Asha-Detroit Meeting Minutes - 11 June 2006

Attendees
Sai, Vikram, Latha, Deepak A, Smita, Priya, Annam, Sreeraj, Sahai, Ramya, Suresh

Minutes

0. Special Items

-- Announcement: Sandeep Pandey Talk, June 18. (3:00 pm Sunday, June 18, 2006, International Center, 3rd floor). Please refer to an email posted to the group earlier this week.

-- WAH website: Please visit the following website and read through the proposals (as many as possible)

http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Events/WAH/WAH06/proposals/wahdatabase.html

We will discuss our support for a specific project next meeting

-- Basketball event for under 15: A new volunteer, Abhishek Thiyagarajan and his parents will take lead in organizing an under-15 3-on-3 basketball event in September. Details will be available later this Summer.

1. ARC proposal

Tsunami rehabilitation proposal from Bharathi Trust. Please see the attachment below. The proposal is to construct low-cost housing for 25 families in one of four villages affected by Tsunami in the Irula project area.

The chapter voted in favor of the proposal. Question to be communicated to ARC -- why only one of the four villages? What is the plan for the other three?

2. 5K Walk/Run (August 19, Belle Isle)

   -- Prizes are for top 3 male and top 3 female.
   -- New Balance will be sposor Bibs.
   -- Obtain PSD file from Vijay. Sai will modify the flyer with sponsor information.
    -- Prizes: New Balance might sponsor. Explore the potential for prizes for under 15.


Publicity:
   -- Latha and Deepak: University of Michigan
   -- Deepak: Oakland University, Foods of India, Ann Arbor
   -- Radio Advt: Need to work out the details of the Ad.
   -- Websites: runnersworld.com, runmichigan.com,miindia.com (main page)
   -- Send the flyer to asha-detroit-general and wider mailing list
   -- post-race refreshments: still open (panera and hotbreads)
   -- Suchi: Wayne State university

Timing Clock: approximate amount is $100.

Help needed:
   -- All: If you are members of sports and recreational centers please post the flyer on the premises. The flyer is available on the web at:
http://www.ashanet.org/detroit/Events/5K2006/files/5k_flyer_color.pdf

Volunteers for Belle Isle facility fee-tradeoff: Requires one to volunteer 4 hrs of Belle Isle park service. We need 4 more volunteers. Currently available volunteers: Sai, Vikram, Latha, Deepak, Smita, Annam, Sreeraj, Ramya, Suresh, Lavanya, Shankar, and Suchi (not all may be available on the same day)

Volunteers on the day of the event (August 19) -- we need around 15 people. Please write to Smita if you are interested.

3. Mid-year financial review

Funds raised this year to date: approx: ($13,928)

TT --        $785
Tarangini --    $8843
Swaranubhav -- $3029
Tutoring --    $520
Other donations (and UW) -- $751

Revisions to targets for the rest of the year

Tutoring : $1000 from $2000 (because of lack of volunteer participation)
General Donations: $2000 (because of the time available for the rest of the year; includes UW effort)
5K Run/Walk: $6000 -- same as before
Marathon: $7000 -- same as before
Volleyball: $1600 -- same as before
Basketball: $300 (We are transitioning to under 15 only event)
Garba: $500 (if we parter with UfM Dearborn)

4. Volleyball planning
Both Boulan Firefighters are booked for July and August.
Jaycee park is available on July 29 but we don't know about the number of Volleyball events. Annam to check this.
Action item for Suresh: Findout about Southfield Civic center courts

BHARATHI TRUST

BACKGROUND OF TSUNAMI AFFECTED IRULA VILLAGES

District: CUDDALORE

Affected villages:

Irula Fisher Community:

M.G.R.Nagar
South Pichavaram
North Pichavaram
Agaram Pudunagar

PROPOSAL: BUILD ‘STABILIZED MUD’ HOUSES AND ‘FISH DRYING PLATFORMS’ FOR THE AFFECTED FAMILIES IN THESE VILLAGES.

