I want to say a big thank you very much to Irish chartered accountant Jeremy O’Beirne. He is just finishing three months volunteering with Nandri partners in India, Child Aid Trust . He has made a great contribution to improving the accounting and systems there. He offered valuable training and experience to the accounting staff. Working in rural India means electricity going down during the day. The backup power supply kicks in but it can be frustrating. The temperature and humidity would have been difficult but at least he was there during a time of year which would not have been the hottest. There is not a lot to do in rural India where 99% of the locals don’t speak English. It gets dark at 6 o’clock every evening, no internet, not too many television channels. This time next year we hope to have our Rural Development Centre with accommodation for volunteers. We would hope to entice volunteers with different professional qualifications and experience to bring to our work in India. The photograph above is the house that Jeremy was staying in. Unfortunately the car was not his. I wouldn’t advise anyone to drive in India. Well done and thank you to Jeremy
Fund Raiser in Perth Australia
Well done to Caoilfhionn Crowe and her friends who held a fundraiser with an Indian theme for the night. Caoilfhionn had brought back from India a dozen saris, one for each of her friends.
They raised enough money to provide a family income generation loan to 5 families. The families will be presented with a cheque by Caoilfhionn in India on Sunday, 25 January.
They will probably use the money to buy a cow which will provide the family with nutrition and milk and enough money to repay the loan over 20 months. At that point a second family will benefit from the money which was raised.
Well done to all concerned
India here I come – again
On 23rd January I am heading to India again. Traditionally we make one visit to India each year as technology means that we can talk and communicate every day and it is not necessary to actually go there more often.
In October last year I went there to review a number of different pieces of land and look at prices of land generally. I ended up recommending the purchase of 2 acres of land which is within walking distance of our Nandri Farm and Agriculture Training Centre which we acquired on a ten year lease a year ago.
Over the last few months we have been developing with a local architect plans for the building of a Rural Development Centre. This will provide office accommodation, a reception area large enough to meet and talk to up to 30 mothers every day who may have questions about the various programmes in which they are involved. It will have a number of training rooms and accommodation for volunteers. There will be cooking facilities for up to 200.
On this trip in January we hope to meet a number of builders and obtain quotations so that we can start building in February 2015. In India, at least in our part of India, you buy the land and then submit plans to the local mayor who will give you planning permission. It sounds a bit risky but that’s the way it works and obviously we discussed with the local mayor what we had in mind for the land. In a twist that sounds a bit Irish the same mayor was also acting for the seller of the land as an agent.
Happy Christmas from 2000 families
Just before Christmas we received a box of over 1000 Christmas cards from India. it’s a huge logistical job for our partner in India because the children attend over 200 different schools as far apart as Dundalk to Cork (200 miles). And it takes twice as long in India to travel the same distance.
Our field workers (Staff members who attend all of our mothers meetings) had to find each child either in school or at home, ask the child to write a short note to their sponsor or ask the very young children to make a little drawing.
The cards were then taken back to our office in India and because 90% of the children don’t speak English their note had to be translated from Tamil.
Once the cards were completed they were scanned and then added to our computerized child sponsorship management system. Each of our sponsors can now see their Christmas card and other information about their child including photograph or school exam record.
The online access we give our sponsors to information about their sponsored children is quite unique either among Irish or international charities. It is also very cost-effective for us. But we do know that many sponsors don’t have regular or any access to computers and we all know it’s nice to receive something personal in the post. All cards were mailed before Christmas.
In the meantime you can access the card online if you are a sponsor .
Another part of our child sponsorship system is unique internationally. Each child has their own bank account and the sponsorship money is transferred into that account. The mother has the passbook and each mother feels a great sense of pride going to the bank to take out money which has been lodged into the account. These low caste Dalit women would not normally be allowed into a bank. We are also encouraging them to save and this is happening.
Over 700 of our mothers now have their own “business” which is changing their family’s lives forever. Through our micro finance income generation program we have given them a loan to buy a cow or a sewing machine. Within a few years they will be earning so much money they won’t need the child sponsorship and this will be passed on to another family to start the cycle again.
So thank you to our dedicated staff in India who worked very hard to get the thousand Christmas cards.
More than anything thank you to our many sponsors and donors without whom we wouldn’t be able to change the lives of what is now almost 2000 impoverished families in India.
