FFL Vrindavan is dedicated to the poorest of the poor, educating and guiding them in pursuance of a fulfilling life, enabling them to become exemplary members of society. FFL Vrindavan is also dedicated to protecting and developing Vrindavan’s natural environment.

Our work includes:

• food distribution
• basic medical assistance
• training courses for women
• drilling for drinking water and constructing water tanks
• assistance to the elderly and the disabled
• distribution of clothes
• environmental projects and education
• taking care of cows
• providing primary school education for disadvantaged children.
  

• FFLV photo gallery
• Rupa's Vrindavan Diary
• Send us a message
• Contact nearest FFLV centre
• Save our Girls Fund
• Donate

E-news is also a forum where you can share with us your thoughts, suggestions advice and practical inputs.
As the credit is entirely yours for our works and achievements, we will be very happy to receive your feed back. Please email to: info@fflvrindavan.org

e-News Archive

June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October-November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008

An exciting new restaurant has been opened by supporters of FFLV. This new restaurant, aptly named Wholesome Garden Restaurant, is the beginning of a new era of open air restaurants in Vrindavan. To celebrate the opening, a traditional yajna (fire ceremony) was conducted.A group of SMS children were invited to attend and the group sang a beautiful kirtan to accompany the yajna ceremony. The opening was attended by around 50 guests, including many important local figures - local business and temple managers. Also present was two volunteers from the UK, Angie Reid and Suzie Phillips (currently teaching English at SMS). Suzie said, "this restaurant really fills a big gap because there is no other place like it in Vrindavan. It makes me feel relaxed and at home to sit in such a nice garden environment and eat western style food".For the inauguration lunch, the attendees enjoyed lasagna, pizza, and different kinds of salads including Asian tofu salad and mixed bean salad. Wholesome Garden Restaurant opens to the public on Saturday 7^th September, timing will be 12:00 - 3:30 and 6:00 - 9:30 pm. It is situated on Parikrama road, next to Radheshyam well and ashram, 5 minutes from ISKCON Temple and not far from Sandipani Muni Primary school.

Despite the risk of diseases like malaria and dengue fever, most of our children at SMS sleep without taking any precautions against mosquito bites. Luckily for the children, one kind sponsor, Jay Krishna das, from Hawaii USA, came to the rescue and donated hundreds of mosquito nets.The donation was timely because, as the government of India website reports "The recent fury of rain, especially in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the NCR of Delhi has resulted in a spurt of malaria and dengue cases". This year, the rainy season in Vrindavan came early. There were heavy downpours and the Vrindavan drainage system could not cope, so many puddles of dirty water formed around the town, making ideal breading grounds for malaria carrying mosquitoes and perhaps even the breed that carries the deadly dengue virus. The mosquito net distribution was accompanied by an education campaign at morning assembly which informed children of the necessity of sleeping under a mosquito net, the need to avoid mosquito bites and the need to take action to remove mosquito breeding grounds. Official government figures state that each year 1.47 million people die from malaria. According to these statistics,the number of malaria deaths in India is decreasing, however, numbers of deaths from the deadly dengue brain fever are increasing. Thank you to Jay Krishna das for helping to make sure that none of our school children add to these statistics.

On 16^th September, SMS students and staff witnessed a stunning Odissy dance performance by Kavita Dwebedi, founder of Odissi Akademi in Delhi. As well as mesmerizing students and staff with her dances, Kavita gave the children tips on how to improve their dance performance. She explained the depth of meaning behind each different movement in the dance and said "we should not think that dance is mere entertainment, dancing brings us closer to God". Poonam, 8^th, who studies Bharat Natyam dance at SMS, said "Even though I study a different dance style, I learned a lot from seeing how Kavita dances, she really draws you into the dance through her eyes and facial expressions". Kavita explained the history of Odissy dance - how it originated from temples in Jagannath Puri and then spread to rural schools and eventually to cities. And Kavita herself is part of that history. She is from a family of renowned dancers and her father, Guru Harekrishna Behra, was a traditional temple dancer as well as a respected Guru. His fame spread far and wide and he passed his knowledge on to his daughter, Kavita, who became a professional dancer. SMS Odissydance group was honored to perform for Kavita. For the performance, they chose a dance from their repertoire called "Vasant Pallevi" (celebration of spring). Kavita said that she was thrilled to see children learning Odissy dance and gave them her blessings.

26^th September marked the opening of the FFLV carpet making factory which will employ village women to produce colorful floor mats of various sizes. It is the latest addition to the FFLV Kiki Nagala village project, which already includes a paper recycling plant, paper goods production factory, organic farm and (soon to be completed) medical center. The carpet making factory has several traditional weaving looms where women sit and make floor mats. Madhuria Bhakti, a veteran social worker who has been with FFLV for seven years, said, "We started this project because we identified one man in the village who was practicing this art and we saw the potential to expand". Hukum Singh was making mats for his fellow villages. Singh is originally from Fatepur Sikri, near Agra. He moved to Kiki Nagala around 6 months ago because he could not compete in Fatepur Sikri where almost every household makes mats or carpets. When he moved to Kiki Nagala, he started his own businesses selling mats to fellow villages. He would tell them to bring five or six old saris and Rs.70 and he would make them a mat. When FFLV social workers saw Singh`s work, they offered to pay him a salary to train other villagers. He agreed and the FFLV team built a large shed and purchased the looms and raw materials. Bhakti said "These kind of cottage industry development projects give people a life-line to get out of poverty. We are creating self reliance too; after training and working at the FFLV carpet factory, villagers can save enough money to buy their own weaving loom and start their own family businesses". Meera, currently training to make floor mats, has never had a job before. She is married and has 4 children but is now living back with her parents. Her older sons look after the family farm, so she is able to work, but due to lack of jobs in Kiki Nagala village, until now, she never had the opportunity. Meera said "I am very excited to be learning carpet weaving. When I have learned this skill properly, I would like to teach others, I like working close to home with other women from my village". After a low key opening ceremony with some traditional rites such as the breaking of a coconut, and singing traditional songs (bajans), the carpet factory went into production. We are hoping that some carpets will be ready for next month when thousands of pilgrims and tourists will visit Vrindavan for Kartik festival.