More on 2011 expenditures in the orphanage

We thought that October was a good time to talk to you on the 2011 orphanage budget.

We consider 3 main budget categories:

-       The monthly expenses to make the orphanage work (salaries, food, electricity and gas…)

-       School expenses linked to the girls ‘education (school fees, dance exhibition, summer tour...)

-       « Unusual» investment (water tank…)

In 2011, the orphanage spent a total amount of de 13,934.28€; the graph below shows the rate of each type of expenses:  

 

The graph clearly shows that the main budget lines are the school expenses and the monthly expenses.

Concerning the school expenses, the school fees were paid by German donors in 2011 (2107 euros, which represent roughly 72% of all expenses linked to school). School books cost 643 euros and school uniforms, 136.8 euros.

Concerning home investment, they were mainly paid by volunteers and so no expenses can be seen here. The volunteers have constructed a shed roof which allows the girls to study upstairs where the wind blows, thus providing natural refreshment when the weather is hot.

It is also important to note that many local people help the orphanage by their gifts:

-    Roughly, a hundred kilos of sugar and some kilos of rice were given to the orphanage ; however the head of the orphanage had to check its quality to avoid spoiled products ;

-         Times and knowledge : two doctors do the medical check-up for the girls for free ;

-         Some local merchants sell their product at whole price to the orphanage.  

Ø  Focus on the monthly expenses

On average, the monthly budget is of 855 euros. Food and salary consume the main part of it:

 

Food represents 74% of the monthly budget and it is a major issue for health. Prema Kundargi, head of the orphanage, made agreements with some food sellers so that she could buy the food at whole price; it was the case in particular for fruits. She also sometimes gets sugar or rice for free, but the quality is not always good enough. However, prices rose a lot during the year and the food vendors stopped the agreements; it led Prema to buy nearly no fruit nor eggs, but luckily the volunteers offered fruits regularly to the children. We were really happy to note that the medical expenses decreased last year. Prema’s action is supported by two doctors who agreed to give free consultations for the children and sometimes give the medicines for free when they can. The girls also get regular check up at school.

Ø  Since 2009

This graph shows how the expenses varied since 2009 until 2011: 

Prices are in roupies

 

At first sight, this table gives an impression of high increase, particularly while observing the increase of food or electricity spending. However, the last column gives the real increase figures, according to the rate of each item in the monthly budget; it allows us to note that the real increase concern the expenses for food.

Moreover, we need to keep in mind the context: in 2009, as the orphanage started, the salaries were so small that it led 2 social workers to quit their jobs. The increase which was done in 2011 aimed at giving the workers a “normal” salary, but the price increase didn’t enable it and the salaries today remain lower than the average. Prema Kundargi told us how the prices increase makes it difficult for her to buy fruit and water and we can assume that it is the same for everyone here.

Lastly the orphanage now welcomes and hosts 27 children (they were 20 at the end of 2009). It has an impact on the monthly expenses, though the monthly spending per child has only undergone a slight increase. This is mainly due to scale savings, but also to less qualitative meals in the context of a massive and brutal price increase. Happily, we can also notice that the medical expenses for the girls have decreased among the year, which is great!    

Year	Annual expenses	Number of children	Annual expenses / child	Monthly expenses / child
2009	3 755,29 €	14	268,23 €	44,71 €
2010	10 463,46 €	23	454,93 €	37,91 €
2011	13 934,28 €	27	516,08 €	43,01 €

Once again, many thanks to all of you who support us, we hope you can see your help is extremely useful!