Details:

(1) M.G.R. Nagar

Total families are 185 including Kannagi Nagar, which was completely destroyed. Total population is 628 including 242 Children. 142 children were not going to school. 93 children are below 5 years.

98% of these people are illiterates. M.S. Swaminathan foundation has initiated full time school for primary level and now the government has adopted this school. For middle and high school, children have to go to Killai village.

After the Tsunami (on 26^th Dec-04) there was a death ceremony in the village. Usually these communities get together for such occasions. Except 15 families, everyone was in the village. 3 women, one girl child and a man died in this village. The man’s body has not been found yet. 3 women, 2 men and one child were injured and escaped. 10 families from this village have been put up in huts near KannagiNagar. Everything has been destroyed by Tsunami.

Another 65 families were indirectly affected and have been displaced. We have the land for these folks. Need to construct Stabilized Mud houses.

All the 185 families have received support from the government and/or other NGOs. However, another 65 families were indirectly affected and have been displaced. These 65 families were not directly involved in the fishing, but were involved in supporting the fishing folk. They are not considered in the list of affected people by the government. We have procured (purchased) the land for these folks. The plan now is to construct Stabilized Mud houses.

(2) South Pichavaram:

There are 34 families. Total population is 128 including 50 Children. 15 children were going to school. Rest of them help parents in fishing and take care of younger children in the family. 98% of these tribes are illiterates.

There are no injuries and deaths in this village but they have lost their boat, nets and home.

Entire village has the land provided by the government. All 34 families need houses to be built.

1	Total Family	34
2	Total Population	139 People
3	Total Children	45
4	School going Children	20(Male = 8, Female = 12)
5	Drop Out Children	25(Male = 8, Female = 17)

(3) North Pichavaram:

There are 25 families. Total population is 100 including 21 Children. 11 children were going to school. Rest of them help their parents in fishing and take care of younger children in the family. 98% of these tribes are illiterates.

There are no injuries and deaths in this village but they have lost their boats, nets and homes.

Land has been purchased in the name of people. Stabilized Mud Houses need to be constructed for 25 families.

Total amount needed to construct houses: 15 lakhs @ Rs.60,000 per house. ($33,587)

1	Total Family	25
2	Total Population	136 People
3	Total Children	50
4	School going Children	15(Male = 6, Female = 9)
5	Drop Out Children	35(Male = 19, Female = 16)

(4) Agaram Pudu nagar:

There are 104 families in this village including 58 families who came from the villages namely, Vadakuthurai, Vaikkamedu and Chinnur Kadar Paguthi living near by lakes shifted to Agaram Pudu nagar. Total population is 399 including 85 Children. 30% of the children go to school. Rest of them help parents in fishing and take care of younger children in the family. 98% of these tribes are illiterates.

Pushing the government to give the villagers some land for building house. No money to purchase the land as of now.

There are no injuries and deaths in this village also but they lost their boats, nets and homes.

1	Total Family	104
2	Total Population	399 People
3	Total Children	85
4	School going Children	33(Male = 16, Female = 17)
5	Drop Out Children	52(Male = 30, Female = 22)

Community background

90% of these communities are depending on only fishing in the Killai Lake. Before Tsunami few of the families had country boat and some of them have kattumaram; rest of them cannot afford to have kattumaram, they were diving and catching prawn with their bare hands. Some of them were using small nets to catch Crab and Fish.

All the fishing family borrowed money in advance from a money lender in the fisherman community. Lender decides the price for the fish which is only 25% of the market price. Also interest rate is very high. Now families have debt from Rs.1,000 to 7,000 in each family. They take loan, during sickness, festival, rainy season and also when they cannot catch fish. 20% of their communities go for alternative occupation like agricultural & forest work when they cannot catch fish.

