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Nandri supports Kamatchi through Teaching College

Kamatchi and her family live in Udayarkuppam Village. Her two sisters are mentally handicapped and her mother was the sole breadwinner for the family. Following an accident, She was no longer able to work and support them. The family were left in desperate poverty without enough money for food. Kamatchi saw that the only way she could help her family was to continue her education and get a degree and a well payed job. Her ambition was to become a teacher but with no money to go to college or even feed her family, her situation looked hopeless.

Nandri heard of the family’s plight and with their help the poverty stricken family were rehoused to provide suitable accommodation for their special need children. Nandri also organised the finance for Kamatchi’s college course. She is well on her way to becoming an excellent teacher and is so grateful for the help that Nandri has given her and her family. They now have hope for a bright future thanks to Nandri and the generosity of our donors.

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Jansi becomes a nurse!


Jansi Rani, from Thalaiyampallam, is one of the Nandri Children we have supported throughoutmsecondary school. She was an excellent and ambitious student and was determined to break the cycle of poverty for her family by getting a good education and a well paid career.

Jansi’s mother is a widow and was struggling to feed and support her 5 children. Two of the children have serious medical problems, which put a further financial strain on the family. Nandri gave Jansi a loan so she could complete her 3rd level education and become a nurse.

It was a day of tremendous celebration for her family and the village when Jonsi graduated. She is presently working in a Delhi Hospital and is able to send money home to her mother and siblings. Nandri gave Jonsi a secure future and and as a result, a better life for all her family.

Thanks to the support of our kind donors, Nandri is able to change people’s lives for ever.

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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.