Conference Call with Siddhamma - Feb 28, 2007

Attendees: Siddhamma, Shrikanth Peddireddy, Srikanth Pilla, Abhishek, Srivatsan and Gayathri

Siddhamma updated Asha Toledo on the present status of the project Freedom. This is the outline of the conversation with her -

Project Background:

Freedom Started in Oct 2004. 680 family eligible for hearing in 2004. Few families left to their native village. The rest stayed back in S.K.Nagar (near Palavakkam village). It was initially managed by asha star money. Program was not stable till Jan 2006.
 
Present Condition:

There are totally 213 freed bonded laborer families in Palavakkam village (near SKNagar). Out of these families, 70 familes go out of the village for their livelihood as they haven't received rehab. money from the government. They work during the day and get back to village after their work. Bharathi Trust doesnt work much with these 70 families. These 70 families have around approx 150 children and BT does not provide education for these kids.

Remaining 143 families have got land and rehabilitation packages from the govt.. From these families, there are  212 children who are educated through Bharathi Trust.

Children details:

212 children from 143 families are present all the time and they have to be taken care by BT.

Out of these 212 children - 

73 - enrolled in govt school with hostel facility (I to X std) - they commute to school from S.K.Nagar
10 - stay in hostel and study in govt. school; hostel food very bad and poor amenities
79 - Govt. Balwadi - School for children under age 6 - run by govt. since Nov 2006 -till then BT was running balwaadi). After these four months of involvement in balwaadi, govt realised that they can provide  teacher's salary and food for 22 children only. BT is pushing govt for full funds for balwadi. This is presently in a small temporary shed.
50 - bigger children - separate shed (because of govt.'s regulation to separate balwaadi from EGS) - This school comes under the Education Guaranteed scheme (EGS) school category (earlier called as prepschool)

When Abhishek  asked about why he saw only 45 children in the school when he visited, Siddhamma was not aware of that day's situation. She said that there might differnt timings for balwaadi and EGS school and she mentioned that she will get back to us on what happened on the day of Abhisek's sitevisit.

Funds:

There was some confusion in BT with regard to the funds sent in this project. Asha Toledo had sent only Rs. 3,07,000 ($7000) in March 2006. But Siddhamma thought that Asha Toledo had sent Rs. 4,31,000 (including 1.5lakhs in Oct 2006; 3.07lakhs in March 2006). She could not figure out the source for that 1.5 lakhs sent in October 2006. Asha Toledo clarified about the fund details sent only in March 2006 to BT. 

Presently, BT has 1.47 lakh rupees in Toledo account which is not from Asha Toledo. So based on account balance information that Siddhamma gave, BT has almost no money in Asha Toledo account. All the money sent by Asha Toledo has already been spent on the following - Rough estimate (Unit - Rupees)

Food for children - 1.66 lakh Apr-Nov 2006 (for 50 + 79 children, sometimes other children might come for food)
13000 - ?
30000 - teacher's salary
12000 - helper's salary
4000 - misc expenses

Siddhamma said that she might be left with 10K-20K rupees money from Asha Toledo funds. But she was not aware of the exact situation. She said that she will send a complete balance sheet soon. 

Under the presumption that 1.5 lakhs was remaining in Asha toledo funds, Siddhamma had initially planned for the construction of two classroom school. But after knowing that there was almost no money left in the account, she said that she was not sure whether to go with the two classroom school or not. BT needs money for the school construction, if Asha sends some money then BT will start with construction of two classrooms (500 sqft), though the planned area is for 1000 sqft plan. If Asha Toledo send more money, then BT will start with library, kitchen, storeroom and toilets. Anyways, provisions are made for all these in the building plan. 

Siddhamma said that BT has started construction of two classroom school now. Since Asha Toledo did not contribute that extra 1.5 lakhs, she urged Asha Toledo to think about the present need for more funds in the project. She asked Asha Toledo to take a decision as early as possible because BT had to file tax by the end of March.

Asha Toledo asked Siddhamma to send the detailed balance sheet as soon as possible. After scrutiny of the balance sheet in the meeting, Asha Toledo shall decide its stand on the fund in this project.