Fred Crowe
CEO
Rural Development Centre
In November 2014 we concluded the purchase of 2 acres of land near Chetpet, Tamil Nadu. This land is within 10 minutes walking distance from our Nandri farm, which in December 2013 was leased for 10 years.
Since the charity started in 1996 we have probably spent over €2 million on houses, schools, medical dispensaries, toilet facilities and clean water bore wells and many other miscellaneous projects. During that time our office staff and fieldworkers have moved from one unsatisfactory rented accommodation to another.
Finally, we will build a rural development centre which will provide a solid foundation for us in India through our partner Child Aid Trust. We already provide services for almost 2000 families, through our various programmes, including child sponsorship, mothers self-help groups, micro-finance income generation and medical programmes. We are developing a range of agricultural training programs at our Nandri farm. Our new rural development centre will provide accommodation for mothers who are being trained.
The RDC will have a reception area for the many mothers who visit us every day. It will have a medical room to attend to basic medical needs. There will be office accommodation for our office staff and a meeting room for our office and fieldworkers. We also expect to have volunteer accommodation and a large and small training room. There will be catering facilities for the hundreds which we expect to attend our training courses.
The RDC should enable us to double the number of families we are serving within the next three years. All this is only being made possible by a small number of donors who have made substantial donations.
We are currently reviewing plans with a local architect and hope to begin building in February 2015
Fred Crowe
Mother benefits from micro-finance
Mrs Thilagavathi is one of our 1500 mothers, who meet every month in our 100+ self-help groups. She has a son who is being educated thorough the child sponsorship programme. Two years ago it was very difficult for her to maintain her family and to keep her son in education.
Now things are changed with the help of NANDRI. What was NANDRI’S role?
In 2013, she joined a mothers self group. Although she was in dire situation, she had the talent to stitch and sew . From the mothers group she received Rs. 5,000/- (€75) as group loan and bought two tailing machines “second hand”. she started her business to earn money.
Later she got a micro finance loan from NANDRI, Rs. 20,000/- (€250) and bought two more machines to sustain her life. Now it was a great success after her hard work. Per month she is able to generate easily Rs. 4500/- to 5500/- through her work.
She is able to pay rent for the shop Rs. 2000/- and repaying the loan Rs. 1000/- and also managing to get provision for her food and lastly sustaining the child in education.
Also she is teaching 10 poor children and through which she gets around Rs. 1000/- which is also useful to her savings. Above all she has the interest and determination to teach tailoring to poor children freely. Hence she has asked the field workers to bring the children so that the children will be taught. She is really proud to be part of the NANDRI family and grateful to her sponsors.
A
Nandri farm is making money
Nandri.org is an Irish charity also called a not for profit organisation. All of the funds we raise are distributed through an Indian registered trust near Vellore in Tamil Nadu. We mainly work with Dalit and Dhobi communities. Although the local motto is “need not creed”.
Our objective is the education of children and the improvement of the living standards of our client mothers. We use micro-finance for income generation projects and various other programmes including child sponsorship, mothers’ self-help groups, training and health.
In December 2013 we seized an opportunity to rent 10 acres of land. This land had reasonable water supply, but had not been utilised to its full due to lack of capital. We reckoned that with a small amount of investment in infrastructure and stock, this could turn into a profitable farm. We were right. We are well on the way to covering the operating costs of our partner in India, ensuring that more of our money is use on our projects.
Almost a year later, we have built the infrastructure, including a building for cows who, unlike Irish cows don’t like the rain. It doesn’t rain very much, but when it rains, it comes down very heavy. We have a number of units to house chicks which will later become free range organic chickens for the tables of Chennai. We have 3 acres in rice paddy and the rest in groundnuts or peanuts and feed for our cattle.
Our 21 cows are now producing regular income from the sale of milk. All our feed is organic so we ultimately hope to get a premium price and milk prices are increasing anyway in India. We will sell our male calves normally at six months to a year old. Very little beef is consumed in India as cows are regarded as sacred. Our female calves will become mothers so we can increase our herd and our income.
We built some units to house three day-old chicks which need to be kept in a constant temperature. Electricity is not a guarantee in India, so we have invested in solar panels to ensure a constant temperature. The solar panels are also used to provide electricity for lighting and for water pumps. Once the chicks are three weeks to a month old they are then allowed to run round in a fenced area, but free to eat the plants and insects. We have entered into a partnership with the company in Chennai to market our organic free range chickens or country chickens as they are called in India.
