Ram: Here is the site visit report folks.  let me know what you think. 

I had promised Asha-MIT folks that I would conduct a site visit for the (Non-Formal Education) NFE center run by this organization (Welfare Association for the Rural Masses) WARM in the Tiruvannamalai (TVM) district in Tamil Nadu, India. I had talked to Mr. Rajavelu, the contact person in WARM, through phone earlier in the week and had let him know that I would probably be visiting them the coming weekend.

I took a bus to from the Majestic bus stand in Bangalore on Aug 31 (Saturday) at 7:30 in the morning. It was a 5 hour journey and the bus went through Hosur, Krishnagiri and Chengam. I reached the TVM bus stand around 1 and I ate lunch at the Akash hotel right in front of the bus stand. I called up Mr. Rajavelu from the public booth and he came and picked me up in a Mahindra jeep that belonged to WARM. That gave me an impression that this organization was quite big and well funded to have a jeep and a driver. He took me directly to a hotel where he had already booked an A/C room for me. I was not at all keen on taking up the room but he kept insisting that I should. I should have been more forceful but I was not. Probably after a long journey and the heat (yes TVM was hot) my defenses were weak. In any case he picked the room and dropped in the room and he stepped out to have lunch while I waited in the room. I was quite pissed with myself for accepting this situation but I did not want to make a scene.

He took me to the WARM office in TVM where the rest of the employees of WARM were waiting for me. It was quite obvious that they had gathered essentially for me and they had bought a garland and all. It was extremely uncomfortable for me. After the usual clapping and stuff each employee of WARM (around 15 of them) told me what they were working on. Almost all of them were involved in running Self-Help Groups (SHG) for women in the TVM district. I guess WARM has some good govt. funding to operate these SHGs. Also, there are some Dutch agencies who fund WARM. I did not have time to go through their entire funding sources and I had no intention either. I was quite keen on going and meeting the actual beneficiaries of these efforts. WARM was also running one center for child labourers. It was essentially a place where these kids can come and relax and do some learning etc. Most of the employees were graduates and some of them were even post-graduates. One had done an M.Com and B.Ed and another M.A. in Tamil. On an average they were earning Rs.1500 to Rs.2000 per month through WARM. They all said this was the full-time and only paying job. Amongst them was Ms. Samundi, the teacher of the NFE supported by Asha-MIT. When it was her turn to speak I could see that she was very tense. I introduced myself as an Asha volunteer and though I did not mention anything about US, Mr. Rajavelu did not fail to mention that I used to live in the US before. I think from the next time I am not even going to mention to the co-ordinator I had anything to do with the US. If asked how do I know Asha-MIT or Asha-SV, I am going to answer that it is through Asha-Bangalore. I see the reactions being totally different once they learn that I used to live in the US. First, they are too eager to provide me the maximum comfort (physically) and that makes me uncomfortable and next they expect that I would be the source of unlimited funds. I gave a picture of Asha in the US as mainly a student run effort where each volunteer struggles really hard to collect a dollar in donations. I also did not fail to mention all these activities are done totally out of volunteer time. Even Mr. Rajavelu was not very clear what kind of an organization Asha was and I hope he has more clarity now. I also mentioned about Sandeep and how he has got the Magsaysay award now and how his speeches have created a lot of controversy now. They were not much aware of Asha’s happenings, we should probably invite some of them for the next Asha meet in India.

We then left for the NFE center. Since the children come to that place only around 6 in the evening we decided we would visit other activities of WARM. We went in the jeep and I was accompanied by Rajavel, the driver, Samundi and a couple of other employees. We had an interesting discussion in the jeep. They were are all very curious about the US and wanted to know things like agricultural patterns, food preferences etc. Of course they had heard about the WTC thing and they asked where I was then. Samundi had some good questions to ask. She asked me why the exchange rate between the dollar and rupee fluctuates, for which I did not have a clear answer. She asked about poverty in the US and what was the life of poor people were like there. They were all very amused when I said that the main farming activity is to rear cows and for eating them. Some of them were under the impression that eating cows retards mental growth! I told them I didn’t see any such effect on the Americans but there are health problems with excessive dependence on red meat.

