Maathamma’s sharing their story

Maathamma’s sharing their story, originally uploaded by samjchar.

Me and two of the Maathamma Project Coordinators

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Me and two of the Maathamma Project Coordinators, originally uploaded by samjchar.

inside a Maathamma temple

Inside Maathamma temple, originally uploaded by samjchar.

Girl Child Programme… Maathamma

Maathamma, originally uploaded by samjchar.

And in amongst the middle of all this other project work and Tamil lessons, I spent 5 days up on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu visiting and observing some of the work that the Diocese are doing with Maathammas ( Temple Prostitutes) or otherwise known as the girl child programme. This area is incredibly isolated. Many of the people inhabiting the villages are illiterate and spend a lot of their time struggling to make ends meet.

The girl child programme is presently a delicate education initiative that will hopefully eventuate into a self help / training initiative. Presently within this border district, sick girl children are dedicated to the local village Hindu Goddess Maathamma in the hope that the Goddess will cure what ails their child. If the baby girl does get better, then as thanks to the Goddess, the girl upon reaching puberty is married / dedicated to the Goddess Maathamma and becomes available for any man to use for sex.

Now whilst this practise has been outlawed by the Andhra Pradesh Government numerous times, there is not a lot that can be done because this is part of the Hindu religion.

For five days I visited and sat with people who had incredible and horrific stories to tell that were all experienced in the name of religion.

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Adopt a Gran Programme

Adopt a Gran Programme, originally uploaded by samjchar.

Another important program is the Adopt a Gran program

The Adopt a Gran program began in 2002. It was started as a way to support the elderly citizens who have either been neglected or abandoned by their children. Some of the elderly that benefit from this program live on the streets with no family support. Others due to the monetry and food support from such a program, have been able to stay at home with their family.

Presently this program is providing for 107 elderly members… Each is provided with 500 rupees ($15)and a bag of rice a month and access to free monthly medical check ups.

Preschool Program for 2-5 year olds

Day Care Centre for 2-5 year olds in a rural village, originally uploaded by samjchar.

Another of the projects that I have spent quite a bit of time with is the Pre School program

The aim of the Preschools is to provide quality education, health care and nutritious food for needy children aged from 2-5 years old from poor rural villages. Most of the parents of the children attending the preschools are daily labourers. With both parents needing to work to provide for the family there is no one at home during the day to look after the children… these day preschools allow the parents to work and for the children to be fed and cared for in a nuturing and educational environment.

At the moment there are 37 existing preschools each catering to 25 children around the Diocese. Some are functioning out of church buildings but others in some of the more rural and poorer villages meet daily in bamboo huts. Each Pre school employs one teacher and one cook.

Most of the children attending these programs have very little and some nothing at all. They live and sleep in the only clothes that they have. So one very practical way to support programs such as this is to provide money for uniforms. Apart from providing the children with another set of clothes in case they soil themselves, having a uniform that is cleaned weekly is healthier and cleaner.

Update… board of women’s concerns

Adopt a Gran Programme, distrubution Day, originally uploaded by samjchar.

Hi…. I know I have been a little slack lately

Sorry!!!

This is actually part of a letter that I distributed at a Curry evening that was recently held to raise money for some of the projects that I have been working on…

I hope that you are all well…. and if you are happening to read this as part of the Curry Evening on Saturday 15th September then I wish to say first a really BIG thank you …for taking time out to come and support me and the work that the Church of South India is doing with the urban and rural poor.

So far my experiences in South India have been amazing and at times overwhelming. There have been times of joyous celebration and times of heart breaking despair. And yet the spirit of the people of the culture and of the place that is India inevitably moved me to act, to respond and to engage.

I have been incredibly fortunate to spend my time meeting and working alongside some of the most gracious and self less people that I know and I have seen the gospel lived out over and over again in vibrant living colour. My time in India has definitely been life changing… in many ways… And I will miss it dreadfully when I go. But one thing that my time here has taught me is that I am an incredibly fortunate to have the love care and support of my family and friends. Thank you all of you, for all your emails, letters, prayers, care packages, money and phone calls. All your generosity has been rather overwhelming.

I hope that you all have a great evening… Thank you to my wonderful friends who organised this night and to all those who provided food and support… I really am rather jealous that I can’t be with you to share in the fun… (I hope that at least a couple of you might try eating with your hand in true Indian style.)

To get you all a little up to date below is an account of some of the work that I have been doing over the past two to three months.

For the last little while I have been working with and observing the role of the Board of Women’s Concerns in the Diocese of Madras.

The Board of Women’s Concerns provides services and support for women young and old and children among the urban and rural poor. The aim of the board is to enrich the role of the woman to actualise the kingdoms values of justice, peace, equality and dignity of women in family, church and community.