House Construction details

Cost per house is between Rs. 50,000 – 60,000 depending on the area. The area of the houses is between 200 - 250 sq feet. Roof is supported with clay tiles for ventilation. Each house has a room and a kitchen with common bathrooms. For the foundation, they use what is best available in that part of the country. They generally use stones or bricks.
The building costs are included in this amount.
Plan is to use the resource center to train folks to make Stabilized Mud blocks.

Why build houses with ‘stabilized mud’ bricks? How are they different?

Currently they are living in thatched roofs with basic mud houses. These houses develop cracks within months, but they manage to live, just for basic shelter. There was a need to provide people stable houses but that are not expensive. The “stabilized mud” bricks is a good solution to the problem. These bricks are made out of sand, water and a small portion of cement (max of 5%). The mud bricks are generally made using hydraulic machines with a proportion of water, sand and cement applied with some fixed pressure to generate these bricks. These bricks do NOT dissolve in water/Rain and are much harder than regular mud bricks. They are advantageous from a cost standpoint.
These bricks are becoming popular by the day; mud houses of these kind are being used to build houses in Kutch for the past several years since earthquakes and in Pondicherry's Auroville area as well.

Other information about building houses and the Community

There is a central area committee which has information about all the houses that are to be built in surrounding areas. They purchase all the required goods for constructing the houses in bulk to reduce costs. Also except for skilled labor( like masons) most of the work is done by the community people as part of their employment within the community.
There is a Monitoring committee which checks and monitors the quality of the houses that are being built. They maintain quality reports for the houses built. We can request for the quality report for the houses after the completion of house construction.

Where are the families staying now

They are staying in the land provided by the government (gram panchayat). They have basic mud houses with thatched leaf roofs. The mud houses develop cracks in a month or so, but they manage to live; just for basic shelter.

For more information regarding Tsunami affected areas from Siddamma, please visit our blogspot

http://ashatsunamirelief.blogspot.com

Cost estimates for Tsunami Affected Irula Villages in Cuddlore district.

Villages : North Pichavaram, South Pichavaram, MGR Nagar, Kalaingar Nagar, Swamy Nagar, Agaram Pudunagar

1. Permanent Shelter

Per Unit break up cost for permanent shelters for Tsunami Affected Irula Villages

AREA OF ONE HOUSING UNIT – 198 SQ. FT.

	ITEM	QUANTITY cft or sq.ft.	RATE Rs.	AMOUNT
1	EXCAVATION	630	2	1260
2	SAND FILLING IN FOUNDATION	66	8	528
3	PCC IN FOUNDATION	66	26	1716
4	CONCRETE BLOCK MASONRY IN FOUNDATION	476	30	14280
5	PLINTH BEAM	20	60	1200
6	MASONRY IN MUD BLOCK UP TO LINTEL LEVEL	312	54	16848
7	LINTEL BAND	20	60	1200
8	INSIDE PLASTER WORK	410	6	2460
9	OUTSIDE PLASTER	480	6	2880
10	SAND FILLING BELOW PCC IN FLOORING	52	8	416
11	PCC IN FLOORING	52	26	1352
12	CEMENT PLASTER IN FLOORING	154	7	1078
13	MANGLORE TILE ROOF WITH WOOD STRUCTURE	206	40	8240
14	DOOR	2	1500	3000
15	WINDOW	2	1000	2000
16	VENTILATOR	2	100	200
17	WHITE (LIME) WASH	540	1	540
18	PAINT	78	7	546
	TOTAL		Rs.	59744

2. Fish Drying Platform

Estimate for the fish drying platform @ Rs. 90 / sq.ft.of area for

A platform of 300 sq.ft (10’ X 30’) -

= 300 X 90

= 27000 Rs.

PROPOSAL

We are proposing to build a “fish drying platform” and build houses for the people affected in one of the villages, North Pichavaram @ Rs. 44.66 per dollar:

Build 25 houses in North Pichavaram - $33, 587
Build a fish drying platform for the villagers - $605

--------------

Total amount needed: - $34,192