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I am a volunteer with Vibha, a non-profit organization that focusses on improving the lives of underpivileged children. Vibha supports various child-developement projects in India and the United States (India map). More than a month ago (on 2008/08/22) I visited one such project based in the historic town of Mamallpuram. The project is run by an organization named “Society for Education and Action”, headed by Mr. S Desingu. I went there to get a better understanding of how the project works, what challenges the community there faces, and how the project is helping them.
I did not take pictures, but they would have looked similar to these pictures that someone else took in the past. 
I was accompanied by my friend and fellow Vibha volunteer D, and my brother. We wanted to leave Chennai and get to the place early. My brother arranged a car for us to get there. The driver did not show up because there was a diesel shortage in Chennai (triggering my rant about free markets versus government control). After a few frantic phone calls, the cab firm managed to send a vehicle and fortunately we were able to get going. SEA's field office is right in the middle of the tourist center in Mamallapuram where all the main hotels are. We got there in about 2 hours.
We were welcomed warmly at the field office. While it was nice to be respected for being from Vibha (which funds part of their operations) it was a bit uncomfortable, and it took some time to for Mr. Desingu and others to settle down and treat us normally. After introducing us to various employees, Desingu got down to talk with us. We talked about various things — his background, life in the villages, and how Vibha funding is being utilized.
Mr. Desingu's background
Desingu is a 6th generation fisherman. He was born in a family of five. He has two sisters both of whom never went to school. This is typical of women in that part of the county, though female literacy and education is improving these days. He has two brothers, one who has studied till 6th grade and other till 8th grade. Desingu is the first person in his entire village to receive college education. His college tuition was paid with donations from several of his friends. He has a B.A. in Psychology from Madras University. He is an amazingly energetic person, with an infectious enthusiasm. It was a joy to meet with him.
In 2000, Desingu and a few of his socially conscious friends decided to start an organization to serve their community. The were an informal group of people who went about their own way improving the lives of people around them. They called their organization “Society for Education and Action (SEA)”. They organized various campaigns to educate villagers about on various fronts — empowerment, sanitation, social ills, etc. The conducted medical camps with support from other organizations. One positive thing is that other villagers offered their full encouragement and support. Villages usually have a common fund to which every family contributes to. These funds are used for common expenses such as festivals and temple ceremonies. The various villages donated a part of their common fund to SEA.
A couple of years after operating this way, they registered formally as a Non-governmental organization (NGO). Later, they received foreign funds (from World Vision, if my memory serves me right). Things were going along normally when disaster struck their villages. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami devastated Tamil Nadu's coastline. With funding from several sources, SEA was involved in Tsunami rehabilitation efforts. Vibha funded part of SEA's Tsunami relief efforts, and has been involved with other programs ever since.
Life in these villages
I always ponder about how small Vibha and other organizations like AID and Asha are when compared to the problems they are trying to solve. This become even more clear during my conversation with Desingu. There are 33 villages in Kancheepuram District along the Bay of Bengal coastline. SEA has worked with every village during various stages of their existence. SEA currently operates in 11 villages (6 of those funded by Vibha). These are just the coastal villages. There are hundreds of villages in Kancheepuram district alone. It is going to take quite a while before they get high quality education, water, healthcare, sanitation, infrastructure, and eventually a better standard of living.
These villages mainly consist of two groups of people — Fishermen and Dalits, who work as laborers in agricultural lands. Dalit discrimination becomes more prevalent as you get further away from Chennai along the coast. Economic growth, because of the proxmity to Chennai reduces discrimination in nearby areas. The situation is worse in interior villages. The number of children per family is still pretty high, close to about 5. These families live in extreme poverty. It is a big challenge to keep girls in school because they are forced to take care of their younger siblings.
As part of Tsunami rehabilitation, the government provided boats and fishing nets to the “head of the family”. The head by definition had to be married. Consequently, there was a wave of “Tsunami weddings” where young adolescents got married. SEA organized several campaigns to stop these child marriages, and got the village Panchayats (which even today have a lot of clout) to issue a proclamation to stop such marriages.
Programs funded by Vibha
I am not going into detail about these programs as that information is available elsewhere.
Among other things, SEA is currently involved in providing a better education to children in nearby villages. SEA provides additional teachers to government schools to support overworked teachers. SEA has motivation centers where students brush up on what they learnt after school. They also work with parents and the various Parent Teachers Associations (PTA) to have a more productive interaction.
SEA's high school teachers have created models to explain various science concepts and experiments on their own initiaive. Some were extraordinary, and reflected the teachers' ingnuity. It was surreal when I saw a cardboard model of Vernier Calipers. It struck me that these kids have not even seen a real one, how are they going to understand how it works?
SEA's annual report metions each program it conducted in the past year.
Field visit to a Government school
After some time at the field office, we decided to visit a government school to talk to the students and teachers. We went to Adaiyalacheri village, about 20 kilometers from Mamallapuram. It was a great joy to see those enthusiastic children. The primary school has about 60 students from 1st to 5th grade. All sixty of them are housed in the same classroom. This is something I have known before, but it was really startling to see it in person. These schools follow a new system introduced by the Tamil Nadu Government known as Activity-Based Learning, where each person has a kit with study material, boards, cards, etc. They perform various exercises in those kits and move on to harder exercises and learn in the process. The teacher's job is more difficult. They have to pay individual attention to each kid, since each one is doing something different on their own. Vibha funds two additional teachers and helps reduce the workload of the lone government teacher in the school. A group of students were taking part in a “reading program” in a different room. In this program their reading and comprehension abilities are graded and they are provided material appropriate to their grade. They improve to harder material over time.
Two girls in their fourth grade, Shahira Banu and Gajalakshmi, came to us and started speaking in English. We responded in English and learnt about their school, families, play time, etc. I can still remember the broad smile and enthusiasm on their faces. I cannot describe in words how happy I felt talking to them. It was the best moment of my vacation in India.
Bridge program for school dropouts
We went to another place where about a dozen adoloscents were being coached for their 10th standard public exams. These are students who have either attempted and failed the exam in the past, or have dropped out of school in an earlier grade. Without clearing this exam they have no academic future. These students have at various points of time worked various odd jobs. Some have been constuction workers. Some have worked in restaurants in Chennai. One guy worked as a “ball boy” in a tennis club in Besant Nagar. Everyone has worked as part of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Their public exam is this month and I hope they do well.
Does Vibha actually make a difference?
The problem Vibha is trying to address is huge. In comparison, Vibha is a tiny organization. For the small number of people touched by Vibha, the funding makes a big difference. A very tangible example is the dropout students program mentioned above. These students face enormous challenges to succeed in life. This program offers a small helping hand and supporters of this project can derive satisfaction in these student's success.
The way a small funding organization should operate is to identify deserving grassroots organizations and social workers that are waiting to become famous. It should then nurture these organizations with the goal of moving them towards seeking funds from larger organizations; or their model being adopted by the government in a large scale.
