dalits – Page 2 – Nandri Blog

July 12, 2016

Healthy mother happy kids.

Yesterday a mother of one of our sponsored children died of anaemia. She was 35 and may she rest in peace. Her husband died a few years ago from alcoholism.We have recently arranged with a local hospital in conjunction with the local Arni Silk Lions Club to visit one of our villages every month to check out the health of our mothers and children. Hopefully such conditions as anaemia and heart problems can be spotted and treated before they become more serious.

Our biggest problem will be to convince the mothers to attend a doctor for the checkup as they believe they should only go to a doctor if they have a problem.

Our Nandri Centre which opened in February 2016 has given us local credibility. Previously this hospital would just have regarded Nandri as another one of the tens of thousands of charities in India, some legit and some not so legit just like Ireland 🙁

The healthy mother featured here was a sponsored child. Last year while I was in India she handed me a cheque for Rs.1000 in gratitude for her education

September 8, 2015

Microfinance works

Last month we handed out 35 loan cheques to mothers who will buy a cow. We also gave out 45 loans to mothers to fund their children’s third level education.

Since we started our micro finance program we have issued 1100 loans to our mothers in order for them to earn an income and to improve their overall living standard and to fund their children’s education. We have a 100% repayment rate and our loan book is now such that the repayments every month enable us to issue 25 new loans.

The mothers learn how to manage money, they earn the self respect of their family and their peers. They know that every repayment every month enables another mother to get closer to receiving her loan.

Over the last few years we have been changing the culture from one of our mothers receiving handouts to one of receiving loans. They are beginning to see the benefits of this.

A major benefit for us is our sponsors money is used more efficiently. The same euro is recycled time and time again

Many mothers join our programs in order to benefit from our child sponsorship program. (handout)

Our objective is that within three years of joining a mothers self help group a mother will receive a loan to purchase a cow.

The income she can learn from a cow is way above the handout we give in the form of child sponsorship. Increasingly also we are only including in our sponsorship program children of widows or from broken homes or single parents. We try to ensure that the money goes to those most needy.

February 12, 2015

Nandri ensures a student nurse completes her education

Antoni (not her real name) has been living in an orphanage since she was four years of age. Her uncle paid her fees to go to nursing college for the first year. Three months after the start of the second year it transpired that he was not interested or not in a position to pay for the second year’s fees so she was evicted from the college.

In February 2014 we met her and agreed to give her Rs.25,000 (€350) for her 2nd years fees and the orphanage agreed to pay her accommodation fees. We thought she could get some kind of bank loan but evidently the banks will only give a loan if the student applies in the first year. Sounds a bit silly but that’s the way it is.

We have have to repeat the loan for the third year and we will have to give her a loan for the fourth year as well.

Most of our third level education micro finance loans will be partially repaid from the date the child starts college. In fact the repayments are generally currently enough to cover a full years years loans.

Most of our loans are for Rs.10,000 per annum. The loans to the student nurse are unique but makes the difference between her finishing her nursing education and not doing so. And eventually when she repays us the money can be used to finance another nurse or engineer or whatever

Fred Crowe

CEO

December 24, 2014

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

October 14, 2014

The sewing machine is putting food on the table

Angelammal has two children namely Santhosh Verma studying 9^th Standard and Akash in 4^th standard. Santhosh is in Children sponsorship programme . Their father who 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

http://www.nandri.org/donate/

October 12, 2014

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.

October 7, 2014

“I need to sell one of my 18 month old twins”

Six months ago I wrote that a mother who had just joined a mother’s self-help group announced that she needed to sell one of her twins as she could not afford to feed them and her other two children. Through our help and support we managed to convince her not to do so.

Today I met her with the twins and everybody is very happy.

We went to school in a slum area in the local city. During a visit the children were eating their lunch. I saw one child of about five walking from the school with her dinner plate partly eaten. She was evidently bringing the food home for her mother.

We visited a small village this evening with a local mayor. He had arranged for solar based electricity lighting in this small village where they’re often without electricity for three or four hours in the evening. This good man also supports the education of 60 children. We passed by one home where one teenager said she could not do her homework as her bottle of ink had run dry. The cost is about €.15.

We take for granted being able to keep our children, having enough food and having electricity and biros. Many of our client families don’t have this luxury.

Thank you to our sponsors because without you I would not be here and experiencing some of the good stories and the way we are able to change peoples lives forever.

October 6, 2014

Down on our farm

For those of you who don’t know, in December 2013 we leased a 10 acre farm. Well it was just 10 acres of bare ground which we have now turned into a farm.

We built an accommodation unit for the people who work there. We have just completed a cow shed for 30 cows and calves.

We built a number of chicken units to accommodate the organic free range chickens we are producing.

We have installed three solar panels to ensure constant temperature for the chicks and electricity to pump water for irrigation.

Our organic free range chickens will have a much higher value and of course the chickens will have had a much better life as they are free to run around in a large enclosure. Today I believe we have 3000 chicks.

We also have 300 ducks, a fish pond a rice paddy, peanut fields and we are growing feed for the cows.

We have a few goats and our next plan is for sheep.

Using our micro finance income generation program we are going to roll out small chicken producing units for our mothers.

We have two new trustees in Chennai who are setting up a website to market our free range organic chickens.

Our plan is well underway to make almost enough profit to cover the costs of local salaries and overheads. We are also going to start training some of our mothers in better ways of looking after their cows.

It’s amazing how much you can do with 10 acres of land. A number of our local people are working very hard.

October 4, 2014

It’s not always smiling faces

Most of my photos show happy children but this does not show the full picture. Included in recent photos is a boy who saw his father setting fire to his mother and killing her. Alcoholism may be the reason or family pride. The boy (not featured here) is now adopted by his mother’s sister thank God. He is included in our sponsorship programme. The money which we receive from our sponsors every month make a huge difference to lives such as this child. Please keep it coming sponsors.

Today we are meeting 30 children or should I say adults who graduated this year.

October 2, 2014

India – country of contrasts

India today is a country of huge contrasts.

Indian TV news reported that parents in this state of Tamil Nadu were arrested today for burning their daughter for marrying a Dalit, (low caste untouchables in India and these are the people which we mainly help)

A few days ago a satellite which was launched three years ago reached Mars much to the pride of all India.

Today Mr Modi the new Prime Minister launched a campaign called clean India. The whole country is absolutely filthy, lacking in sanitation, sewerage and people don’t help by the amount of litter which is thrown around.

Mr Modi evidently revolutionised his state of Gujarat. If he can do for the whole country what he did for that state then things will change.