Pondicherry Camp

We handed over a few prosthetics symbolically in Pondicherry. The Hon. Home minister for the Pondicherry was the Chief guest and the Vice Chancellor of the Pndicherry university was the Guest of Honour. The beneficiaries were thrilled to be able to walk again.

Tricycles and Wheelchairs distributed at Arambakkam

Tricycles and Wheelchairs

The RC of Chennai Kilpauk has recently provided Mobility Aids to the following villages:

15 tricycles to Mepur village, this village is about 30 Kms from Chennai and is off the Chennai - Bangalore Highway

Arambakkam village which is 65 Kms from Chennai on the Nellore Highway
13 Tricycles
4 Wheelchairs

Snegithan- Association for the welfare of the physically handicapped
10 tricycles and 4 wheel chairs

The disabled who benefitted from this project were poorest of the poor and are cmopletely deserving of these aids.

These mobility aids would enhance their lives and empower them by making them mobile and independant as regards their movement. Also increasing their chances of obtaining gainful employment.

This project was made possible with a MG with the RC Strathcona Sunrise with special thanks to TRF and Rtn, Chip Ross who is the primary contact with the RC of Strathcona Sunrise.

Installation of Arvind Rathnam as 13th President.

Arvind Rathnam has been installed as the 13th President of the RC Chennai Kilpauk. Arvind comes with a huge amount of experience in running social organisations and is in fact the current President of the Madras Gymkhana Club. The Union Minister of Textiles Hon. Dayanidi Maran was the Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour was the DG Rtn. Olivannan.

The Board members for the Rotary year 2010-11
Secretary - Rahul Kesu
Treasurer - Bipin Bhatia
Club Service - Rizwan Currimbhoy
Community Services - VC Raveendran
Vocational Services - Vijaya Kirubakaran
International services - Madhusudhan Rhenius
Sgt at Arms - H L Ratan
Advisor to the Board - Karthik Sabhanayagam

Helping Hands - caliper Camp at Madurai

The Camp at Madurai was conducted between 21st and 28th of Feb 2010. We were able to distribute 110 calipers to polio affected, the calipers were made by Mukti at the camp site. This project was conducted with support from TRF through a MG with RC of London. Every camp that is conducted results in so many disabled getting a new lease of life which come with mobility and confidence. We hope we will be able to conduct more camps without any break.

Vocational Service project - TVK School

We have been working together with the Thiru Vi Ka School to provide vocational training to school drop outs, the courses offered are:

• welder
• turner
• electrician
• plumber and
• carpenter

The next batch will commence on 1st July 2010. Till date the RCCK has handed over more than completion certificates to over 300 dropouts and with a 100% success rate on employment. The certification programme is approved by the Ministry of labour and employment thereby assuring a bright future for those who take the exams. This project is aided by the TRF through a Matching Grant with RC of Medford Rogue, Oregon. Rtn Tim johnson played an active part in this project and it is hoped that we will get sufficient funding over the next few years to ensure the programme's continuity.

Vision for Poor

Report by Project Chairman - Rtn. H. Venkatesh

The Vision for Poor project conceived by RCCK with the intention of providing quality vision to the poor and needy in association with the world famous Sankara Nethralaya(SN) (http://www.sankaranethralaya.org) has achieved its immediate objective of performing cataract surgeries on 50 patients from poor and rural background.

The cheque for Rs one lakh fifty thousand towards performing 50 cataract surgeries were handed over to SN on 5th March 2010 and we have been informed that the surgeries for 50 beneficiaries have been conducted successfully. The surgeries were carried out through various camps in villages surrounding Chennai.

Sankara Nethralaya informs us that the poor patients were literally dancing with joy as their vision was restored which in turn has given them a new lease of Life!
The beneficiaries who were groping in the dark in utter desperation and dejection due to their dwindling vision due to obfuscation caused by the cataract, have now been provided a new Life of hope,happiness and optimism.

Dr Tarun of SN says the beneficiaries would have excellent vision through out their lives and can now move about freely without any aid or help thus leading a normal life!

Had RCCK not stepped in, these 50 poor patients would have gradually lost vision leading to total blindness. RCCK's support has successfully brought them back to Life.

Another small step in our efforts to serve the people from the lower echelons of society!!

We are confident of continuing this project in the coming years, maybe in a larger scale.

