Hi

I called Siddamma on May 25th, soon after she came back home from her trip to her native village in Karnataka. Here is the gist of the conversation:

1. Status of the project: The project is progressing well, with the only major problem being the inability to get enough teachers. Current finances will last until the end of June. Siddamma is going to sit down with all the teachers to come up with an operating plan for the next year with tasks broken down per individual per month.

2. Report and audit: I told her that it has been generally tougher to raise money this year and the yearly report and the audit will give us a better chance of convincing people and raising money. I added that both the yearly report and audit from her are overdue and stressed their importance in raising funds. Siddamma told me that the report is ready, along with handwritten letters from the children and this will be mailed immediately. Regarding the audit, she told me that auditing is not a one person job. The auditor who audits her project has a lot of his team members preparing for the upcoming CA exam. So, he told her that the earliest he can prepare the audit is the first week of June. She told me that she will try to get it as early as possible.

3. Ilavambedu status: I asked her if she could get land for a permanent shelter at Ilavambedu. She said that the new Tamilnadu government has opened a window of opportunity for the Irulas. The govt. has proactively asked where and how it can help them. She told me that they have sent the new govt. information on how much land they will be requiring at Ilavambedu.

4. Second year cost projection: I asked her about the latest number of children and teachers and how it will affect the cost for the second year. She said all the relevant information along with the cost projection will be included in the report that she is sending.

5. Health records: Siddamma said that the nurse who was helping with maintenance of the children's health records left 2 months back. So the teachers are managing them now, though she said she needs to review them. These records are basically the list of illnesses the child had (like asthma, TB, anemia, eye problems) and the treatments that were given for them. She said that last week, 3 irula children who attend the irulaproject school died due to eating contaminated fish/crab. It seems that they had severe vomiting and diarrhea, but she could not respond since She was in a meeting with the teachers in Mahabalipuram. A total of around 30 children were affected and she took them to the govt. hospital as soon as she came back. She said that the Irula parents are interested in learning about good health habits.

6. Letter for vehicle purchase: She said she still has only the email letter and is waiting for the actual letter in the mail. But she said, the email letter is enough for now.

7. Vocational traning: She told me that she is still awaiting information on funding for the computer center. I said that our first priority is to get the schools funded this year. She also said that she met with a mechanical engineer recently and said that it will be nice if we can setup an automobile repair shop or lubrication center or a training center. She said that there are a lot of car factories sprouting around the villages in the area and this will be a good skill to develop to get a job.

8. Other: She told me that she is facing a minor standoff with a Christian NGO in gummudipoondi. It seems that the Christian NGO gives the Irulas money and they have started expecting the same from Sarpam Village Committee organizers. Also, she was concerned that if Irulas convert to Christianity, they might lose their scheduled tribe status. I asked her to find ways of working with the Christian NGO.

Venkat.