Project visit to Nalamdana (May 1999)

This visit was basically made for Asha Princeton. Two Asha volunteers visited Nalamdana- Anand Udupa, formerly of Asha- LA and myself, from of Asha KY. We had gone there after doing some background research about the place and heard quite a bit about the dramatic side of Nalamdana. Apparently, there was a lot of positive theatrical work that the group was doing.

We met Nithya Balaji and Jeeva as soon as we went there. They were waiting for us with all documented information about the children. After some preliminary introductions to all the staff there, we went ahead and met the children. They were assembled on the first floor, which was initially meant to be a reading room/ library. They informed us that they were working towards the library, but had put up a thatched roof for the place so that it would at least serve as a makeshift meeting place until a library came into existance. The Nalamdana office is quite modest in itself. The various rooms of a small house were being used for different purposes. Nithya had an office in one and other staff used the outer room. The outer room had maps which indicated the places in Tamil Nadu where the group had given performances and it also indicated which organizations (Ford, for one) had funded these performances geared towards social rural awareness.

Nithya had told us about the selection process: that they advertised in the newspapers and then went through a careful screening process until they found the best of the lot-- children with good academic credentials to back them up and not enough economic background to really support them until they finished whatever course of study that has opted to pursue. We *did* expect smart children, given the selection process, but what we saw much exceeded our expectations. The children did not have any reticence in talking to us about their studies, extra-curricular activities or really anything that we questioned them on. What was even more impressive was the fact Nalamdana had managed to inculcate in them a civic sense and social awareness that ensured that these children would pass the good work on. They talked to us about World Cup Cricket that was all the rage in India at that time, about soldiers in Kargil and about the political situation in Tamil Nadu. We gave them a few questions to answer and they were quite at ease doing that. The questions were written out for them in English and they proceeded to answer them even before the questions were translated into Tamil. The older children were also busy helping the younger ones out with the odd word that they did not understand. Nithya told us that the children were asked to volunteer at Nalamdana for a couple of hours a week, but they all turned up, without being asked, for more time than that. Of all the children they has in their program so far, there was only one case where they had discovered, a year later, that the girl was from an affluent family. They "lost" another child because her father wanted her to get married after Class IX and did not give into the repeated pleas of Jeeva and the others. Jeeva also showed us the paper maiche masks the children had made during one of the workshops that they used during their performances. I was particularly impressed with the Nalamdana children because I have worked with lots of children from similar backgrounds before, but never have I seen this level of self confidence and definite ideas about what they wanted from life. Also, the idea of passing on the good work was something that I had often wished was inculcated in the children , but this was the first time that I had actually seen it happen.

We went down after that and looked at some of the previous written work that had been filed away. We also saw the essays based on which the children were selected. When we asked about the scholarship money, they told us that they did not dispense it in full at the beginning of the school year, but gave it away in chunks, at the beginning of every term, and so ensured that the funds were not being misused. Thay had also kept all the proofs of purchase filed away in the childrens' individual files. We watched Nalamdana's promo tape and asked for a copy.

I asked Nithya and Jeeva for a proposal for Asha KY that involved the library as well. We recently took the decision to fund the education of one child and help them with actual library materials to the best of our ability. It was a very enthusing, inspirational site visit, all considered, and gave us a sense of renewed hope in the work that Asha was doing.