Kovalam village RCC

I have been asked many questions as regards the SGH, PLF and HLF and so on. I am reproducing a Taminadu Government note on this subject and hope this clarifies most doubts. The State of Tamilnadu has an evolved system of Self Help Groups which seek and obtain Micro Credit Financing and these groups are self sufficient in their management. The Govt. does provide the basic framework in all villages for their working. One Abbreviation which will not be covered here is ECR - this is east Coast Road on which the village of Kovalam is situate. The RCC at Kovalam discussed the involvement of women its running and as they were closely involved with the PLF, SHG and so on these abbreviations were used. I hope the below given note clarifies. I have given the meaning of tamil words in the note in brackets.


Mahalir Thittam (Women's scheme) – Restructuring of Panchayat (village council) Level Federations - Structure of Panchayat Level
Federation (PLF) Membership Qualifications, Administrative structure of Federation, duties and
responsibilities, Formation of Social Audit Committee, Bank Accounts and Maintenance of
Registers, Income and Expenditure and Formation of Habitation Level Forums and its functions –
Approval of Detailed guidelines
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (CGS-3) Department
G.O.(Ms) No. 125
Dated: 21.7.2008.
Read:
1. G.O.Ms.No.116 SW & NMP Department, dated: 31.7.2002.
2. G.O Ms No. 132 Rural Department & Panchayat
Raj (CGS-I) Department, dated 20.07.2007.
3. G.O Ms No. 177, Rural Department & Panchayat
Raj (CGS-II) Department, dated 05.12.2006.
4. G.O Ms.No. 104, Rural Department & Panchayat
Raj (CGS-I) Department, dated 19.06.2007
5. From the Managing Director, TNCDW Ltd D.O.Lr.No.
1719/B/2008 dated 7.7.2008.
ORDER:
In the Government Order first read above, orders prescribing norms for formation of
Panchayat Level Federation and Block level Federation, its Membership, imparting Training,
Functions, Systems & Procedures to be followed in the Federation, were issued.
2.
The Honourable Minister for Rural Development and Local Administration has
announced on the floor of the Assembly that “PLFs will be restructured and will be registered so
as to give them legal status”. Based on the announcement, the Managing Director, Tamil Nadu
Corporation for Development of Women Limited in his letter 5th read above, has sent a proposal
stating that many PLFs continue to be weak due to various reasons and variation of number of
Self Help Groups (SHGs) and number of habitations in the Village Panchayats of Tamil Nadu,
there is an imperative need to restructure the present PLFs and requested orders of Government
to restructure the PLFs.
3. The Government after careful consideration of the proposal of the Managing Director,
Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women Limited issue the following changes to the
Government Order first read above in relation to restructuring of Panchayat Level Federation.
(i) The Panchayat Level Federation of Self Help Groups will be at two levels i.e at
Habitation level and at Panchayat Level. The Government order that at Habitation
Level a Habitation Level Forum (HLF) and at Panchayat Level a Panchayat Level
Federation (PLF) of SHGs shall be formed. The structure of the Panchayat Level
Federation of SHGs, the qualification and membership, PLF and Habitation Level
Forums of SHGs, and their Administration and other activities etc. are prescribed in
the detailed guidelines annexed to this order. The units mentioned as above shall be
formed and function accordingly.
(ii) All the reorganized PLFs shall register under Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act
1975.
(iii) The Government authorize the Prinicipal Secretary to Government, Rural Development
& Panchayat Raj Department to amend the guidelines based on the operational
requirement, in consultation with the Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Corporation for
Development of Women Limited.
(By Order of the Governor)
K.ASHOK VARDHAN SHETTY,
PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT

RCC - Kovalam - Mission statement

This was the Mission Statement prepared by Velu for the RCC at Kovalam.

This had been translated in Tamil by Velu, and was read out and explained to the members by Mr. Joseph the headmaster.



• To inspire and motivate community members to
take an active role in identifying and addressing
community problems


• To mobilize community members to carry out
sustainable service projects that will improve the
lives of everyone in the community


• To always use humanitarian principles as a
guide when carrying out service projects

RCC at Kovalam 2nd Report

Dear Friends

Our second meeting at Kovalam with reference to the formation of the RCC at Kovalam was held yesterday.

Members Present : Velu, Mani, Ravindran and Revathi.

About 12 members from the village of which 2 were new members who had not attended the first meeting.

Mr. Joseph headmaster- and Narayanan.

