Usef Ali (ex-Treasurer) and Muzaffar Shah (ex-Chairman), NDO 1998
Tania Cobham was first associated with NDO in 1997, when she and two other Australian volunteers lived and worked in Nagar for a year. Although Tania maintained a level of social contact with friends in the area, for the last 10 years there has been little contact with NDO itself.
Then, early 2008 Tania was inspired by Michael Martin who has been running a support network for a Kenyan village called Osiepe. This group aims to provide a range of connections and assistance between Australian members and a community resource centre in Ugunja, Kenya. They have done some great work in the last 10 years. To initiate a similar group for Naunehal, Tania wrote letters to the Chairman of the NDO and other contacts in Nagar to suggest the idea. Muzzafa Shah (previous NDO Chairman) responded very positively. He suggested that what NDO needed most is regular financial support to buy materials for the Women's Centre.
NDO had received funding to establish a Women's Centre and to employ two female master trainers. The training included spinning, weaving and cutting of the traditional Woollen Patti (material). Traditionally women only spun thread and men would do the weaving. Through this project it is hoped that women can add to the financial income of the household through selling their products. NDO estimated that the Handicrafts centre would need RS14,000 a month to purchase materials. To meet this need, Tania sent letters to friends in Australia inviting them to contribute $50 a month. The target was to establish a group of 10 families so we could meet NDO's needs.
Progress
On-going Support
Securing regular donors has been a slow process. As of January 2011, the Friends of Naunehal group has two regular donors and since we first started providing financial support in 2008 we have provided in the order of A$3,000 (RS181,000).
Naunehal has bought raw material to support the training at the women's resource centre and necessary items for the disaster relief resulting from the Pakistan Floods.
Spot Donations
In October 2010 we presented a summary of the work that Naunehal has been doing to the Cairns-Mulgrave Rotary Club. We are very grateful for their donation of A$500 to support the work undertaken by NDO to support Nagar during the flood crisis.
