Inauguration of GPM's Third Center in India - Mokhada

GPM inaugurated its third center, the first to be opened in the district of Mokhada. Mokhada is an under-served tribal farming village region in North East Maharashtra. GPM’s new center named, Adivasi Lokseva Kendra, Mokhada, is a center of service to tribal communities in the area. The inauguration hosted over one hundred guests, including local dignitaries, municipal leaders, farmers and community members.

The GPM Center is piloting the following programs in Mokhada:

1. Working with farmers to access government assistance through an online grant facilitation service. This free service already sees dozens of farmers who travel far distances to the center in order to apply online for access to government grants and aid for their own agri-related initiatives, such as water pumps, cattle, seeds, houses, toilets or compensation for drought or unseasonal rains that damage their produce.

2. Conducting a survey spanning the district of 85,000 people to determine the extent of malnutrition in the area and what steps can be done to assist in nutrition interventions 

3. GPM’s Women's Sewing Cooperative, Tribal Threads

GPM was fortunate to have member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Shri.Sunil Chandrakant Bhusara representing four districts: Mokhada, Jawahar, Vikramgadh, and Talasari, in attendance. He is also a Director on the Adivasi Development Corporation - Government of Maharashtra.

Also in attendance was the Agricultural Officer of Mokhada Taluka, who addressed the farmers in the audience stating that the government welcomes Gabriel Project to Mokhada and encouraged GPM to support initiatives for the farming communities through the promotion of agricultural micro-enterprises and child nutrition programs.

The new facility offers GPM staff on-hand to assist farmers in scanning, printing and applying for government grants online. The center has high-speed internet, computers and printing facilities, supported by a backup generator to address frequent power outages. A welcoming reception area with bathroom and refreshment facilities is available for the farmers who travel far distances, many over a few day period, to access our services. A room in the center is also allocated for the Tribal Threads women’s sewing collective.

GPM looks forward to working with government and the community to create a grassroots change in the district.

Meet Meiron Avidan, The Newest Addition to GPM's Team

With the support of the Pears Foundation and the JDC Meiron joined GPM as a year long Development Intern. In September Meiron moved to Palghar, a small town just outside of Mumbai where Gabriel Project Mumbai’s main office is based. Meiron graduated last summer from the University of Southampton with a BSc in Sociology and Social Policy. She loved her studies; they were challenging in all the right ways and helped her to realise that she wanted to work in the nonprofit sector. When deciding what to do after graduating Meiron knew that she wanted to leave the UK for meaningful work rather than travel. 

Her position as the Development Intern at GPM has surpassed her expectations of what she thought she would be doing. Meiron helps with many projects at GPM and has the opportunity to see how the development work happens from behind the scenes as well as in the field. " My day to day schedule includes doing office admin, reviewing HR policies, creating various educational sessions to run in the field, and conducting research for GPM. Essentially, I do a little bit of everything and I really like that!" 

GPM works to engage international visitors with the work we do in India and often large groups of young people will come to work with us for 2-3 week periods. Meiron will be working with these groups of volunteers, orienting them to India, to GPM's activities, and helping them to engage with GPM’s work in a meaningful way.

Meiron is excited to see what the next ten months have in store for her, and we know she will do great things here at GPM!

Meet Ujma Hasmi, Community Health Worker Providing Protein Supplements for Hundreds of Children

Ujma Hasmi, GPM community health worker

Ujma has been working with GPM at Shravan Health Center for eight months. She works in community health outreach, such as the distribution of protein powder in our Love2Learn classes at the Joshua Greenberger Learning Center in Kalwa slums, Mumbai.. 

“When I distribute the protein powder, I feel like the children are my own children – I am very protective of them. I am always very careful to give them the correct quantities and I love seeing the improvements in their health as a result of the powder.” 

Ujma loves working for GPM because she feels the job gives her the ability to give back to her community. She is always offering to take on extra work because she enjoys learning new things. Since starting work she has learnt how to do wound dressings and blood tests. For Ujma the Shravan Health Center “feels like a second home.”  

“The children get excited when they see me coming because they know I am there to give them the protein powder, it tastes like chocolate so the kids enjoy drinking it.” 

Children enjoying nutritional protein drinks

Meet Tejas Dattatray Pawar, Social Worker and Field Coordinator, Building a Brighter Future in the Slums

Meet Tejas, GPM's Field Coordinator in the Kalwa Slum. Tejas has a degree in Social Work, which he uses daily in his work with the community in Kalwa.

"Social work is my passion and I like to work for those who need extra support, GPM provides me with the opportunity to do this. GPM works holistically which is incredibly important when dealing with complex communities. We work to provide the children with good education, nutrition and healthcare and we also empower local women by providing them with employment opportunities. I hope to build and be part of a beautiful society, GPM is working to provide the people in Kalwa with good quality services and financial stability so that everyone has their needs met." 

"This is what I enjoy about GPM the most, you can see the impact of the work we are doing!"

Meet Indu Sona Mane, Masala Mama, and Dreamer

Meet Indu, one of GPM's amazing Masala Mama's cooks, making healthy lunches every day for our Eat2Learn Program students. 

