The computer center at Seva Chakkara was started by the initiative of Lakshmi who has grew up at the orphanage and choose to continue working for the betterment of the orphanage and the children there.
Apart from a few regular donors the income to the orphanage is not regular. In the hope to get some stable income for the orphanage she applied for a loan through the State Bank Of India to start a small scale industry for the orphanage. This was a time when the software industry had not been hit by the complete sump that it is facing now in India. The State Bank of India also encouraged the setup by setting up donations of additional equipment for existing setup once the loan was approved.
The setup presently is 3 new computers with modems to connect to the internet. One deskjet printer, one Xerox machine, 4 old computers (with word tamil fonts for DTP work), 9 typewriters, a classroom with white board, a telephone. There are separate small rooms for the new computers, the typewriters. The four old computers, printer and Xerox m/c are in the central hall that has additional space to sit and the classroom is attached to the main hall. There is also a small terrace and a small room right at the enterance which is used as the office.
The idea was to generate income from Xerox, teaching computer classes through a well qualified instructor Muttu (Masters in Computer Science) and DTP (Typing resumes forms and printing them @ Rs.10/- per page).
The institute has been running for about 5 months. They have offered a variety of computer classes: for beginners, for housewives, advanced courses for C++, etc. In an attempt to popularize the institute they are now offering free classes to children to take the basic computer courses. They have 15 children taking these classes at this time. (Apart from elder children at the orphanage).
It has been quite useful for the children at the orphanage as they have taken all the courses offered and are also able to utilize the additional space available in the varenda. Lakshmi and Muttu have also taken this opportunity to teach the children of classes IV and V at the computer center.
Costs: Rent = Rs. 3,500 p.m. Pay for Muttu = Rs. 4,000 p.m. Pay for person doing DTP work = Rs. 1,000 p.m. Loan return from S.B.I = Rs. 2,000 p.m. avg Electricity+Telephone+cleaning water bill, etc = Rs. 2,000 p.m. avg Toner for printer/Xerox m/c = Rs. 1,200 p.m. avg Repair, misc expenses = Rs. 300 p.m.
Avg expenses per month = Rs. 14,000 p.m.
Income: Present income is coming from DTP and Xerox on an average = Rs. 4,500 p.m.
Shortfall of around Rs. 9,500 p.m.
How are they managing? Lakshmi is the manager of the orphanage as well as teaching at the computer institute. She is paid Rs. 5000 p.m. She has taken the responsibility of education of two of the children and also one day's food ~ Rs. 1,500 p.m. She puts everything she has in keeping the institute running. Muttu has also been forgoing his salary in the hope that the institute will take off, but it hasn't.
It is clear that the present approach is not working and not sustainable and a new approach is required.