Paper Project and Saravanan FFC Resident Artist

The Paper Project was started 4 years ago, it provides work for a number of the young adults living at FFC. Old newspapers, magazines, notebooks and paper products are donated from local people and recycled into home-made sheets of paper. These are then made into cards and envelopes which are used for thank you notes and seasonal greeting cards.

Saravanan, our resident artist is a 25 year old man who has lived at FFC since childhood. He helps create the 2 types of cards made at FFC.
Saravanan draws the picture outline on the hand embroidered cards, these are then emboidered with colored thread by John Basa, small Saravanan, Balamuregan, Ram Kumar and John Peter.
Saravanan also paints other cards with numerous images, his most recent creations are cards with botanical illustrations of flowers. Each of his cards are unique and we think beautiful. We are lucky to have such a talented young man at FFC.

New and Improved Women's Co-op Space.

The Women's Co-op is a great project going on at FFC. The old space was in a room that wasn't well ventilated, this was fine for most of the year but in hot season it would become uncomfortable. We recently renovated the top floor of boys house and the co-op has moved. They are much more comfortable in the spacious airy rooms of boy's house.

Sandra's Goat Farm

The FFC Goat Farm is thriving under the care of Lawrence, the supervisor of the goat project. The new goat farm was built on FFC land in May 2007. We now produce enough high quality goat milk to feed all babies in the babyrooms. Goat milk curd (yogurt) is made for the special care children. Since we began to feed FFC goat milk to our babies the overall health has improved, they gain weight consistently and are less prone to diarrhea and other health issues. Hospitalizations are rare for the babies now.
We are very pleased with the success of this project.

In addition to the goat milk we are able to produce goat milk soap eliminating the need for us to purchase soap for our babies and children. It also creates a job for 3 of our special needs men as they make the soap!

FFC Boys compete in Coimbatore Marathon

In February of this year 23 FFC boys took part in the Coimbatore Marathon. It was very impressive to see our boys run the 8 or 15 km course.
The FFC Sports Master S. Padmanaban provided the motivation and training program to allow our boys to succeed in this event.

Sign Language Classes

This past Monday 24 FFC girls ages 12 to 16 had the opportunity to learn sign language! The class was taught by two guest teachers from Bhatiayar University. Lieutenant Colonel R. Sivajar and Ms. Pavithra are both studying toward their Masters of Social Work and have learnt sign language in the process. The class was taught to give the girls a better understanding of sign language and living with a disability. They learnt some basic conversation as well as the alphabet (they are spelling their names in the pictures!). A class for the older boys is currently in the works and should be happening soon.

International Women's Day Celebration

Families for Children celebrated International Women's Day! The women's co-op organized the event. It was a great success and an inspiration to the girls and young women of FFC. It will be the first of many for years to come.
Speaches, dances and songs were enjoyed by all.

Women's Co-Op

A Women's Co-Op was started in January 2007 by two hard working Canadian volunteers, Mano (an FFC girl), and 12 dedicated women from the community. The project now employs 15 women allowing them to earn an income to support their families. The co-op is entirely run and staffed by women.
The FFC signature product are bags made with "crazy quilting". Crazy quilting is made using scrap pieces donated from local tailor shops and medleri silk produced on site. The medleri silk is a beautiful, colourful cloth that is ideal for making bags.
Proceeds from sales of the co-op products are used to pay the women, purchase new materials/equipment and helps to fund FFC running costs. The Co-op products are sold with the help of volunteers and are available at various craft sales and through our website: familiesforchildren.ca
Prices are Canadian dollars (as of March 2008):
15 for passport bags
20 for Jen bags
35 for Yoga bags
15 for backpacks
25 for the Hobo bags