Global Tribe India

India, home of the Taj Mahal, Ghandi and vindaloo! It is also a place of extreme hardship with 70% of her population living in poverty. A third of the world’s malnourished children live in India according to UNICEF, where “46 percent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 percent are underweight and at least 16 percent are wasted.”

During a trip to the slum in Bawana in the Delhi area, Julie-Ann's (our GT India founder), heart was absolutely crushed when she saw these statistics close up. Young children roaming the slum, playing in dirty puddles and drinking the water, clothed in filthy clothes, suffering from easily preventable illnesses and vulnerable to crime.

In January 2007 Julie Ann headed back to India to open Global Tribe Children’s Centre. Julie Ann, affectionately known as “Jig” and a small team of volunteers in New Zealand are working under the umbrella of Global Tribe and with the help of the Delhi House Society, an established NGO in Narela, Delhi.

Global Tribe Children’s Centre is a Day Centre for children from ages of three to five. The Centre is open Monday through Friday, from 9am in the morning until 4pm in the afternoon. During this time the children learn hygiene skills, life skills, receive a basic education and learn about God’s values, as well as enjoying morning tea and a nutritious midday meal. Our two wonderful teachers travel two hours each way to the Children's Centre, while our cook is from the slum itself. We have 30 children on our roll.

More parents come to the Children's Centre every day to ask if their children can attend but unfortunately the Centre can only handle a certain number of children and they have to go on to a long waiting list currently sitting at 60.

Attendance at the Children's Centre is free of charge and is funded solely by donations from individuals in New Zealand. The Global Tribe India team would like to do more for the children of Bawana, but that takes money. Therefore the best way you can help is to donate money or to sponsor a child’s education on-going.

If you would like to sponsor a child then $20 to $30 per month would be a great help. One-off or occasional donations are also very much welcomed.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about us and the children of Bawana. And thank you for your help.