Our Work

PAF has grown from a grassroots youth hostel and school, to an essential organization for nearby villages. Below you will see a summary of our most important ongoing projects.

Essential support for the nearby Leprosy Village
"Nabakustashram"

Nabakusthashram now houses 33 leprosy patients. All of them have been severely impacted from leprosy disease and many have been abandoned by their households and families. The average age of residents at Nabakusthashram is between 60-70 years.

PAF runs a free Medical Centre with nurses at Nabakusthashram. The clinic runs 7 days a week and get dressing of their wounds done on a daily basis.

PAF presently carries out the following activities at Nabakusthashram –

Running of the Medical Centre including arranging for supplies and paying salary of the 2 nurses engaged (PAF also arranged for vaccination of the residents in the month of September-October, 2021);
Arranging for food supplies and cooking of food for the 33 residents on daily basis
Placing a part time resource at the disposal of residents for assisting in routine matters (e.g., Govt communications, bank work etc.)
Deploying night guards for safety and security of the residents

Weekly Medical Center

We run a medical clinic every Sunday which offers local people free consultations and medicine. Sometimes people come as far as 10 km to receive this medical care. We have doctors and nurses available as well as providing our PAF van for medical transportation on an as-needed basis.

PAF School

We teach 150 children from Nursery up to Class V. Our 6 teachers and 3 non-teaching staff work with students from six nearby villages. They learn Bengali, English, Mathematics, Science and Geography.

We run classes in the mornings. Afterwards the children continue on to the State Schools nearby. Our aim is to give the poorest students a boost in their studies, to give them confidence to do well now and, later, to do better in their leaving exams.

Hostel

We run a residential hostel for kids who are having problems at home. The children may have lost one of their parents, for example, or their parents have to go away for work. Their families lack the resources to support them.

We provide them with a safe place to live, good food, clothes and shelter, regular medical checkups and treatment whenever it’s needed. We provide their school uniforms, books and materials, and extra private tuition.

PAF first began by caring for seven local children whose parents could no longer take care of them at home. The staff at PAF takes pride in having turned around the lives of these young people.

One reason for their success is that the children receive personal care and attention that would be impossible for a large institution to give. Another is that the children still maintain their ties with their families, extended families and home villages. Often, neighbours and relatives understandably worry that kids in such difficulties might become a burden. However, when they realize the kids are well provided for, they can welcome them back.

Local people appreciate what the hostel has to offer. So other people have asked to place their children there. Prior to the pandemic our numbers had increased to 25 children. in 2022 we were glad to welcome back a group of 10 children to our hostel program.

How the kids benefit from the hostel:

The children’s .families are poor, sometimes in desperate circumstances. Coming to the hostel, these young people’s lives improve dramatically.

Now these kids live in a safe, interesting and happy environment: They get their food and clothing. They get regular medical checkups and treatment. They are looked after by grownups 24 hours a day.

Education at school

They also get the uniforms, books and materials that they need to attend their local schools

Extra tuition

All the kids get extra tuition, both at the hostel and with external professional tutors. Some had fallen behind in their studies before they came to the hostel but they all made up the lost ground very quickly.

Computer Centre

Five computers are set aside for the children to use. They also get training sessions every week.

Chhau dance and sports

There is plenty of space for sports. The boys also learn Chhau, an ancient and much-loved traditional dance of the region, having roots in the martial arts. In fact PAF’s own team performs regularly throughout West Bengal. The boys train on Sundays, taught by these accomplished dancers and musicians.

*CHHAU TRAINING IS CURRENTLY PAUSED* as we have only just felt confident in re-opening the hostel, and do not yet have enough predictable income to support this cultural initiative. If you are interested in helping us to start it again, please get in touch!

Cultural Preservation

PAF has taken the rich cultural heritage of Purulia from the dusty village roads of Dabar to venues all over the world. Chhau Dance is especially famous in Purulia. We have our own professional team of dancers. Every Sunday the leaders also train the boys living at our hostel. Watching them dance is a great delight for all of our visitors.

*The children's Chhau dance training is currently paused* as we have only just felt confident in re-opening the hostel, and do not yet have enough predictable income to support this cultural initiative. If you are interested in helping us to start it again, please get in touch!

However we do have a wonderful network of cultural musicians and dancers, so if you are looking to enjoy a cultural performance we are experience in organizing these events. Our Chhau team in particular has performed all over the world!