URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH FLOOD AFFECTED PEOPLE IN NORTH KARNATAKA
“We have lost everything. Food grains and household articles have been
washed away in the floods. It is just God’s mercy that we have
survived,” Somavva, a flood-affected person from Raichur. (DH, Oct 5, 2009). The districts of Raichur, Koppal, Haveri, Bagalkote, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bellary, Belgaum and Gadag have faced devastating floods in the first week of October 2009, while they were just recovering from the severe drought this year. The Government of Karnataka has appealed to the civil society organisations and NGOs to pitch in, in the flood-relief efforts wherever possible in North Karnataka. The Government has listed clothes, food and medicines as the major areas where help is required. Several NGOs with experience in disaster relief and rehabilitation (including CHC, Janarogya Andolana Karnataka, AID and Headstreams) have come forward to meet some of the essential needs of the flood-affected people in North Karnataka. We urge you to join us in reaching food and relief materials to the affected people. The immediate objective is to provide the affected families materials to survive at least for a month following the flood disaster. To read more, or to get involved, click here (if you are unable to read/ download the appeal, write to us at contact@headstreams.org) TO READ UPDATES ON RESPONSE TO THE FLOODS, click here (if you want to know more, write to us at contact@headstreams.org) Entrepreneurship development programme The foodies  Being part of the young women’s Self Help Group (SHG) exposed them to many new experiences, such as forming their own group, framing their own rules, conducting their own meetings, saving and lending money to each other in times of need, walking into banks for depositing/ withdrawing money and discussing different issues which concerns all of them. Soon the women wanted to learn reading and writing. Some of them wanted to learn English. These women who came to the group with their individual needs and problems realised that there was strength in being together. After sessions by headstreams on entrepreneurship and business development, they began to dream that one day they could also turn their core strengths into business opportunities. A group of women decided to use their cooking and serving skills to start their own food joint and catering unit. That was the genesis of Sangam Foods. A stitch in time....
 Radha*, Govindamma* and Fatima* are members of the women's Self-Help Group, organized and facilitated by headstreams. Radha used to work in a garments factory as a helper. Soon she learnt stiching and started stitching clothes for her relatives.When she lost her job in the garments factory, Radha started stitching clothes for her neighbours and began earning a small income. She also began teaching stitching to those who were interested. Govindamma and Fatima, other members of the women's Self-Help Group also learnt stitching from her. After they became members of the self-help-group and attended sessions by headstreams on entrepreneurship and business development, the three women then approached headstreams through the self-help group for support to start a tailoring business. The staff supported the women in drawing up a plan and a formal business proposal was presented before the self help group. Today, the three women have taken a loan from the self-help-group, rented a business space and have started their own tailoring unit. (* Names changed).  The entrepreneurship development programme is supported by Mphasis F1 Foundation. | News Employment and
business opportunity Seminar @ headstreams
Headstreams is organising a free employment and business opportunity seminar, exclusively for youth from low-income backgrounds. The seminar is intended mainly for school drop-outs, in the age group of 15-26 years. The Seminar will be conducted on January 2, 2010
from 3.00 – 6.00 p.m. at the
headstreams Training Centre Interested candidates (or their well-wishers) are
requested to kindly register the participants through email or
phone.
........................... Karnataka Floods With about 18 million people directly affected by the floods; one million people rendered homeless; more than 3,55,000 people in over 1,200 relief camps and the death toll crossing 200, the recent floods in North Karnataka is the worst in recent history. For updates on response, click here ........................... Health Information headstreams has been chosen by the British Medical Association (BMA) and British Medical Journal (BMJ) for donation of health information materials, such as books and DVDs as part of the BMA/BMJ Information Fund 2009. The BMA/BMJ Information Fund has been established by the British Medical Association (BMA) and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) to provide health information to organisations in developing countries, and is run in association with Teaching Aids at Low Cost (TALC). ........................... |