The Board of Women’s Concern is divided into 5 departments Pre schools, Bible Women, Bethany centre, Counselling centre and Women’s Fellowship.

A large part of my time with the board has been divided between visiting some of the local projects and programs and spending time with the social workers and gaining an understanding of how the board focus’s its time and energy, what its priorities are and how the social workers engage with the wider church community on a daily basis.

The Counselling Centre

The counselling centre began in 2000 in response to the growing number of women reporting abuse, being abandoned by their husbands or exhibiting social and psychological problems due to issues in the home.

Situated on site at the Diocese office this centre provides various kinds of help to women and their families in distress eg medical and psychiatric care, educational assistance, legal guidance, police referrals, job placement services, financial assistance and referral services.

Short Stay Home

As part of the counselling services the board in 2002 began a short stay home (Bethany home) that provides immediate shelter for women girls and children in distress. The majority of the women that stay at the home are either battered and abused by their Husbands or have been diagnosed with mental Health Issues. But the home also provides support and care for unwed mothers, school drop outs, young women that have been abandoned by their husbands or family and young women that have been victims of dowry burns.

Currently the Bethany home caters for 8 women and one child. It employs one house mother and a cook. The short stay home provides the women with basic facilities including food, accommodation, medical and psychiatric help, pre and post natal care, and skills training so they can learn to support themselves.

The Bethany Short Stay home has been one place that I have come to spend quite a bit of time getting to know the women staying there, sharing stories and teaching basic English.

The Bethany short stay home is part of the Bethany Centre.

The Bethany centre was started in 1994 with a vision to help street children and unemployed women of all ages who live in extreme poverty… The objective of the Bethany Centre was and still is to empower women who live below the poverty line to be independent, self respecting women.

Alongside providing short stay accommodation for women needing a place to stay the Bethany centre also provides life skills based programs, tuition for street children, night school facilities for the elderly and tailoring tuition.

The Bethany Centre runs 2 important programs for the local street dwellers. From 10am to 3pm the centre runs a daily programme for many of the elderly street dwellers that includes a meal, social interaction and shelter during the day from the hot sun. And then from the time school finishes they provide a kind of after school care programme including school tuition for most of the local streets kids whose parents are working.

What were they thinking!

IMG_1941, originally uploaded by samjchar.

Don’t go there… its not worth it!

observations

these are either random thoughts or observations tht are worthy of comment…

• You don’t line up here for anything! As I have discovered time and time again if you try waiting in line politely, all you end up doing is waiting… the key is to use your elbows and push your way through or stand right behind the person in front of you and I mean right behind… there is no such thing here as personal space!
• I have discovered that I am not so small after all!! In fact at times I have felt almost hulking! and large!. It has been a rather strange and uncomfortable experience to tower over some one who is of similar age…
• There is no such thing as a street directory here in India. If you want to go some where and you dont know where you are going… you ask… and ask… and ask. Most directions are given in relation to landmaks. So auto drivers will often stop two or three times to find out exactly where their destination is… and they ask anyone…. the local tea street vendor, another auto driver, a man sitting on the motorbike next to you in the middle of the traffic… eventually you will get there! So rather than telling some one that I live at 226 Cathedral Road… I often tell them that I live at the church/cathedral next to the American Embassy, opposite Woodlands Drive in (a restaurant that you can have a meal in your car and is know by just about everyone) .
• There is a very differnt level of hygene and cleanliness here in India. As I have mentioned before in my emails people litter all the time both inside the home and outside. Where I am staying at the moment there is a cleared area of sandy dirt  right outside the front door of the guest house and goes for about 50 meters. Beyond the sand there are low lying thick bushes and shrubbs. And just beyond the initial bushes and shrubs is the area where our cleaner every day goes and deposits the garbage from the guest house. 
• People do all manner of things on the side of the road… from sleeping, spitting or going to the toilet to selling things….. fruit, furniture, motor bike helmets….  I think the oddest thing that I have seen is all the bright coloured inflatable pool toys and chairs that are being sold on the side of the highway on the way to the airport. What on earth is someone going to do with a bright pink inflatable chair in the shape of a panda in India I ask you?!!!

do rae me…

Was reading the newspaper yesterday and I came across this add in the classifieds…

Christian Governess

Required for a Christian family to groom up their 8 yr old boy, studying in second standard of a reputed school. Should have appropriate training in child psychology or at least have seen the ” Sound of music” once. Handsome renumeration with boarding and lodging offered for the right candidate…

I am not kidding you….

Do you think as part of the interview they would ask you to sing a couple of the songs?