We intend to set up a number of our 1500 mothers with small chicken units. We will provide them with feed, housing, fencing and 100 three week old chicks which we will then buy back at four months old. This will provide these mothers with an income. We intend to operate the same system with a number of local orphanages, which will also provide them with an income.
We also created a large fish pond and stocked it with 2000 fish. We have 250 ducks and through the miracles of nature the residue from the ducks is eaten by the fish who in turn produce residue which ends up as food for the ducks. I am an accountant, so I don’t really understand these things, but it works and we have income from duck eggs and soon fish, without much costs.
We currently have about 3000 chicks and once we have mastered the production of organic free range chicken we will increase our numbers. Shortly we will be running training programs for our mothers in how best to look after their cows and chickens. We are in the process of acquiring land close to the Nandri farm where we hope to build a rural development centre. This will have training rooms, sufficient space for a constant stream of visiting mothers. Accommodation for volunteers and of course, office accommodation for our staff.
Overall, this is turning out to be a successful programme. We are making a profit for us and others. We are providing products for our client mothers to sell. We are also providing training. We will be pleased when the profit we make will cover the operating costs so that we can focus on diverting all of our money to our programmes.
News on Mothers Group – Social awareness work/cleaning work
Recently, Oct 2014, the Prime Minister of India, Mr Modi suggested a clean India campaign. One of our mothers groups got started in their area as the following photographs which show.
This is an another interesting story that Nandri is doing that it not only financially supports mothers but also give social awareness that they should keep the surrounding neat and clean.
On September 30th, 2014, one of the mothers group namely “Arul Irakkam” – meaning ‘God’s grace’ came forward to clean a school water tank that was shabby and unclean for a couple of months. When it was known to the group along with the field worker, they planned and did the cleaning work so that the local school children may drink water. It was a good examplary work that they have done.
The sewing machine is putting food on the table
Angelammal has two children namely Santhosh Verma studying 9th Standard and Akash in 4th standard. Santhosh is in Children sponsorship programme . Their father w
ho was a coolie, (a daily labourer), died three years ago. Thereafter Mrs Angelammal settled in her mother’s house without any job. And the life became very difficult for her without the basic necessities to look after her two beloved children.
At that time we supported her through micro-finance income generation Loan with Cheque of Rs.20,000/- to buy a sewing machine. With this sewing machine she had repaid her loan and now she is maintaining her family.
To add to her dismay, three months ago, her brother banished mrs Angelammal from the mother’s house where she was staying with her brother due to a small quarrel. And now she lives in a rented house.Widows have a very difficult time in India. In many cases where a mother and her children are living with the father’s family and if he dies, they can be removed from the house.
She earns through this tailoring machine around Rs.3000/- and when there is village festival or other auspicious days such as “Diwali” – ‘festival of light’ she may earn Rs. 3,000/- to Rs. 6,000/- exceptionally and thus the amount she gets from the sewing machine, she pays her house rent Rs. 1,000/- and Rs. 2,000/- for provision, food and other expenses. And now she thanks NANDRI whole heartily for its support.
If you would like to make a donation, once off or regular, to help us continue this good work. Please click the following link
Rural Development Centre for our Dalits and others.
For the last 10 years our partner in India Child Aid Trust has moved 6 times. They currently occupy small crowded offices.
We are hoping to build a rural development centre which will incorporate training facilities, space for visitors, accommodation for volunteers and a medical dispensary and office facilities.
Why – We currently have 1400 (growing by 50 a month) mainly illiterate Dalit mothers and this will double in 3 years. We need to run training courses in sanitation and hygiene, childrearing, their rights and many other topics including agriculture topics.
Our mothers feel proud to be part of our organisation. They wear their uniform sari proudly.
Every day at least 20 of our 1400 mothers come to the office. The means overcrowding for staff and mothers and lack of privacy.
One reason for my visit is to look at different sites for this project and speak to builders. Renting is not an option. We were thrown out of the last place due to our many Dalit visitors arriving every day. This is more discrimination against them.
Land prices are crazy in India. Think of a site on the road between, say Ardee and Dundalk. A site in India between 2 smallish towns is quoting €50,000 to €70000 for 1 acre. I suspect in Ireland today I might get a house thrown in for most that price.
We were hoping we would find some land owner who would be motivated by the work that we are doing and price the land accordingly. I think we have found one.
One of our Irish sponsors has already offered €20000 donation. We need small donations also.
