SEED Madras

 

Projects Meeting Minutes

Date: Nov. 23, 2003

 

Melli: SEED background for new volunteers.

 

Karthi, volunteer from the Karumbalaya slum. Father is

a municipal sweeper. Ted Adams met Karthi and helped

in funding, and played the role of a mentor.

 

SEED children go to government schools. They are

alienated etc. SEED runs a tuition center that tries

to provide an environment where each child can explore

her full potential. The center runs several clubs

(drama, science etc.) which are very effective.

Children go on excursions, local temple, Kerala etc.

 

Study center caters to anyone who is interested, from

the slum. 160 odd children. 40 children are part of a

support a child program. Donors commit to supporting a

child through and through in their education.

 

Karthi's plan:

 

1. Training government teachers

2. Etc.

 

Proposal:

 

Support Karthi as a SEED coordinator in the short

term. Amount: Rs. 4000-5000 per month.

 

Issues with funding SEED, accounts etc.

 

Vote: To fund Rs. 4500 for SEED coordinator for 1

year.

 

Yes: 12

No:

Abstain:

 

Questions: What is his plan for the next year?

 

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Melli Annamalai

Email Note (from Ted Adams)

November 1st, 2001

 

I have said this before, I can't help saying it again.  This is the 3rd

SEED father to die of alcohol and the 5th to die in the time I have been

associated with SEED (about a year and a half).  The statistics are mind

boggling and heart-wrenching and show the pressures they face.  Its not

just a question of not going to school.

 

(the mail from Ted below was mainly addressed to American supporters

hence the explanations.  Selvi and Thandapani are Ambika's sister and

brother-in-law).

 

Melli

 

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Thought you'd want to know that Ambika's father died last night.  He

apparently put his wife's Deepavali bonus to the same use as he

regularly did with most of her salary, and the alcohol was just too

much this time.  (He's the 3rd SEED student's father to die that way

this year.)

 

Ambika's obviously shell-shocked - no sleep, and her emotions are all

tangled up.  Selvi & Thandapani came by overnight bus... being the

child most abused by father's demands, Selvi showed virtually no

emotion.  She's developed an inner strength that Ambika has yet to

find in herself, so I think it was helpful that a dozen of her SEED

female friends surrounded her as we waited for the corpse to be taken

from Karumbalai on a palanquin; several of them also walked her home

afterwards.  (Females aren't allowed to go beyond the neighborhood

boundary on the way to the cremation grounds.)

 

Beyond the immediacy of Ambika's turmoil and grief, we're all

concerned about her near-term future as well.  It's very possible

that her mother may decide to move to the Coimbatore area, where they

have relatives from her side of the family - as well as Selvi &

Thandapani - to help provide support (social and/or financial) for

them.  (Rumor has it that father had at least one other wife, not in

Madurai, so there's also a chance that his family here might not get

normal government death benefits.)  Ambika's been growing so

wonderfully as a person in the past couple of years that we'd dearly

miss being part of her support network if she were to go.  We'll see

how things shape up in the coming weeks, and if it seems necessary -

and right for Ambika - we might even look for a place for her to

continue to live here if her mother decides she needs to move

elsewhere.

 

I'll keep you posted as the situation begins to sort itself out.  For

now - Ted