We reached Chengam, and we visited a center run by WARM that functions as a special coaching class for poor girls who have failed to clear the Xth std exams. Chengam is a town and girls in villages around that area come to this place. One girl cycles around 12km one way to reach this place. Most of them come by bus. It is a whole day thing and the girls seem very happy with the functioning. They say that with this kind of coaching they would have easily cleared their exams. They said that the schools did not teach most of the stuff. Almost all of them had failed in English and surprisingly a majority of them had failed in Tamil also. When I inquired about this they said that things like grammar were never tought properly at school and that is the reason they failed. The girls were not shy at all and they seemed quite spirited and joked about how strict the teacher was here in the center and how they had an easy time in school. But they agreed that they needed this discipline. I asked them in general what they intended to do after they finished the Xth. One girl said she would go to college and then become a nurse or a teacher. When I asked her if she would do a better job than her school teachers she was certain about it. I hope that turns out to be true. Overall the girls seemed very aware and were quite vocal. They in fact complained to Rajavel that there was no water in the toilet and asked him to get it fixed. He got very angry with those people responsible for running the place. So I assumed that if there were any complaints about the teaching they would have voiced it. They seemed to be happy with the way things were going. I asked Rajavel what was the pass percentage among those who were coached and he said it was around 70%. I will visit this place again next time too. I would like to see if the same girls are around and want to ask them about their progress. The teacher of this place is the M.Com (B.Ed) guy. It seems even for these coaching centers B.Ed (a degree in Education) was compulsory and it is now very difficult to get a B.Ed. Anyway, he inquired about the job prospects in the US and mentioned that he was ‘un-employed’ and asked me if I could find a job for him.

From there we went to the old-age home run by WARM in the Arattavadi village. WARM has some land here where they have planted peanuts. The produce of this land is used for running the home. The home is being funded by HelpAge India. Of all the places I visited this was the most depressing. The state of aged even in well to do sections of society is quite sad, you can then imagine the plight of aged poor. They have been abandoned by their families and they come to this center for their afternoon food. They were complaining all the time and Mr. Rajavel did not like it at all. He wanted to present a very sanitized version and he chastized them for treating a guest like this! I found the whole thing very uncomfortable. I realized that it is a very difficult task to run an old age home for the poor. I also realized that Rajavel had a short temper and could be harsh when he is angry. They essentially complained that they were getting food only one time a day at the center (that was what it was planned for) and they wanted food for 3 times and they also wanted better medical attention. I feel their situation is quite hopeless, when even young and able-bodied people have such a difficult time what can the old do? As I mentioned earlier it was quite depressing.

