This year we stayed in Japan so we moved our activities here too! Here are some of the activities we have been involved in:

Cultural Exchange
When Ruby and her mother, Deb, visited, we organized for them to visit a local elementary school. Nasu-sensei (the teacher) organized a morning full of activities and interactions. Later in the year, I went to the same class and gave a short talk on LIVING IN CALCUTTA. The children enjoyed learning "Namoskar" and "Amar nam ..." (Hello and My name is ..."). I showed many photos of the various types of transportation, clothing, and festivals.

RCFC Fundraising
We continue to collect and send regular donations to Rehabilitation Centres for Children in Barisha, Calcutta. Any ideas?

Selling Handicrafts by Jeevika Development Society and Calcutta Rescue
During the year we sold handmade ornaments and greeting cards made by the women participating in Jeevika, a cooperative that assists women in earning a decent wage for their skills. The cards are beautifully embroidered and are becoming quite popular. We also sold bookmarks, cards, and key rings by the street children at Calcutta Rescue. Besides selling at flea markets and fairs we also asked different shops and restaurants to sell them too. At our house we made a small gift shop and guests also bought from them. With any profits we made we sent donations or ordered more products from the groups to show our continued support. At christmas time friends in the U.S. also sold these handicrafts

To the Local Bazaar and 4-card post card set with village artist Karuna Chitrakar
Just before leaving Calcutta, we published our first children's book called To the Local Bazaar which is the story of a girl and her mother taking a trip to their local outdoor market. We also printed a post card set using the illustrartions of Karuna Chitrakar, a friend of ours who paints stories on scrolls and then sings them to her audiences as she unrolls them. Karuna benefits from the sales of these two publications, and more people learn about this traditional art form.

www.chikyu-kids.net
Maura designed the pamplet for this group's website. They are CHIKYU KIDS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK, which is trying to compile information on children's ecology projects around the world. The pamphlet will be distributed to get more projects to sign up on the website. Have a look - our EARTHinkers project is there tooand GREEN SPROUT who wrote about their seed business in our latest issue.

Mustard Seeds Website
Should be up and running in the very near future.