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The Nandri Centre 2 years on.

In February 2016 we opened our Nandri Centre. This is a training and administration centre for our mothers and children built on 2 acres of land in a rural part of southern India. Previously we had to move every 12 months as our mothers who are members of the Dalit so called low caste community are like travellers in Ireland. They are not welcome anywhere.

They are proud to be members of Nandri. They proudly wear their Nandri saris. They even pay for membership which is helping to make the organisation self sustaining.

We have one large training room with full audiovisual facilities and a computer room with a dozen computers. We run regular training courses. Our large reception area is used for regular cheque presentations for loans.

A few weeks ago we had 200 mothers attend what is called an RPL (recognition of prior learning) course which is funded by the Indian government. This particular course was to teach the mothers how to pack and pick vegetables. The mothers are each paid to encourage them to attend the course and Nandri Foundation are compensated for running the course including providing food for the attendees. These mainly illiterate mothers are proud of the certification and it will be easier for them to get daily work and will also become an important part of our income following our major investment in the centre.

Every day almost 200 children attend English language courses in local villages. They learn spoken English through song. They get help with their homework and are provided with some nutrition before they play games. We now have a playground for them and a cricket training area in the centre and they will be invited there on a regular basis.

We are pleased with the success of the centre which was funded by large donations by Irish donors and directors.

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Nandri Success Stories

This month we are starting to share some of the stories of the people that have been helped start a new path in life with the help of Nandri’s support. We want to share some of the amazing journeys and to let you see how effective our loans, sponsorships and training programmes have been and what they can achieve.

A success Story of Jhansi made possible by Nandri.org

My name is Jhansi. I belong to a poor family from Thalayampallam, Thiruvannamalai Dt. My mothers name is Arulayee. I am the eldest in the family.  I have one sister and two brothers. My brothers are mentally challenged. My mother is member of a Mothers Group called Vasantham, which is one of the mother groups formed by Nandri. I received sponsorship from Nandri when I finished my schooling without any difficulties.

I wanted to go for higher studies at college. But my parents could not afford to send me to college. Instead they asked me to find a job and help the family. I was determined to go for higher studies. I was able to meet the field staff of mothers group. I told them about my goals and the difficulties I was facing at that time. She took me to meet the Managing Trustee of Nandri. I narrated my actual aim and ambition to him.

The managing Trustee heard my plea’s fervently. He then decided to put me in a college. He got me an admission in Sacred Heart College of Nursing at Velledu. He took all the responsibilities to himself and saw to that I was taken care of well at the college and the hostel. He paid all the college and hostel fees until I finished my Nursing course successfully. Now I am doing my six months intern course at Delhi. I hope I will get a job as a nurse soon. My dreams of finishing a college course were made possible only by Nandri and Mothers Group.

While I was studying in the college Nandri gave a loan to my mother to buy a cow. My mother bought a cow and from the milk she sold in the market she was able to run the family with ease. In both ways Nandri and Mothers Group helped me attain my goal and at the same time for my mother to run the family without difficulty.

I will be forever grateful to Nandri and Mothers Group, also I promise to help poor children like me to pursue their studies in whatever way it is possible.

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Nandri Tuition Centre’s

The parents of the children from rural villages where Nandri is working are very poor and illiterate.  Sadly, these parents are unable to help their children with their homework or help them with learning outside of school hours.

This makes the children roam the streets and without proper guidance they get disconnected from learning within the school system.

To respond to this problem Nandri has initiated Nandri Tuition Centre’s in three villages now and more villages are on the list to start operating from June 2018 onwards. Nandri tuition is one of the activities of Nandri Service Centre’s new initiatives. Through these centre’s, children are helped to do their homework correctly, organise games, and other extracurricular activities to develop their talents. Each centre is managed by a mentor who identifies the innate talents of the children and they encourage all children to develop their own individual talents.

Special attention is given to speaking English. Our children who study in the Tamil medium schools are apprehensive about speaking English. In these centre’s, we try to make learning english a joyful experience for the children.

 

At present we have five centres in three villages and about 150 children are benefitting from this programme. By June we would have another eight centre’s, catering to more than 500 children. Thanks to Electric Aid from Ireland for supporting this initiative of Nandri.

Jude Thomas

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International Women’s Day

Nandri.org is very proud to join women all over the globe who come together today to celebrate International Women’s Day with a voice of unity.  Acknowledging this special day and the women who lead the charge when it comes to giving the not so fortunate voices of the world a chance to be heard to be one.

The Nandri ethos has always been simple, empowering women. How we achieve this is also simple, we support and encourage our members to be self sufficient. Through our self help groups, loan scheme’s, education and training programs.  Nandri has been providing, nurturing and supporting the women of rural, Southern India to strive for a better life for themselves and then in turn they support their families and the wider communities in Tamil Nadu.

