Support us
Our activities are funded through individual contributions of the members of Friends of Orchha without whom we could not have conceived the project. We are very grateful to the German Consulate in Mumbai who gave us a small grant in 2007 for improving water supply and sanitation, to the Swiss Commune of Vandoeuvres and the Josephina Stichting in the Netherlands that have helped us invest in the construction and furnishing of the home-stay. The 1% for Development Fund in Geneva is now supporting our 'total sanitation' project in Ganj. It is supporting our efforts to improve public health in the Ganj neighbourhood through the construction of toilets and bathrooms for the twenty poorest families.
As prices of construction materials have shot up, we are short of funds to complete this project. Besides, our Youth Centre is completely dependent on the contributions of our members. A contribution of 50 Euros pays for the cleaning of a public well. 120 Euros is enough to run our Youth Centre for a month; 400 Euros is sufficient to construct a toilet and bathroom for a family.
Contribute:
We can assure you that every cent we receive is well invested in improving the living standards of the people of Orchha. Our bank details are as follows:
Account holder: Friends of Orchha, 1885 Chesières, Switzerland
Account no.: 17-686513-2
Bank address: Postfinance, Nordring 8, CH-3030 Bern
IBAN: CH95 0900 0000 1768 6513 2
Volunteer:
We have had good experiences with students doing internships with us. Laurie Roubas and Guillemette Sassolas, two students from the Ecole de Management, Lyon, spent 5 months with us in 2007 doing market research on eco-tourism, teaching English and establishing the Youth Centre.
In 2009, Marine Gueltas and Ludivine Mouton who had specialised in Eco-tourism from the Business school in Rennes spent five months in Orchha helping us to market our home-stay accommodation. Delphine Douçot, a young Swiss engineer offered us her services in mapping solid waste generation in Orchha. She developed a plan for ecological waste management that we have submitted to the municipality. We intend to demonstrate some of these measures in the neighbourhood of Ganj.
Marisa Perrier, otherwise known as the 'lady in red', came over for a month from Australia in January 2010 to teach English to young people at the Youth Centre and to the home-stay families.
Virginie Lemasson arrived in Orchha on her bicycle intending to stay a couple of weeks but ended up staying a couple of months with one of the home-stay families. We made full use of her proficiency in French and Spanish to prepare documents for the Home-stay and she was the star of the Women's Day celebration in Ganj.
Simon and Enzo spent the month of August helping us with the Home-stay. Thanks to them we now manage our reservations on line with a Google calendar. They were followed by two young Finnish girls, Aniina and Satu, engaged in Development studies in Helsinki. They worked on the database that helps us keep track of occupancy rates and the earning of the host families. Emmanuel, who became a favourite with all the children of Ganj, continued this work. Céline spent a month with us, making computer wizards of several children in Orchha. Ovidi and Jesus translated our web-site into Spanish and Guillaume is helping us put it on line.
A big thank you to all these generous people for their assistance in furthering our aims. Everyone in Orchha misses them and is waiting for them to return.
If you would like to share your expertise in management, catering, working with youth, civil engineering, health care or teaching English, we would appreciate the investment of your time.
For it to be profitable to both, you would need to spend at least three months here with us. To live in Orchha you will require about 150 Euros per month. Do send us an e-mail if you are interested in volunteering.