I also had a discussion with the women’s Self Help Group (SHG) of the Arattavadi village at the old age center. It was quite an interesting experience. The women showed me their bank account book and their register. The SHG seems to have really helped them in the last two years. Along with the SHG is a micro-finance scheme and these women now don’t have to go to the money-lenders anymore. They said earlier they had to borrow money from the money-lenders for every occasion. They mentioned that even when there was a death the body could be cremated only after borrowing money from the lender. Now they are sort of self sufficient. They borrow from the group and return it back with normal interest rates. They have also been given loans by the government and they have bought cows with that money and are able to raise some money out of some dairy activity. Again the women were very vocal and aware. I noticed that all of them where from the same caste and I asked them about that. The said the villages themselves were divided along caste lines and so the SHGs were more or less homogenous caste wise. I asked them if they had any issues with including members from another caste for which they said no. When different SHGs meet together, they said, they interact with other castes anyway. But I have a feeling that this is not the reality. The caste feeling seems to be very strong in these villages. They have completely different parts in the village for different castes and there is very little social interaction between them. Only economic interaction happens. Somehow nothing seems to break this barrier. I asked them about any opposition to their activities from the men folk and they narrated a very interesting story. They were emboldened enough to think of placing their senior most member in the local panchayat (village council). So she had filed the nominations for the election. The men folk were furious. They had already received 10,000 Rs. from another candidate of a different caste and had assured that candidate she would be elected un-opposed (see how local democracy works here). They threatened the SHG and imposed a fine on that woman for filing a nomination without their permission. Under extreme pressure, even her own son opposed her and almost came to beat her, she withdrew the nomination. But these women did not give up just like that. They filed a FIR for all the threats and the police arrested the men and they had to pay bail etc. The women seem to be very pleased about this. They feel even though they did not succeed that time the men are taking them much more seriously. I asked them, apart from the money part, did they see any benefit out of these SHGs. They were very certain about the benefits. They feel they are much more aware and as a group they are taken more seriously also and they feel a definite improvement in their lives in the last couple of years. When I asked what they think would make their lives even better they feel they need more economic activity like pickle making or packaging of idli flour etc. They have the ideas but still don’t have the courage (and probably economic security) to go ahead and give it a shot. They expect the government or an NGO to help them in this. Anyway, I felt all this was very positive and WARM did have a role in it. They felt WARM had really campaigned well for setting up the SHGs initially when the women were quite reluctant. They are thankful to WARM for this to have happened.

We then left Arattavadi. Incidentally, Rajavel lives in Arattavadi with his wife and son. His son goes to a school in Chengam. I was impressed with that fact. Arattavadi is a proper village unlike T.V.Malai which is a town. WARM has an office in T.V.Malai and I think Rajavel has a house there too and he lives in both places. From Arattavadi we went to the Naradapattu village where the NFE center funded by Asha-MIT is located.

Naradapattu is located in a very remote area. The roads from Arattavadi are quite bad and the last 3 kms has no road at all. When I first joined Asha 5 years back I had imagined this kind of a village where Asha schools would be run. I was disappointed when I found out that most places were actually urban or semi-urban localities. So when our jeep entered Arattavadi I was quite kicked that I was in some way helping these people. Arratavadi has two rows of houses, two streets, and around 70-80 families live in them. It is again populated with the people of the same caste (some MBC) and all are agricultural labourers. There is electricity in the village with two sodium vapour street lamps providing light to most of the houses. I saw one of the houses had tapped the line from the street lamp and even had a TV in their house! Must be the head of that village. The village is on the edge of agricultural lands and they call the land outside ‘kaadu’ (forest in Tamil). You would expect a jungle but it is more like wasteland where no agriculture is possible. While the adults go out to do agriculture work (if the drought persists this year it seems they would have to migrate to towns and cities in search of employment) they send their children to the ‘kaadu’ to graze their cattle and goats. Also there is no school in the village. The nearest school is where the pucca road ends, in the previous village. It is a long 3-4km walk and during rainy season quite an ordeal for anyone to walk those 3kms let alone children. There are small ponds on both sides of the road and the parents are afraid their children might drown in them. I think the NFE is a definite necessity in this place until they can have a proper school.

