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Mobile Library Serving Free Tuition (Tutoring) Centers ~Sembakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

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This Mobile Library serves six villages in a remote rural area about 70 kilometers south of Chennai (formerly Madras). This small library, with books in Tamil and in English, provides essential material for the young adults who are preparing for their 10th and 12th grade exams, as well as books for the younger children who are learning English, and even for some adults who want to develop or improve their literacy skills.  

 

Mr. Venkatesan is the librarian-teacher who takes the books from one village to another. He is also an accountant by training and he keeps the library with an accountant’s precision, noting down the details of each book as well as who has a particular book at any given time. When Save Int'l and WaterBridgeOutreach (WBO) launched the mobile library together Mr. Venkatesan took the books around in satchels on his push bike. Later we were able to upgrade the transport to a 100cc motorbike, which makes the going easier on the numerous unpaved roads of the area. 

 

When Gail Tsukiyama and Peter Coughlan of WBO went with Curt Degler of Save Int'l to visit Mr. Venkatesan and see him and the books in action in several of the villages, Mr. Venkatesan showed them the cabinet from which the books go out and to which they return. He took great pride in opening a small safe to show them the stamp he uses to imprint the library’s name in each of the books. In one of the photos Gail can be seen reading with children on an open veranda. What cannot be seen in the photo are the multitude of flying things, moths, mosquitoes, and more, buzzing around under the lights as she and the children read together! Since electric power is cut off for lengthy periods about every two hours in Tamil Nadu, the lights – and the reading/education that goes with the lights – are kept on through small generators that ensure enough power for the two hour sessions.   

 

The importance of this mobile library and the teaching that goes with it is, firstly, that it can be decisive for literacy; secondly, it plays an important role in helping this girl or that boy to learn English, pass crucial exams, and have a fuller understanding of the wider world. In other words, it helps give them a chance! 

COVID-19 Support

COVID-19 Support

Working with Curt Degler of South Asian Village Empowerment International, we helped to fund a rice distribution in Tamil Nadu in some of the villages we've both visited and have books and water projects in. Good quality rice was provided for 100 families during this difficult time of the pandemic.

Mobile Library

Mobile Library

This motorbike mobile library serves villages in a remote rural area south of Chennai. Mr. Venkatesan is the librarian-teacher who takes the books from one village to another on his 100cc motorbike

Tuition Center Roof

Tuition Center Roof

A second initiative that was enabled by JosephJoseph participation in the London Color Run (see Anna Nagar water project) was a partial reconstruction of the Kazhanipakkam Assembly Hall to include a steel sheet pitched roof over the whole building and the installation of lighting and security gates. This area provides additional space for children attending the free tuition (tutoring) school located on the main floor.

Free Tuition Tutoring Center

Free Tuition Tutoring Center

WaterBridge Outreach provides books + literacy materials to after-school (free) tuition centers run by Save INT'L near Mamallapuram, India. These centres play a vital role not only in helping the children learn English, but also in preparing them for their national 10th grade exams and future life.

Bore Well and Hand Pump Repairs

Bore Well and Hand Pump Repairs

Our 2nd water project in Anna Nagar saw us working with Save Int'l again to overhaul an old government installed bore well with non-functioning hand pump that has not worked for many years. The well required a deep cleaning to be reactivated and working with Save Int'l we hope to convert the well into a electric powered submersible pump with water holding tank.

Dalit Toilet Complex Rehabilitation

Dalit Toilet Complex Rehabilitation

In many parts of India the Dalits – the community or caste originally referred to as the “Untouchables” – still suffer discrimination. WBO, working with Curt Degler of Save Int'l, has engaged over the years in numerous literacy and water infrastructure projects that express respect for the human dignity of the Dalits while also meeting basic needs. Much needed repairs and rehabilitation of the water system that supplies the Dalit toilet complex have now been completed.

School Washrooms

School Washrooms

Lack of sanitation facilities is a serious problem in schools in many parts of India. This lack of basic infrastructure can have a negative impact on childrens’ education, especially on the education of girls. In collaboration with Save Int’l, WaterBridge Outreach is constructed new toilet facilities at Melaiyuur School in Tamil Nadu.

School Washrooms

School Washrooms

When the elementary school in Karanai desperately needed toilets for the use of the children, WBO partnered with Curt Degler, executive director of Save Int'I, to provide basic washroom facilities for the school. Otherwise, like almost half of the population of India, the children would have to defecate in the open. The lack of basic sanitation is only too often a source of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid.

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Bore Well + Hand Pump

The attitude and spirit of the villagers in the Irular tribal enclave at Kazhanipakkam make this project a very special one. These smiling Irular people have very little of their own and they were delighted when the new well and pump made water available in their village instead of a long walk away.

Water for 4 Schools

Water for 4 Schools

Thanks to the initiative and generosity of students at Holy Names University, Oakland, California, four schools in remote rural areas now have clean drinking water.

Reverse Osmosis System

Reverse Osmosis System

In 2012 residents in Ellandoppu had no clean water for drinking, washing pots, and general sanitation. The already toxic state of the water had deteriorated further after the infiltration of salt water from the sea following the devastating Indonesian earthquake and tsunami in 2010. The solution to the water problem was the installation of a reverse osmosis system.

Reverse Osmosis System

Reverse Osmosis System

North Mamallapuram Dalit School ~ this small school serves primary students from poor Dalit families. The two classrooms are very basic with cement floors and battered old wooden desks, yet made bright and welcoming by displays of the students' work. A reverse osmosis system has been installed to provide students and teachers with purified drinking water.

Reverse Osmosis System

Reverse Osmosis System

After 10+ years of constant use the reverse osmosis system in Salavankuppam required a complete overhaul. Working with Curt Degler of Save Int'l we provided funds for this much needed work and are happy to announce that the ro system is now providing clean, purified drinking water to the residents.

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Funds raised by the company JosephJoseph, through their participation in the annual summer “Color Run” in London, allowed us to construct this bore well and hand pump in Anna Nagar, India.

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Thanks to a generous grant from the Sonoma Women's Giving Circle, WBO worked with Save International to install a 150 ft well with hand pump in the rapidly expanding enclave known as Jeeva Nagar. The majority of newcomers are victims of what is known as “the illegal bonded labor segment” – the bonded laborers in this “labor segment” are perhaps best described as modern-day slaves.

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