This January trustee Marion Mills made her first visit to Satkaarya.

“I was very reassured by the atmosphere in the hostel, the duty of care of the girls and their general demeanour and attitude towards each other. The girls were very well aware of their responsibilities, both towards the running of the hostel and their self-organisation.

 “They (the girls) were smart and had a range of clothes to wear as well as their school uniforms. The oldest girls seemed to play quite a responsible role in the helping of preparation of the evening meal but also were responsible about homework and revision for exams. 

“Raghland, Michael, Monica, Deepika, Nagomi and myself visited the site of the school we are planning to build at Sendrambakham. It’s a quiet, peaceful plot. The shelter feels a bit remote but there was evidence that developments were happening nearby.

“We also looked at the adjacent land and then toured around the village. Michael (Satkaarya’s driver) was able to call out names as we passed houses and engage in conversation, which shows how our team is building good relationships. The potential is great; the local people are keen for the school to be built as soon as possible.”

Some excellent news from Chennai is that our outreach programme is back underway after a change of staff.

Batemans’ founding trustee Alex Jacob and architect and trustee Paul Crosby are visiting Chennai this spring to push forward as far as possible on the planning applications and the actual building work planning.

Financially, Batemans-Satkaarya are ready to start on phase one of the building project, but clearing the red tape minefield is taking far longer and proving even more challenging than anticipated, despite our trustees’ long experience and knowledge of working in India.