Good morning,

Howard has asked me to make sure that you received news of his latest experiences during his travel to India. He is in India, helping to launch distributions of Vitamin A and Deworming medicines with our program partners who work directly with the 1.1 million children and mothers that we reach in our Operation 20/20 program in various locations in India. Notes from Howard's daily experiences, in his own words, are below. Pretty amazing!--Ashley

Greetings from Mawle Nagar, India!

The stench when we step out of our car is overwhelming.  It smells like a cesspool overflowed a month ago and no one has bothered to clean it up.

We are in Mawle Nagar, a slum north of Mumbai, the home of about 20,000 people. The conditions are deplorable. Plastic and cardboard make up the walls of homes, tin covers the roof. There is one contaminated well for the entire community, no hospital or clinic, no school for the children, no running water and one latrine for 300 families. There is raw sewage flowing in the walkways. And there is amazing hope!!

Click here to watch Howard in Calcutta, India right now

The children are playing cricket, women are holding classes in everything from prenatal health to children's hygiene to the importance of vitamin A, to basic nutrition. Our partner, the Child Eye Care Charitable Trust is doing incredible work. Four years ago when they started holding their weekly clinics, on 5% of the people even knew about Vitamin A and less than 2% of the people were getting vitamin A supplements.

Today over 95% of the children are getting vitamin A and deworming medicine twice a year. 95% of
the children are getting vaccinations, 95% of the children are now protected from dying from common illnesses like measles. It doesn't take a lot to have a huge impact. Vitamin Angels is now supplying vitamin A, deworming medicine and children's multiples to this entire community. And today this community has a group of doctors, nurses and health care workers that come into this slum, once a week, train the people in the community to pass along the information on sanitation, hygiene and nutrition.

Now every child in this slum is being tracked to make sure they have their basic health needs being met! The smell I first noticed when we arrived is now long gone, all I can see are the children's smiling faces.

Best,

Howard

--
Howard B Schiffer
Founder & President
VITAMIN ANGELS

P.O. Box 42029
Santa Barbara, CA  93140

Ph: 805 564 8400
Fx: 805 564 8499
Web: www.VitaminAngels.org