It was around 6 and Samundi, Rajavel and I went to the NFE. It is part of a house and is just a small room. (I looked up the records when I came back and I see there is a charge for rent, next time I would make sure whom they are paying this rent to). There is a sign board in the front mentioning that it is sponsored by Asha-MIT (sorry I did not take a camera, mine is too big and makes everyone conscious. I have been thinking of buying a small digital camera). Inside there is a board, a light and a cupboard. There is a desk and a chair for the teacher, the students sit on the floor. The room has no windows. I wonder why they build rooms like this in the villages with no ventilation. Is it because of insects? Samundi is the daughter of a landlord (owns around 15 acres) in the neighbouring village. She comes to the NFE by cycle. I guess either the villages are safer or it is just that she is very courageous. Cycling back 4 kms in that road in dark is not something many of us would do. She said her cycle has a dynamo light. She has studied upto 12^th std and has done some diploma in computers and also a diploma in agricultural studies in Chengam. She initially joined WARM for just taking up a job but now she feels quite motivated about working for the community like this. She seems very dedicated and reasonably intelligent. She is quite kind with the children and at the same time firm. I could see that she likes teaching kids. While we waited the children trooped in one by one. They stood in front of the door with folded arms and asked ‘may-I-come-in’. When I asked them what that meant they did not know but they knew that they had to say that before they entered and also had to wait till the teacher said yes. They were all really tiny and when I saw the register I could not believe these were 10-16 year old children. When I asked Rajavel he said they did not grow well due to poor nutrition, but still it was hard to believe. I looked through the register and instead of calling names and I just remembered some of them and when I was interacting with the children found out whether they were present. Most of them were there except for a couple of older kids. The children are in NFE 1^st stage that is 1^st to 3^rd std. They are in different ages and different learning capabilities. But something is being taught at this center definitely. Some of the children can read, write and do some basic arithmetic quite well.

A name in the register disturbed me. There were two girls with the name ‘venda’ which means unwanted in Tamil. Samundi said it was basically that the parents did not want any more children that is why they kept this name. I could not accept that, it is more likely that these were unwanted girl children. The village almost borders the notorious Dharmapuri district known for its female infanticide. I think Asha has a responsibility in this village to address this issue. In any case both the Venda girls are amongst the brightest in class (how ironical) along with one Selvi (she seems very bright). Also two boys A.Suresh and G.Suresh are good. I had a dictation of simple Tamil words and all these got all right. There were more reasonably good ones and some bad. The bad ones were almost toddlers, so I guess it is not too bad. Though they have an English book none of them know how to read English. Though they can recite some English poems. Selvi recited Bharathiyar’s ‘Senthamizh Nadennum Pothenile’ and I was very moved. All my Tamil patriotic sensibilities were aroused and here I was sitting in the heartland of Tamil Nadu doing work which makes me feel so proud. I was emotionally all worked up and I struggled not to make a fool of myself in front of these folks. In any case, I feel the NFE is reasonably well run. I plan to visit it more often during the course of this year and track the children’s progress. Selvi was listed as 16 years old and I was sure she could not be more than 10. They had written down the ages whatever the parents have mentioned and I am sure those are not accurate. Samundi assured me that these errors would be rectified. It seems the ration cards have ages that might be more accurate. She would do some work on this and get it corrected. I should verify this on my next trip.

We let Samundi continue her classes and stepped out to meet the SHG formed in this village with the help of WARM. Here the women were obviously poorer than the previous group that I met. Their bank balance also indicated that. They were poor agricultural labourers and they have not yet received any financial assistance from the government. It seems they had left 4000 Rs. in the savings account and did not rotate the money amongst themselves. So the SHG committee decided they did not know what to do with the money and did not grant the loan. Rajavel pointed out their mistake and they all agreed they would be careful next time and would try and get the loan. Rajavel is a very good communicator and he seems to work well with people. I spent a lot of time chatting with these women and some of their main issues are : better road to the village, more electrical points (I am sure all this is unpaid for, I am not very sure how the electricity board can sustain these operations), a school in the village and a separate bore-well for the village. I had taken up the school issue actively with Rajavel. He plans to meet the collector of that district (Diraj Kumar) and try and get a school under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme. I told him if possible I will also accompany him when he visits the collector. The SHG group also plans to meet the collector. I asked them why they did not mention these issues during the last election. They were quite pessimistic that the MLAs would do anything at all, but they still go and vote either for ADMK or DMK as a matter of course! We then touched upon the gender issue and Rajavel told them that he had heard that there was a case of female infanticide. They all denied vociferously but there were some contradictions in what they said. As I suspected this village definitely needs assistance in this. I hope the formation of these SHGs would be a positive change in this regard. We were having the meeting sitting down on the street and the men were curious on lookers who butted in as and when necessary. When I asked the women if the men provided support or where a nuisance (‘Adharava ellai thondharava’, Rajavel and I were surprised at my poetic questioning) they said the men just left them alone for now. They also felt the SHG helps them in many ways, they now meet every week and can talk without fear outside their homes. They feel much more empowered. I asked what their family size was and some of the women had 4 to 5 children. They seemed defensive and retorted that they were not ashamed of it! I somehow feel this whole population issue has been abandoned after the ‘Emergency’ era excesses by the NGO folks. When we talk about sustainability how can an ever increasing population be sustainable in any way. Yes, population is not the cause of all problems but it also cannot be ignored completely.

