A message from John Corden, Trustee and Treasurer, EducAid India

1st January 2024

Dear Supporter,

As most of you already know, Joan Bond, the founder, inspirational leader of EducAid India and my sister, very sadly and unexpectedly died on 22nd April 2023.

With Bill Bond incapacitated and unlikely to be able to continue as a trustee, it’s left to me to communicate the future path of EducAid India.

We have recently we made 2 capital grants of £2,500 each to the school in Konkiahara, to fund building a new classroom, and to Towards Future, for the establishment of a library serving their schools on the outskirts of Kolkata.

We presently send £1,000 every quarter to help fund the education of around 300 children at the school in Beldih and we have told the governors that we will continue this for as long as we can.

Then, in July 2023, the trustees of the 2 schools asked us if we might consider funding the development of a hostel (children’s home) for orphaned and destitute children, to be colocated with our school in Konkiahra. It will open in October 2024 and will be named in Joan’s honour. The total cost will be approximately £18,000 of which we have committed £11,000, with the remainder being raised locally.

Taking into consideration the amount we have in the bank and our ongoing commitment to fund operations in Beldih, we are approximately £5,000 short and need to find ways to raise this amount during the period January to August 2024.

Joan was a remarkable woman, touching thousands of lives. Maybe I’m a little biased but I believe her legacy in India was her greatest achievement. Of course, it didn’t start with EducAid, but with its predecessor, Save-a-Child working through Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission (RKVM). Out of this came her two prodigies, Swami Nityarupananda, who now heads up RKVM, which educates, homes, and provides vocational training for thousands of children and young people across West Bengal, and Mohit Gorai, who instigated the establishment of the schools in Beldih and Konkiahara. They both looked upon Joan as a second mother and loved her very much. They will continue to honour her by dedicating their lives to improving the lives of tens of thousands of children from among the poorest communities on Earth.

Kind regards and thank you,

John Corden

Trustee & Treasurer, EducAid India | john@educaidindia.org