Indu has always been smart. From the time she was little, everyone knew – her teachers, her parents, and the people in her village. But her family, who lived in the village of Sangli, in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, India, had different ideas that did not include investing in girls’ education. They expected her, like all girls, to take care of their families, help with the household, and get married as soon as possible. And so, at the age of roughly 11, like so many of the women, Indu dropped out of school. Her teachers were devastated. One even came to Indu’s house to beg her family to let her stay in school. She offered to let Indu live with her in the next village. But that was considered out of the question. 

Indu still gets angry talking about it, so many years later.Today, Indu, has two children, aged 17 and 19, and she is determined to enable both children, the boy and the girl, to get as much schooling as they want.

Indu, got married at around the age of 17 – relatively late for a girl in her village – in an arranged marriage. Right after her marriage, some twenty years ago, Indu moved to Mumbai. Her husband, whom she had just met, had a job in Mumbai in the food services industry. “I had never been to Mumbai before,” she says, “and I didn’t know what to expect.”

Life in Mumbai is different from life in the village. “In the village, our family would get together regularly and eat,” she recalls with great fondness. “In the city, everyone stays in their own houses and people don’t get together. In the village, we would cook together, and then we would sit together and eat. I miss that experience.”

Indu has many memories of village life, especially visiting neighboring villages for fairs. Even though there are no roads between the villages making the trek challenging, the village fairs were a highlight for her. She especially enjoyed the annual Nag Panchami festival – worshiping the snake god – which takes place every summer. “The men all take a snake and put it around them,” she laughs. “It was a lot of fun.”

She also remembers the food from the festivals, like the puran poli – like sweet chapattis made with gram flour – that everyone looked forward to eating. “It’s a big thing in the village.”

“And when mango season starts, the food becomes very exciting,” she says. “You can eat the pulp with many dishes – puris, chutneys, lassis, and more.”

Indu loves cooking, and she especially enjoys feeding the children. She contributed many recipes to our Masala Mama's cookbook, including carrot halwa, bharwa bindi masala, methi poori, puran poli, pav bhaji, mango lassi, and others. Her favorite recipe is biryani.

“Being with the women is exciting,” she says of the Masala Mama's cooking cooperative. “It is giving us a push. We are proud of that. People are coming to eat our food, to see what we are doing. We can say with pride that our food is good!”

Indu has a dream for a future: She wants to open a food stall in Kalwa in the evenings. But she wants to make sure that all the women are on board first. “Once you join hands with these women, there is no going back,” she says. “There is only moving forward.” But she says she can’t do it alone.

Indu Mane and some of her colleagues at GPm's Masala Mamas women's collective

Erev Banot Women's Giving Circle Showcases GPM

The ‘Erev Banot Women’s Giving Circle’, a Jewish women’s charity collective in Denver, Colorado, generously hosted a gathering on behalf of Gabriel Project Mumbai. Thirty women came together to learn about GPM development work in the slums and villages of India, focused on the challenges faced by the marginalized and vulnerable communities living in these areas, and raised funds towards the nutritional health of these communities.

 “We are so pleased that our program to raise funds for the Gabriel Project Mumbai was meaningful and successful,” relayed Sheryl Feiler, who, along with Joanne Kleinstein and Vicki Trachten-Schwartz, coordinated the event.

Jenny Samad, a former JDC-Entwine GPM Fellow in Mumbai who is now living in Denver, shared some of her experiences and insights with the group. “GPM is making a meaningful difference in the lives of the children in the slums,” she says about her time teaching in the GPM Joshua Greenberger Learning Center – in the heart of the Kalwa slum. “It was a privilege for me to be part of this vital work.”

The Erev Banot Giving Circle’s mission was created in 2018 as a way for women in the community to connect socially while at the same time doing something innovative and meaningful.  The multi-generational group of women decided to use the giving circle model for giving to Jewish women and children, and to organizations they might not have otherwise heard about locally, nationally and internationally. Their mission is “to ensure the health and well-being of women and children by nourishing each other through food, friendship and education.”.

“We are very grateful to Erev Banot for their passion and love of women and children living in vulnerable communities around the world, sad GPM Director, Jacob Sztokman. “It is heartwarming to see a group of people who deeply care for others who they have no direct connection other than their shared humanity.”

The fifth cohort of post-army 'Heroes For Life' volunteers with GPM

For the fifth year in a row, Heroes For Life (HFL) לוחמים ללא גבולות, a group of recently-released army soldiers who are dedicated to "giving back" to vulnerable populations around the world, are back in India volunteering with GPM. With their largest cohort thus far of 36, the HFL team are teaching in the Kalwa slums and rural village schools, and creating an eco-friendly vegetable garden to showcase farming innovations such as rainwater harvesting, solar water pumps, and drip irrigation techniques being implemented by the GPM rural nutrition program.

"The HFL participants bring a lot of passion and excitement to our classes," said GPM Project Coordinator Dennis Moses. "They create innovative lessons that the children love and are energized by."

