FRIENDS OF METTUPALAYAM TRUST

REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1054673www.irdt.co.uk Facebook- Friends of Mettupalayam Community

February 2016Adele Eldridge Francis and Rosie Muncaster Hugo and Jean WelshThe Coach House The Rowans 16 The AvenueBainbridge Exelby HaxbyLEYBURN BEDALE YorkDL8 3EE DL8 2HF YO32 3EQ01969 650618 01677 425961 01904 769248

adeleeldridge@gmail.com fmuncaster@hotmail.com hugo.welsh@tiscali.co.uk In our last newsletter we mentioned the lack of monsoon rains- well we weren’t to know that Tamil Nadu was to suffer the heaviest rains in living memory, leading to severe flooding. As elsewhere, this has caused villagers in Mettupalayam terrible hardship and permanently damaged houses. An appeal for funds to help our community in India follows at the end of our normal update.

As usual, trustees have been visiting the project during January, undertaking the usual budget and finance reviews and looking at all aspects of IRDT’s work. This is a very special duty for us that is challenging but enjoyable. We are usually there when Venkat and family celebrate Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival. This is a very happy time, especially for the children, and celebrated very much like Christmas is at home. Who would have thought that painting Caramel’s horns would be so much fun! Ian and I ended up with almost as much paint on ourselves as on the cows’ horns!

School newsOur Crakehall School in Mettupalayam continues to provide a high quality and varied education to around 80 children, very much enhanced by visitors who all bring different skill sets to bear. Ian and Lynn have spent a month teaching English using phonics and were delighted that some of the children remembered learning those 3 years ago! Karen has recently returned from another visit, following one in October, and she has been helping Ramya with art and craft work. Ray has been painting doors and gardening, and also, with Karen, reviewing the progress in Serpakkam, see below.

All our UK volunteer visitors pay their own costs and also generally pay towards the project’s running expenses, and buy those little extras that the children so much enjoy. School trips are also much enjoyed and the educational aspects are beneficial. Recently, the 3rd standard children went to visit Vedantangal bird sanctuary, then on to visit our Nambikki School,

finally ending up at the seaside. Some of the children hadn’t seen the sea before, and they all really enjoyed paddling!Turning to our Nambikki School on the coast, our long standing head teacher, Thanigai, has now left to become a fortune-teller and priest! It is appropriate to thank him for his 9 years of service, and wish him well in his new career. Again, school numbers have fallen somewhat, partly due to smaller families and there are a similar number of pupils as at Crakehall School. The visit of pupils from Crakehall School, although brief, was really enjoyed by both sets of pupils, and firm friendships seemed to quickly develop. The children come from very different communities and have very different backgrounds and we hope to arrange more visits in future.Followers of our Facebook page will know that we have recently paid the first year college fees for a Mettupalayam girl, Renuga. She is the first girl from our village to undertake a B.Com degree and we will continue to support and encourage her in her studies. Our bursary fund is vital in helping keep children from poor families in education. We also run a homework club after school where secondary school pupils come to study and have help with any problems they may have. Recently, Jagadesh, one of Venkat’s nephews, has spent some time at the project and has been helping with maths, whilst Ian and Lynn have been helping with English.

Farm NewsOne benefit of the heavy monsoon rains this year is that there will be plenty of water! Irrigation is essential as the rains during non-monsoon periods are sporadic and generally very light. Venkat has planted around 11 acres of paddy so far, and this is well established and thriving. Farm work is an important source of income for the village women and Venkat always pays a better daily wage than his neighbours. We have also planted some groundnuts (peanuts) and a have a third year crop of sugarcane, which, although less vigorous than previously, will be harvested and sold through the Government sugar mill. During our visit, the guava fruit on the farm were harvested and much enjoyed by the children. Mangoes will be ripe around May. Our cow, a daughter of Bedale cow bought with funds donated by Bedale Primary School all those many years ago, is again in calf, her daughter, Caramel will be put into calf very shortly, and last year’s calf, Toffee is growing well.

Serpakkam project. You may recall that we arranged a health camp in this village over a year ago, and were shocked at the malnutrition and associated health problems that we found. This was evident in all of the villagers but especially so in the children. Many weren’t going to school and most families were only eating vegetables once or twice a week, relying on their government rice ration for the majority of their nutrition.We therefore decided to aim at three objectives- an improvement in diet, looking at

how we could improve healthcare and helping the children back into education. So for the last 15 months, we have been providing heavily subsidised vegetables each week, at least 5 varieties depending upon seasonality. In a typical week recently, for example, the villagers all received cabbage, onion, tomatoes, white

radish, beans and chow chow. We are encouraging the villagers to start their own vegetable gardens and we will provide seeds and advice during the growing season. Following a review, we are continuing support throughout the rest of this year and also continuing medical support. We will also continue to cook and serve meals here to around 18 mostly elderly people each day, and many more children are now regularly attending school. During Pongal, we also handed out new saris and lunghis to the elderly villagers.

Healthcare provisionOur very good Friend, Dr Paramasivam, continues to provide a weekly surgery in Mettupalayam, not just for the villagers but also for the expanding Kuruvi tribal community in nearby Pudunagar. Access to modern medicine is very difficult for many people in our project area, and they tend to rely on visits to their local priest, taking tribal medicines or visiting a local dispensary, where an unqualified “doctor” will prescribe whatever he has to sell that week! Whilst visiting over Pongal, most of the patients we saw visiting Dr Paramasivam were children with colds and fevers, or elderly patients with arthritic pain. Keeping a proper record sheet for each patient, recording height and weight, and monitoring medicine use all helps in assessing any ongoing health issues. Even Venkat benefits from Dr Paramasivam’s care and he is to have cataract operations on both eyes in the near future! Anand, Venkat’s son, does a magnificent job in raising and maintaining these record cards, his main problem being reading Dr P’s writing! Our Friend, Karen, came back from her October visit with Dengue fever! but she has made a full recovery and it didn’t put her off from visiting again. Venkat arranged for the village to be misted against the mosquito larvae and it was noticeable in January that there seemed to be very few around.