There seems to be a small issue with the two PLF Leaders preventing some of the members from attending the meeting, because they were not consulted by the others before attending the last meeting. Narayanan has said he will take care of this, because the RCC has nothing to do with PLF and HLF leaderships.

The formal meeting was started with a discussion on the major problems to be identified and solutions sought for the village community.

What came across was, since the time of the Tsunami, several organsations have come foward to help- but they have not really succeeded because sustained follow up was lacking and people went back to their old ways. A good input for us to take away from this meeting.

Problem No 1 : Cleanliness. Clean Environment.

We distributed about a 100 cotton bags which were primarily small shopping bags, so the villagers could carry their own cotton bags for their vegetable and grocery shopping. It appears there are 1700 homes in the 9 wards of Kovalam. The conclusion was that RCCK will provide the cut components for the bag , along with the handle and thread. The village tailors would sew the bags for a small fee. They will come back to us with printing cost for the RI, RCCK and RCC Logos on the bag. If cost is lower even the printing will be done in the village. At the formal inauguration of the RCC- 1700 bags will be distributed - one to each home.

The members wanted us to hold meetings with the traders to educate them on the need to do away with plastic bags, and keep a supply of low priced cotton bags , charge a small fee for the bag and thereby inculcate the practise of people bringing their own shopping bags.

A few good ideas came up on how to place responsibility on the people to keep their surroundings clean.

Problem No 2 : Open areas in the village still being used as toilets.

The members felt the village folk need to be educated on the use of toilets- and more of the dry toilets must be provided in the public places- along with a small bathing area for women. We inspected a couple of the dry toilets in the village- and indeed it is working very well. So as a bigger project- perhaps we need to tie up with a sponsor- , Matching Grant to build more public toilets. Cost per toilet is about Rs. 15000.00 according to Naryanan who has so far constructed about 40 such toilets. 10 are in the Kovalam village.

Literacy: in about 2 of the HLF groups about 18 members each have been identified as being not literate. The members expressed that they need to be motivated to attend the Adult Literacy Program- because most feel they are managing well, without being literate. This will indeed be a tough task.

A formal discussion with Mr. Joseph on how to take this forward is needed. Our members present felt that we need to give a small monetary incentive to those who complete the training program.

Gainful employment/ Increasing Income : The members expressed that with rising costs , ways to provide work within the village have to be explored.

I offered to train a few members in the Leather Industry, because several jobs in the leather goods sector, shoe uppers, woven mats could be done in SHG's in the village. They will identfiy about 4-5 members who could be trained in our factory, for about two months, and they could then go back and train the members in the village. Thereafter work could be provided for them in their village. However, considering that it would take almost 3 hours to reach Ambattur from Kovalam, I will speak to other members in the industry located closer to the ECR to take this up. There is tremendous workforce shortage in the industry so this idea should work.

( Request other members in our club to think of other areas of work that could be done at the village through SHG' ) . Narayanan says place can be found within the village.

A mission statement had been prepared by Velu and was read out and explained to the members by Mr. Joseph.

It was decided to defer the choice of leaders and announce the target date for the formal opening of the RCC to the next meeting , as we need to get more members involved in the RCC. However, we believe Mr. Joseph could be the chairman of the RCC.

One of the women came up to me and conveyed that prostitution continued to be a major problem in the village- and these women were not being accepted into any SHG- so this was one problem that we should work on.

Next meeting on 6th March at 3 PM.

Thanks and regards

Revathi

RCC at Kovalam village - first report by Pres. Revathi Roy

Dear Friends

I am briefing what transpired at our first meet with the people at Kovalam in our first formal meeting for the formation of an RCC.

Members Present from RCCK: Velu, Jose, Mani, Revathi.

Members Present from Kovalam: Panchayat Leader Janakiraman, committed to community service- Narayanan, Retd School Headmaster- Joseph, a couple of other Ward or Panchayat leaders.

20 Women from the village of which 2 were PLF leaders and 7 were HLF Leaders and the others were leaders of the SHG to which they belonged. 1 housewife and also Bhuvaneshwari and Yasmin who work at the Panchayat office.

We first understood how the village is organised.

6000 to 6200 inhabitants in 1400 homes.

9 Wards in the village as per Govt Norms.

An estimated 84 SHG's are operating in the village and it appears from almost every home, one women is an SHG Member.

12 SHG's comprising of an average of 20 members each are under one HLF( Habitation Level Federation ) and hence there are 7 HLF's and therefore 7 HLF Leaders.

