History
Year 2009
Extension of Tribal School at Wayanad
During the year 2008-2009 Paadhai started working with a local NGO called Wayanad Girijana Seva Trust to extend a tribal school by the name of Vivekananda Tribal Residential School. This school offers education to school drop outs and apart from that it also imparts knowledge to them knowledge and training on life skills. Paadhai has supported them by extending the school with 2 more classrooms, furniture as well as a toilet block and septic tank.
It is also in the process of obtaining funds from a corporate to provide the school with a laboratory, vocational training center and library. The school has shown remarkable progress in terms of growth of students over the past 5 years since its inception in 2005. the growth has been slightly in excess of 50%. The current strength of students with classes ranging from 1st to 9th standard is 211. It started with only 50.
Year 2008
Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR)
Paadhai evaluated the possibilities of supporting mental health needs in the Dalit villages
wherein it is already actively involved with various other activities. A group of mental
health professionals made a site visit and around 50 kids were examined. Most kids evaluated
had one or the other mental ailments: cerebral palsy, speech delay, poor academic skills,
mental retardation, microcephaly, down’s syndrome and dependency in daily activities. The
initial assessments indicated an urgent need for rehabilitation in this community.
Paadhai intends to work on community based rehabilitation (CBR) in these villages.
This would entail a two-step process involving - identifying the right NGO with CBR
background and implementation of CBR in concert with the NGO in the above community.
Shencottah Block
With the intention to get involved in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and knowing its
immediate requirements as per its initial assessments in some of the villages, Paadhai is
working closely with Amar Seva Sangam, a NGO that is keenly involved in rehabilitative
programs. Project Shencottah Block, initiated in April 2008, aims to cover CBR under the
following heads:
Medical Rehabilitation: This includes home visits and medical camps. In this ongoing
program, physically disabled are identified and rehabilitated by trained physiotherapists.
Early intervention programs for kids of 0-5 years of age are screened for medical conditions
like childhood disorders or any such condition that may need surgery.
Awareness Programs: Programs conducted for various groups include school children, beedi
workers, self help groups (SHG) and anganwadi workers and general public (through wall
posters and advertisements). 28 self help groups have been trained under this program.
Each group has its savings account to ensure sustenance. About eight SHG are rated by
Block development officers as a part of the monitoring process.
Paadhai is keenly involved in funding and execution of these ongoing programs.
Year 2007
Paadhai worked closely with an Associate NGO called FAME. FAME is a Bangalore-based NGO
working on rehabilitation and empowerment of mentally challenged kids and young adults.
Having moved to a new campus and equipped adequate infrastructure to support more kids,
FAME was looking for sponsors for a section of kids who could not afford the basic operating
costs. The global network of Paadhai responded swiftly to this call and around 22 kids were
sponsored for the year 2007.
Year 2006
Paadhai worked closely with an associate NGO called Anawim. It works in Dalit villages
to set up Education centres. These education centres have been set up at Thoppur,
Selvarajpuram and karanbanvillay. The aim was to offer land, building, basic training
material and teaching assistance for three years. A micro credit program with the women of
the same village was initiated which would ensure the continuation of salaries for teachers
after three years. While construction for the new education Center was on, Paadhai had
organized a rented place for temporary functioning of the center.