FLOOD APPEALWe seldom appeal directly for funds, being grateful that donor’s spontaneous generosity and our own events help to fund ongoing day-to-day activities. However, in common with several parts of the UK, before Christmas, our village in Tamil Nadu was badly affected by the heaviest monsoon floods in living memory. Unlike the UK however, our villagers don’t have any insurance cover, the local council don’t help with rehousing, there are no systems in place to provide help and assistance and they generally don’t have any savings or assets that they can call on in an emergency. The bulk of the flooding in Mettupalayam took place overnight when, following a continuous and torrential downpour, the overflow from the neighbouring lake, which is dry for most of the year, and which provides our cricket ground!, was unable to cope, causing the lake to flood many of the houses in the village.

This floodwater rose very quickly up to 2 ½ feet above floor level- you can imagine the problems caused, as villagers all sleep on mats on the floor! The next day, the bunds around the lake were deliberately breached in two places, rapidly lowering the lake level and avoiding any further flooding. It took many weeks for the flooded village to dry out, as the monsoon continued, and there are no village drains. With everywhere absolutely saturated, and no means of being able to cook food, Venkat and his team

provided emergency assistance, including food parcels and cots to the worst affected families, and this aid effort was helped by another Indian charity which one of our trustees is involved with. This assistance included not just Mettupalayam but also surrounding villages, the Kuruvi settlement and the tribal huts near our farmland.

During my visit in January, I was able to survey and inspect all of the houses in Mettupalayam that had been damaged, both the concrete houses and also the traditional, mud walled and palm leaf roofed ones. These latter houses can be repaired fairly quickly and at minimum expense. The occupants are mainly the elders of the village who have given up their concrete houses to their married children. Many of these elderly villagers exist on their monthly pension of 1000Rps (£10) and every school day we provide midday meals for 18. They also have access to good healthcare.

Turning to the concrete houses, these were provided by the government around 25 years ago, and many have suffered damage to a greater or lesser degree. Out of the 45 or so such houses, there are 20 houses that are now in a very poor state. Mostly, this shows in badly cracked walls, especially along the roof line, and damaged rooves and ceilings. Partly this has occurred over the years as the iron bar reinforcements have rusted and swelled, but this was exacerbated by the flooding and water ingress. Sadly, two villagers were hurt by falling concrete during the night, but I am happy to report that their stay in hospital was brief and they are now both ok. It is only through

good fortune that more villagers, including pupils at our Crakehall School and the state secondary schools weren’t also hurt in this way. Deterioration in the situation will however, continue until the problems are addressed.

We therefore feel that it is imperative that a start is made resolving these problems-both strengthening the walls and reroofing. We will also look at lifting the floor levels so that future monsoon rains don’t enter the living spaces. We plan to start on 8 houses as soon as the villagers themselves have prioritised those most in need and Venkat has assessed the cost at around 125000Rps per house, c£1300 at current exchange rates. So we estimate first stage cost at £10500. With

deferring the rest of the repairs until funds are available, we estimate that total funding requirement will reach around £30000. Fairly obviously, the sooner we can undertake all these repairs, the lower the total cost will be, as Indian inflation generally runs around 8% each year.Longer term, we are looking at improving the overflow drainage from the lake and planning some civil engineering work to create a safer channel for the water to take. This will entail working with the local Panchayat (council) as we will need permission to create a seasonal watercourse along Government land to the next lake, away from any habitation.

It is worth mentioning that most of the villagers earn their living working on the land doing seasonal labour and taking part in the Governments Rural Employment Scheme, which guarantees 100 days’ work each year at 100Rps/day (£1) supplemented by owning herds of goats or sheep, or keeping cattle for milk. Livestock is taken out into the fields to graze each day. Most villagers have very few possessions and many have bank loans taken out through the Governments loan scheme and used to purchase their livestock. Living hand to mouth, and with no savings, they have to cope as best as they can.

Should you feel able to help with a donation, please make cheques payable to Friends of Mettupalayam and send direct to our treasurer, Chris Riding, Violet Bank, Cumwhitton, BRAMPTON, Cumbria CA9 8ER indicating whether we can also claim Gift Aid. Please also share this with family and friends, and if you require more information please email or telephone Hugo on the above number. We are also happy to publicise any fundraising events that you may wish to organise.

UK NewsIt is particularly important to us that our charitable work not only benefits communities in India but also here in the UK. We are therefore delighted to be able to educate and inform through school visits, talks and at craft fairs etc. We have links with many schools and offer specially prepared PowerPoint shows using some of the many thousands of photographs taken over the years. Some schools choose to support our work financially, such as Bedale High School who donate a very generous £1000 to our Nambikki School each year. Others offer places at Christmas and Summer Fairs where we can sell our Indian goods and handmade Christmas decorations. We also mention our Facebook page fairly regularly! We now have 249 followers, and if you are one of these, please do feel free to share our posts with your family and friends. If you haven’t taken a look yet, please do, we try to post once or twice each week with news and interesting photographs, both from India and at home. Finally, a reminder that every penny we receive into our account here, is received in India, with no deductions or charges, thanks to the generosity of our bank, NatWest, who waive any transaction charges, and to our trustees, who cover all UK expenses.

Thank you all for your support and for your interest, we wish that we could take you all over to meet the wonderful people in Mettupalayam that you so generously help. Perhaps our newsletters and posts give you some flavour of how much is being achieved.