Mani Iyer inspects school at Kollumedu

Saturday, the 27th of December saw Mani Iyer (Architect) and myself going to Kollumedu to inspect the school for the toilet project. This project is going to be a MG project with the RC of Medford Rogue thanks to Rtn Tim Johnson.

Mani inspected the site, took measurements, assessed the needs of the school, the environment, location and more. It looks like that the toilet project is going to cost about 6 to 7 Lakhs. Existing toilet (only shell) may have to be demolished and a new building constructed.  We will know for sure when Mani gets his hand on the Drawing Board.

The villagers are getting excited and find that there is a silver lining to every dark cloud.

Flood relief at Thappalampuliyur, Thiruvarur

Seetharaman called to inform me that the distribution of construction material to those who had lost their homes in Thappalampuliyur village has been completed. Repairing of their huts will start immediately.

He has said that he will soon send pictures of the distribution, some of these pictures will be published to this blog on receipt.

Water treatment plant for Kovalam shipped

Another great news. The water reatment plant has been shipped. Here is the email we have received from Pure O Tech.

Quote

The two crates left our facility on Friday December 19, 2008.  I will send more information when it become available.  This will include tracking information, estimated time of arrival to Chennai Port.  I have attached the information per your request of:  

2) Proforma/Commercial Invoice from Pure O Tech Inc

3) Contract between Rotary Club and Pure O Tech

4) Copies of payment received by Pure O Tech

5) System description and Specification of the equipment

The weights dimensions of the crates are as follows:

1) 106" x 58" x 103" inches 900 kg

2) 32" x 36" x 56-1/2" inches 450 kg

I will inform you of more information as it becomes available.

Drew Deever

Pure O Tech. Inc.

Unquote

Relief work has commenced at Thiruvarur

Seetharaman just called from Thiruvarur to inform that he has received the DD for Rs 1 Lakh from the Club. materials for rebuilding the damaged homes have been soutced and delivered, distribution has commenced of the construction materials.

He informs that the villagers are so relieved and happy that the materials have arrived and that they will have a roof over their heads soon.

Great News from Rtn. Tim Johnson

I have just received an email from Rtn Tim that his club will do a matching Grant with us for the school at Kollumedu. Once the details are finalised there will be more posts here and more news.

At this stage what i can say is that we will be able to not only complete the toilets for the school but also take care of their drinking water needs and maybe some furntiure for the teachers and students.

Email from Seetharaman

Seetharaman lives in Kumbakonam a town close to Thiruvarur which has suffered intense damage due to cyclonic storm Nisha.

The pictures posted to this blog have been sent to me by Seetharaman, it is through him that we hope to reach out to the poor and needy who have been affected by the storm.

The contents of the mail reproduced below is self explanatory.

Dear sir,

 

I want to express my appreciation and thanks for your interest shown on my previous mail

regarding funding to our village people affected by flood.

 

It will cost around Rs50000 to 65000 to build one new concrete house in simple budget

 (  for each one ) for home affected people.The real situation is that the side mud walls and roof-thatches of the house have been damaged very badly.So, it is viable to help them by providing thatches and related construction materials .This will help them to make their house ready for living .Each family needs 250 thatches ,4 kg of coir rope and 25 nos of coir twine( called as PALAI in Tamil) for complete renovation.

 

 Cost of 100 nos of thatch                      Rs 275#

 Cost of 1 kg of Coir rope                        Rs  45#

 Cost of 1 no coir twine                           Rs1.60

 

Cost of materials per family

  Cost of 250 thatches                            Rs 688#

  Cost of 4 kg coir rope                           Rs 180#

  Cost of 25 nos coir twine                       Rs  44#

   

            Total                                          Rs 912#

 

The cost of materials per family comes around Rs912#. With your generous funding,

we can help accordingly. I can arrange for door delivery of all the materials.Let me know

the procedures to be adopted during disbursement.I have attached some of the photos showing the pathetic situation of the people.

Thanks

Your"s sincerely,

Seetharam,

Floods damage at Thiruvarur - 3

Flood damage at Thiruvarur - 2

Flood damage at Thiruvarur - 1

Flood relief - Tropical cyclonic storm - NISHA

The recent cyclonic storm Nisha which hit the South of Tamilnadu has left behind a trail of destruction and homeless people. People living in rural areas who have no access to immediate relief have been badly affected.

We have just received some pictures of the damage caused to homes with a request for some relief. The Board of Directors of the Club have been appraised of the requirement for relief and hope to provide necessary relief measures soon. Please do keep visiting this blog to keep abreast of our activities in this area.

Kovalam Water treatment plant - Update

We received good news from the US of A. It now seems that the water treatment plant for the Kovalam village is almost ready and will be shipped shortly from Escondido, California.

Kollumedu School

When Tim was visiting I had take him to a school in a village (Kollumedu) about 30 Kms from Madras. The school is in bad shape and lacks basic infra structure such as toilets, drinking water, leave alone furniture for classrooms etc.

Tim just sent in an email stating that he has discussed this school project with his club and that they would be happy to do a District Simplified Grant amounting to a total of USD 4000.

With this we will be able to provide toilet facility for the school.

Mani Iyer our architect member is traveling in Australia and as soon as he is back I will be taking him to the school to understand how we can provide them with a toilet block.

I have given a link above to my picasa album where you can view some pics of the school.

3 New Members

While Tim was here visiting us, the Club inducted 3 members. Jana, Ajit and Ravi joined the Club and we welcome them and hope they will enjoy Rotary. It is always a pleasure to welcome members into the Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk and I am sure they will immediately start participating in all activities.

Rtn Tim Johnson is visiting

Rtn. Tim Johnson of the Rotary Club of Medford in Oregon is visiting us right now. Tim has been working with us on various projects including providing support to the Tsunami affected and other projects including vocation training to school dropouts, providing computers to schools and more. We hope Tim has a good time while he with us and takes back good memories.

Happy 2008

The DGs visit has been postponed and the Club now has more time to prepare for the visit which will now be in March. Incoming President Jose introduced his team at the Club Assembly, his Secretary is Revathi. At the Assembly many projects were discussed including our step into Micro Credit and also the 3rd phase of Helping hands.