Nandri Mothers

Our Mothers Self-Help group is fundamental to our success. Nandri works with mothers groups at village level to administer loans. The income generated helps the mother keep children in education and provide for healthcare.

The earliest Women’s Day observance, called “National Woman’s Day,” was held on February 28, 1909 in New York.  It was organised by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of Theresa Malkiel who was an American labor activist, suffragist and educator. She was the first woman to rise from factory work to leadership in the Socialist party. Her 1910 novel, The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker, is credited with helping to reform New York State labor laws.

In 2012 the UN theme for International Women’s Day was Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.  In 2013 – time for action to end violence against women. In 2014 – Equality for women & it was declared that this would be progress for all!.

In 2016 The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukheriee, in his message issued on the eve of International Women’s Day said: “On the occasion of International Women’s Day, I extend warm greetings and good wishes to the women of India and thank them for their contributions over the years in the building of our nation.” The ministry of women and child development announced the setting up of four more one-stop crisis centre’s on March 8, in addition to the eight already functioning across the country. Ahead of Women’s Day, the national carrier Air India operated what it claimed to be the world’s longest non-stop flight where the entire flight operations were handled by women, as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. The flight, from Delhi to San Francisco, covered a distance of around 14,500 kilometres in around 17 hours.

This year the United Nations call for action is this “Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time, and the greatest human rights challenge in our world.”

— UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

The Nandri message remains simple today and every day, give women the tools to empower themselves. Women of the world we salute you!

The future of Nandri : Some of the young women who’s lives have changed through education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tony Barron Education Fund

Tony Barron photo

 

In March 2017, Tony Barron died after a long illness. Tony was the founder of Nandri, over 20 years ago, then called Child aid Ireland. He is responsible for the education of over 5,000 Impoverished low caste Dalit children. He organised the building of schools, medical centres and provided ambulances and clean water to many communities in Southern India.

He started his charity as he believed that education which had changed Ireland would also change India. 20 years ago children were being taken out of school as young as eight or nine years of age, particularly girls. The objective was to marry off the girls as young as possible to take the burden from the family.

Nowadays, most people realise the importance of education. For many, it is still a struggle to send children to school to pay the fees and the uniforms and travel costs. And of course still maintain family nutrition. Nandri has its child sponsorship programme with over 1,000 children in this program. Each child receives for every month, the equivalent of three or four days wages for the mother. Many years ago, Tony told me the payment to each family was almost like a bribe to keep the child an education.

Each year, now we have between 100 and 200 children, graduating with their 12th standard, which is the Irish equivalent of Leaving Certificate. Many of them receive the highest grades , which in our terms would be 600 points. It is very sad if they cannot continue with their education. The upfront fees required by the colleges might only be €150 that is six months wages for some families, and that could prevent the child from going to college.

We have decided to set up a specific fund to ensure that our 18-year-olds get to go to college. Money will be given out as loans which will be repaid by the family during the education with any balance paid by the child once he or she is working. Orphaned children will not have to repay the loan until they have started to work.

We are inviting donations for the Tony Barron Education Fund. The target of this fund is Rs.3.5 million, or about €50,000. Between 400 and 600 children will benefit from this fund. We already have a successful micro finance operation in place where we have provided income generation loans to almost 1500 families and education loans to over 200. 99% of our loans are recovered and we also charge a small interest-rate to ensure the long time very viability of the projects.

Please send a donation to Carmichael house, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7

Or email me and i will send you bank details

Fred Crowe 086 253 1518

ceo@nandri.org

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Fr Joseph returns to sunshine

d4b26879-3eef-4298-89e1-03284891c509Fr Joseph, who is the CEO of our partner organisation in India has been in Ireland for the last few weeks. He has been very busy every day meeting sponsors in Dublin and Cork.

Joe has been in charge in India for about 10 years and during that time he has implemented many unique changes.  We are the only charity in the world where every one of our sponsored children has their own bank account. The child’s mother manages this account. This gives her a great sense of status and pride. Dalit women do not normally own a bank account.  He has successfully implemented a micro-finance programme where since 2012, 850 mothers have benefited and are now the proud owners of a cow or a sewing machine or some other assets which they use to earn an income. He also implemented third level education loan program. Already 250 children are benefiting from that.

None of this would be possible without the support of our hundreds of sponsors who pay by standing order or direct debit every month.   Remember €1 is a days wages for the mothers we serve.    We have also had some very kind and generous donors whose donations have enabled us to build a rural development centre which will ensure that our partner in India, Child Aid Trust.

Father Joseph received many donations while he was here and all of that money will be invested in our various programmes in India.

Fred Crowe

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Fundraiser in Arklow 

Today the 31st May 2015 the On your Bike” in Arklow, enjoyed a sunny day and over 150 participated.