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SUNDERBAN ADIBASHI MUNDA MOHILA SOMOBAY SOMITI Ltd. Year: 02 SSSAAAMMMMMMSSSSSS NNNEEEWWWSSSLLLEEETTTTTTEEERRR Number: 02 Place: Jisur Nam Ashram Date: 28-02-2015

Editorial Dear readers, Take our cordial love. This is our 2nd newsletter of 2015. We have some news for our readers. Here they are: 1. Doctor Natalia. 2. Urmila’s chickens. 3. Village Munda girls’ promise. 4. Construction of a new house. 5. New employee of SAMMSS. 6. Computer course. 7. A special friend of ours.

1. Doctor Natalia On the 21st of February 2015 an Italian gentle and young and beautiful lady came to this place. Her name is Natalia. She is a doctor. And not only a doctor… a very important doctor…a gastro-enterologist. She stayed with us for five days and she worked very hard in a nearby small hospital. She also brought very nice presents for the girls staying at the mission. We thank her very much and are very grateful to her for everything. We are almost sure that she will return. Her presence in this lonely corner of the world has been and will be a real blessing from the Lord.

Comments, advice and suggestions about our Newsletter are welcome and can be sent to: chandonamunda@gmail.com champamunda@gmail.com

Our Newsletters are online at http://issuu.com/munda.education.centre.bd

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2. Urmila’s chickens Urmila Munda is the second married young lady staying with us. She was here before getting married and after spending a few months with her parents in law she decided to come back here. Her husband has allowed her to do so. Her husband works in Dhaka and comes home from time to time. Urmila knows how to keep domestic animals. Before getting married she had a poultry farm. Recently she bought 50 small chickens which are supposed to grow big very quickly. She will sell those chickens one month later. And she hopes to have a good profit. We wish her all the best. 3. The Munda girls’ promise

Bahamoni Munda arranges a meeting with the tribal Munda village girls at this place every month. On the 13th of February 2015 she called a meeting here. About 36 girls were present. The girls promised that they will not get marry before S.S.C exam. If their parents would like to marry them off at an early age we will protect them and we’ll do our best to prevent that forced and premature marriage.

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4. Construction of a new house A new house is beeing built here as per the plan of an Italian architect who is a good friend of our mission and was here also in the past for helping us.

Six workers come to do work on this house every day. After building this house more Munda girls can stay here. The new house will replace the old one which was falling down. The old one was demolished ten days ago and now foundation for the new one is being laid down. We hope to finish this important work before the rainy season starts. We have to thank Ms. Giraudo Denise for this important work which will give this small mission outstation a new shape. Ms. Denise inspired a group of Lions from Piemonte in Italy to undertake this project which is now being implemented. The Munda girls staying at Jisur Nam Ashram are grateful to both Ms. Denise Giraudo and that group of Lions for having provided financial support for this important work. We’ll write more details on this matter later on.

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5. New employee of SAMMSS SAMMSS has a new employee. Our small co-operative has been growing quite nicely so we have felt the need to recruit a worker who will go to the various villages to collect installments of loans which have been disbursed to the members of the co-operative. The new employee’s name is Shaionti Munda who has proved to be an efficient field worker. Shaionti’s parents would like to marry her off quite soon but we hope to delay her marriage by giving her this very important assignment. 6. Computer course This year four news girls have come to study at Jisur Nam Ashram. Three are in class six and one is in class nine. Recently they have started learning computer. Their teacher is Sulota Munda. Sulota is in class ten and she would like to become a scientist. In the picture Sulota is the tallest girl. She teaches her computer students every day in the evening. Sulota is also an excellent dancer and she is a member of the Munda cultural group. We hope Sulota will become a computer engineer.

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7. A special friend of ours The last picture our readers will see in this newsletter is the picture of an extraordinary person. Her name is Ms. Susan Elahi. She was an American citizen and she spent most of her life in Bangladesh as a teacher at the International American School. For more than ten years she kept collecting very precious things which have been so useful for our poor village tribal Munda people. Last year in May Ms. Susan suddenly died of heart attack. But from heaven she continues helping us. Her family and colleagues keep selling things which belonged to her and send the income to our small co-operative. Recently we got this nice picture of hers. We’ll get it framed and hang it in our house so that remembrance of this kind person can be in our minds and our hearts . On the occasion of the 1st anniversary of her death which will be on the 14th of May 2015 we’ll have a special celebration to remember this great and kind and generous lady who has now become our guardian angel in heaven.