti, District Amritsar..
FCR denied: Unfortunately, the Ministry of Home affairs denied our application for accepting Foreign Contributions, since we have to be functioning as an organization for three years. What this means is that we will not be able to accept foreign contributions, but we can accept your local contributions in India.
 I am also looking at visiting London, Toronto and Bay Area California sometime in the August-September timeframe and look forward to meeting with our supporters in these places.
I again want to thank all our supporters and encourage you to come visit me the next time you are in Punjab.
Kind regards,
Col G. S. Sandhu (retd)
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Aapna Punjab starts school
PAHUWIND May 1, 2006 – Aapna Punjab started its English-medium school with 130 children, enrolled in class 1 to class 4, at a temporary location in the village gurdwara complex. Adjacent to the gurdwara, work is proceeding at full speed to complete the school buildings on the 8 acres. “Even though the school buildings are not going to be ready for a few months, we had to start consistent with the school calendar term, otherwise, we would have lost a year”, said Col Sandhu, chairman of Aapna Punjab. “We had made a commitment to the parents and wanted to ensure we kept it. There was a huge demand for the school and we had to limit the enrollment to 130 – next year we will enroll an additional 200 students”.
Starting mid June, the school will require the children to wear offical school uniforms. Each year, the school intends to add a class, up to class 12. The school is being gradually scaled up, since its emphasis is on English, and starting with young children made the most sense.
School Pictures
Students at the makeshift classrooms |
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Adopt-A-Child Program Launched
Aapna Punjab offered to help the orphaned year-and-a-half AIDS victim, Harpreet, but the little girl, was already adopted by a family.