Above, the fifth HFL cohort with GPM.
Below, HFL participants teach middle-school students at the GPM Joshua Greenberger Learning Center in the Kalwa slums.

Two Australian-Israeli doctors visit Mumbai to upgrade GPM healthcare

Dr. Jordana Hyman and Dr. John Borowski, a married physician couple from Jerusalem, spent three weeks in India delivering healthcare and medical training to the GPM community. John, a family physician, medical educator, and global health expert, works with Maccabi Healthcare Services as a senior resident trainer in Jerusalem and has deployed with international teams in refugee camps in Africa. Jordana, an Ob/GYN who specializes in IVF, works at Shaarei Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and as a senior member of Jerusalem’s sexual assault crisis team. The couple, who spent time in both the GPM Shravan Health Center (SHC) in Kalwa and the villages around Ashte where GPM operates, came with their five children aged 2-17, who also participated in GPM activities. 

In the Kalwa slum, the doctors delivered a series of health-care workshops to the community on topics such as addiction, common emergencies, contraception, pregnancy health and nutrition, and breastfeeding. Dozens of people – both community members and local GPM medical staff – attended each workshop. John audited the clinic’s main services and led several training sessions for SHC medical support staff on topics including wound care, universal precautions, and malnutrition.

Jordana ran a two-day women’s clinic in SHC in which she treated nearly 100 women for gynecological issues. She also conducted home visits with prenatal and postnatal patients in the Kalwa community, checking on the health needs of mothers and babies, identifying additional opportunities to improve the care of local women, and working to empower them with important knowledge in the area of reproductive health.

“Dr Jordana’s treatment, training and home visits were so well received by the women,” said GPM Healthcare Coordinator Savita Mane who accompanied Dr Jordana during her time in Kalwa.  “Her patients were excited to have a woman doctor expert give over her expertise.”

Jordana also trained local staff on patient diagnosis by revising patient intake questions to better assess women’s health. For example, Jordana found that many doctors ask patients how many children they have rather than how many pregnancies they have had. The switch to questions about pregnancies revealed a vital component of patients’ gynecological histories that local doctors may have previously overlooked. Sadly, she discovered a high rate of accidental death in childhood, which highlights an opportunity for GPM to develop programs in the field of child safety in a slum environment.

In the remote village of Ashte, the doctors conducted school health checkups for the 250 children enrolled in GPM Love2Learn educational programs. They tracked growth measurements, screened all children with a focused history, and conducted a brief physical examination. “We found kids with pneumonia, gastroenteritis, intestinal parasites, bacterial and fungal skin infections, bronchitis, anemia, acute and chronic malnutrition, dental caries, and more”, John reported. 

The doctors also helped strengthen GPM’s ties with the local Base Hospital/Primary Care Center near Ashte where two physicians and their teams serve more than 55,000 patients. The hospital sees 150 patients daily, including 45 births per month, 70 vasectomies a year, and over 200 tubal ligations per year. Jordana held a gynecological specialist clinic there. “They have no gynecologists on staff, no instrumental deliveries or c-sections. Most mothers weighed under 40kg,” she reported.

John gave a talk for the entire staff on the growing problem of non-communicable diseases, like ischemic heart disease and diabetes. “The lecture was very well-received and hopefully will help with closer cooperation between the government services and GPM,” he reported. John also gave a talk on first aid to the local village men.

John used his breadth of experience running regional medical services in Jerusalem to help evaluate the services of SHC and to create protocols for best clinical practices. He wrote a comprehensive report which is now being studied and implemented by the staff on the ground. He also had a special meeting with the administrator of the clinic where he delivered his findings. 

“We are so grateful to Dr. Jordana and Dr. John for offering their invaluable knowledge and experience on behalf of the community here,” said GPM Program Director Thaiza Dias. “Now our job is to use the insights gained in order to improve our health and medical services for the entire community.”

Chabad Mumbai Brings Volunteers and Joyous Murals to GPM's Nursery School

It is with a great deal of gratitude that GPM acknowledges the fantastic work of Chabad Mumbai and their teen volunteers who joined GPM for a day of volunteering in the Kalwa slums. Chabad volunteers joined us to bring light, joy, and color to our nursery school classroom.  Chabad's CTeen group under the guidance of Mushky and R. Uri Blau created a beautiful mural which will surround the pre-school children in the Joshua Jacob Greenberger Learning Center(JLC) every day.

Each week, the JLC is home to 9 classes from nursery (pre-school) to 8th grade. Not only do the children attending the JLC receive the education that they need to end the cycle of poverty, but they also receive warm, nutritious meals that keep their minds and bodies healthy and strong. The GPM solution of providing meals for children in school addresses both short-term and long-term needs of the children. The immediate need of hunger relief is achieved, malnutrition is abated, and a sound education is established to help promote a better life for children of the slums. 

We extend much thanks to Mushky and R. Uri Blau as well as the directors of Chabad Mumbai, Chaya and R. Israel Kozlovsky.

GPM prioritizes creating a warm environment that is fun and educational, and volunteers such as Chabad Mumbai help us to keep the center vibrant for the children! 

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