It was late by the time we finished and I was quite keen on spending the night at the village itself. But Rajavel was insistent that I went back to the hotel room. I got a feeling that he thought I could not handle it. I am determined that the next time I would spend the night in the village. We dropped Samundi on our way back and she invited us for dinner which was turned down by Rajavel L . Since it was a long ride back to TVM I offered that I would take a bus from Chengam instead of them coming back to drop me. As it was late the offer was gladly taken and I took the bus back to TVM. I was quite tired and I went off to sleep early. I got up early in the morning and did not know what to do. So I visited the famous Arunachala temple of Shiva. The temple is quite big, I am not sure how old it is. I made an attempt to find more information as to who built it and when etc and I was not successful. The queue to the main deity was way too long and I did not feel like waiting. I just went around the temple and came back.

I got bored waiting for Mr. Rajavel’s call and I walked to the WARM office myself. I met some of the employees there and had some interesting discussions with them. One guy who has finished his M.A.in Tamil wanted to do B.Ed. to become a teacher. But the seats are limited and he could not. He comes from a village and has worked hard to get his M.A. He seems dedicated and feels there are several reasons why teaching quality at schools has deteriorated. Class strength, teacher accountability and general deterioration of public responsibility was his reasons. He was 26 years old and seems to manage with the 2000 he gets from WARM. He says his younger brother is going to polytechnic and paying for him puts a burden, otherwise he would manage. I was amazed at the disparity levels in India. This guy can manage with 2000 a month and some of us get a high multiplier of that! I spent a couple of hours with the rest of the employees to get an overall idea about WARM. I met Rajavel after that and then left for Bangalore by bus.

Overall, WARM is definitely a ‘professional’ NGO. They get lot of funding from overseas funding agencies and the government itself. It is one of the nodal agencies in TVM and several government programmes are executed through it. Rajavel is a good communicator and he has a good rapport with the local community. He does not feel strongly about being simple and cost-effective I think. He put me up in a hotel and insisted that he would pay for it! They had a jeep (which might be necessary I think considering the areas they cover) and he also has a motor bike. He seems to manage the employees well. The employees are a mixed crowd. Some are dedicated and like to do this work, others are working because there is no other better option. I am satisfied with the delivery though. Wherever I went the people who benefit from these activities seemed to have been benefited.

For the NFE in specific, I think it is definitely a thing Asha should continue. I would pursue the issue of a govt. school in Naradapattu. We have not sent them money for this year. I think we should. Try and negotiate to pay only for the teacher’s salary and try and leave out the co-ordinators salary and see what Rajavel has to say. I also questioned him about the co-ord. salary and did not get a convincing reply. He has also handed me a proposal for such NFEs in surrounding villages. I told him I have to visit those villages before I send these proposals. For 5 centers the money comes to around 2,63,000 Rs.

So the next steps would be to pay the money for the NFE for the next 6 months (sans probably the co-ord salary!). I will visit the other villages for the new NFEs (to see if there is actually a need). I also want to pay more attention to see if the money is used effectively in the next visit. In this visit I actually concentrated more on the functioning of the organization rather than the accounting aspects.