These 7 HLF leaders report to two PLF's.

The HLF leaders ensure that each SHG under them is working well, and all monetary commitments by each member is met every month.

The work done at the SHG's through Micro Financing is mainly making and selling Idli's, saree trading, trading in grocery, tailoring and sale of flowers, vegetables and yes fish trade.

All the women could articulate very well and were very clear and crisp in their presentation.

Understand that there will be less than 200 members in the village who are below the age of 50 and not literate.

Those who joined an SHG and were not literate at the time of joining have been given some basic training and now can do simple math and sign their names.

The Rtd Headmaster works closely with the village members and help them with their ration cards, property matters etc.

Children are all being sent to school, and there are youth attending college too.

Narayanan is highly respected in the village and has earned this through his commitment to social causes in the village.

He was responsible for raising funds and constructing 40 dry toilets in the village. The solid waste is collected in pits which are treated with some chemicals, some manure is added and in a year's time is decomposed and is now being packed and sold for manure. The liquid waste is removed through underground pipe lines.

A water body in the village has been cleaned up and though not potable can be used for other purposes of washing and bathing.

They welcomed the idea of an RCC and would like to address the following issues to begin with :

Health and Hygiene. They are particular about doing away with plastic which is causing a lot of litter in the village.

100 % literacy in the village.

Maintaining and running of the Water Treatment Plant.

Sport material for the youth in the village some of who waste their time in the evenings playing cards, and other unsocial activities and the women would like the RCC to encourage them to play some good sport like Volley Ball and Cricket and would like to hold inter ward competitions.

I think to this we can add:

Provide training for any vocation that can be run through Micro financing.

We found the women to be fairly empowered irrespective of caste or creed, and taking a very active interest in their HLF's and SHG's.

We will visit the village every Saturday at 3 PM for the next 4 weeks by which time a formal RCC could be formed with elected/nominated leaders.

Thereafter the visits could become fortnightly, and after a while monthly.

Velu and Siva will lead this SHG and they will choose their team of committee members.

After 12 months committee members can be changed.

Once started, it should be possible to get a good sponsor to implement the programs in this RCC.

As a first step of our commitment to this cause, we propose distributing cotton shopping bags with Rotary Logos about 250 numbers and then supply the fabric with the screen printing so through an SHG they can tailor the bags and possibly sell them for a profit. This for the first 1400 bags to make a symbolic beginning.

For this Mohan and I will sponsor the fabric and charge the club for the actual screen printing, handle material and stitching which could be around Rs. 12.00 per bag. This will be for the first 250 bags. Balance needed to be completed for 1400 bags we will charge for the screen printing and handle material, and the tailoring can be done in the village and possibly the bags can be sold by the SHG.

Those who wish to know more , and would like to volunteer to be a committee member may please speak to Velu or me.

With best regards

Revathi

Our plans for reaching out to the disabled

Over the next few months there will be a number of camps by which we will distribute artificial limbs, calipers and mobility aids. Salem, Madurai, Orissa, UP are some of the regions where these camps will be held.

Having heard that Karnataka has a large number of disabled who need help, I made some inquiries which reveal that this was true. I have sought more information and help in organising camps in the State of Karnataka.

I would dare to think that there would be atleast one camp every month over the next few months. By these camps RCCK will distribute over 700 calipers / limbs over the next 6 months.

Personally I am toying with the idea of reaching out to the disabled by conducting mativational workshops. Would it work?

A few days ago I was driving down to Pondicherry and stopped by on the road and noticed a quadraplegic running a tea shop. He was not even able to count out the change for his customers and had to be helped.

I told him to go to a camp that we were conducting and gave him the address and location and instructions on how to reach the camp. Also wrote out a letter for him. He never came. Why? Was he not able to find someone who will mind his shop for the day that he would be away?

Life is difficult.

Artificial Limb Camp in December 2009

The camp was inaugurated on 22nd December at Mukti and closed on 30th december with members of RCCK and Mukti working all days including weekends and Christmas to make sure that the camp was successfull AND it was.

Raveendran - Director Community Services put together an impressive artificial limb camp at Mukti in Chennai in the last week of december 2009. The accent was on reaching out to the disabled and much work went into this camp. The many hours of planning and the efficient execution did show what can be done with dedication. Over 96 disabled benefited from this camp.

Thanks to all members of RCCK and Mukti team for their great team work in reaching out to so many disabled in an efficient manner.