2. Cow Project:

The Cow Project has been developed after careful thought and well planned implementation modules designed to assist and rehabilitate the poor families in rural areas. It is already established by the work of the SAC-CCC that a motivated family can take care of a cow in the rural village and sell the milk to the local dairy cooperatives and earn a living. So far over one hundred cows have been distributed to the deserving and motivated families. The income generated through milk sales enables the parents to assist their children in their primary education, take care of their basic medical needs and also buy staple food for the family.

The SAC-CCC buys the animals and the veterinarian inspects the animals and certifies for insurance. The SAC-CCC initiates the insurance procedure for the cow, makes the final payments, and hands over the animal to the family. The SAC-CCC also provides services of the Veterinarian from time to time for the beneficiaries. The SAC-CCC also connects the benefiting family to the nearest cooperative milk societies for sale of milk. The payments for the milk sold is made directly to the family from the cooperative milk societies.

We need US$ 225 towards purchase of a cow, insurance cost and initial feed cost. The donor will be sent a photograph of the cow purchased along with the family and a brief history of the family.

3. Health programs for slum communities:

Individual and public health particularly in rural and slum communities in India today is of serious concern. The city slums are densely populated and the slum environment is extremely unhygienic-- women, children and the elderly are the common victims of the conditions in the slum and rural communities. Lack of proper sanitation, drinking water facility, health centers, education facility to children and other such basic requirements for a healthy and peaceful living, the people in the slum communities suffer the worst. Tuberculoses, which is commonly called the poor man’s disease is prevalent in slum communities. Immunization is not done to children at appropriate life cycle and the women suffer from reproductive health hazards.

The South Asia Council for Community & Children in Crisis realizes the fact that the slum communities need to be educated on basic health concerns and should be provided with the basic facilities for a healthy living. The SAC-CCC is assisting few slum communities through the Health Centers in Eastern part of Bangalore city in South India.

These health centers provide basic health needs. Children are immunized, women reproductive health is taken care of. Through health camps, TB detection is made and the patients are assisted on a long term basis; children are immunized and the aged persons with sight difficulty are assisted with sight glasses.

Any gift/contribution - one time or regular would be most welcome. Funds can also be designated for the care of the elderly (eye or TB cure), women (reproductive health), or to run the Health Center (monthly requirement for running the Health Center alone is about US $350)

4. Wayne Thompson Computer Training Center in Bangalore, South India

The South Asia Council for Community & Children in Crisis recognizes the importance of computer education even as the third millenium will bring a lot of opportunities to the youth in the field of computers. Many computer schools and institutions are eager to impart computer education but the youth belonging to economically weaker sections are left high and dry and cannot be computer educated.

The SAC-CCC provides computer training in software application, development, DTP etc., to the motivated youth from the economically and socially deprived strata of society. The computer center is capable of training 50 students per training year. After the training the graduates are enabled to apply for, take up selection tests and secure jobs in the local market and elsewhere.

Besides the computer education, the students are offered personality development program facilitating them to achieve high sense of self-esteem and confidence building.

We need US$ 300 per student per year to be trained in computer education. We can register change in the lives of the young people through this training. Individual sponsorship or grants or one-time gift or contribution is solicited which will help many deserving youths of the lower strata of community to hope for and achieve a better future through computer education and training.

The programs for the street children provide physical, psychological and social security to these at-risk children living on the streets. They receive nutritious food, shelter, medical assistance and opportunities for extra-curricular activities; They are put through programs to develop a sense of self-esteem and pride and facilitate for talent development and acceptance of others who seem hostile to the street children.

One of the major challenges of SAC-CCC is to motivate the street children for rehabilitational training and inculcate in them a sense for upward movement in their lives with dignity and honor. 40 street children are chosen to provide night shelter at the Krishnarajapuram, Bangalore center and rehabilitation training.

To care for and provide rehabilitational training we need an amount of US$ 20 per month per child. Either individual sponsorship or project sponsorship would be most welcome. Of course one-time gifts or contributions are also most welcome. Without the support given by SAC-CCC, these street children would be deprived of decent life, opportunities for self-development and a good future.

6. Rural women’s skills development program, Chittoor in South India.

The plight of rural women, particularly in the backward rural villages cannot be imagined unless seen or the atrocities meted out to them measured. The dowry harassment, the humiliation meted out to the unmarried women or a women who did not beget a male child is not uncommon. If women are not economically viable they are not treated with dignity and honor. However the irony is that women play a greater and much important role in the bringing up of children in rural areas.

The rural women’s skills development center trains rural women in tailoring, embroidery, stitch-craft, etc., and provides opportunities to develop their skills and talents. Besides these training, the women are taught child rearing practices, personal health and hygiene particularly reproductive health.

There are 20 rural women trainees at this center. The training is for six months and the SAC-CCC is able to train forty women trainees per calendar year. To run this Center, an amount of US$ 250 per month is needed. Project sponsorship or even one-time gift/contribution is most welcome.

The social workers and coordinators of this program visit the rural villages from where the women trainees are drawn to register the effect of the training - both skills training and other health related training. The project brings about total change in the lives of those who participate at the training and the trained women participate actively in their communities.

7. Slum women’s skills development program in Naganpalya, Bangalore, South India.

The South Asia Council for Community & Children in Crisis taken keen interest in the life and development of slum dwellers particularly in the development of women. It is common that the slum dwellers face acute poverty, health hazards and live in a most unfriendly environments.

This Center at Naganpalya provides training and opportunities for slum women to develop their talents and aptitudes and also education/training in personal hygiene, female reproductive health, family health and child rearing practices.

Through this training, the slum women are able to earn to substitute their family income; develop a sense of self-esteem. A slum woman after the training achieves remarkable level of skills particularly in rearing her children to motivate them for education. She also maintains personal hygiene and the general health of her family.

There are 30 women trained at this Center. The duration of the training is 9 months. (as against 6 months for rural women since the week hours at the training center for slum women is less than that of the training for rural women)

The project requirement is US$ 200 per month. Through this training and skills development program a number of slum women are benefited. After their training, the SAC-CCC also arranges for soft-term loans from the local banks and assists them to set up self-employment for the highly motivated women and facilitates for placement for others.

8. SAC-CCC Home for Boys, Mulayam, Trichur Dt. Kerala

Many children in broken homes are deprived of happiness, childhood privileges and developmental possibilities. As a result, they live in a wayward life unmindful of their future. The home for children at Mulayam is established to meet the wholesome development of children drawn from broken homes, alcohol and drug addicted parents, semi-orphans, orphans and social orphans.

We provide opportunities to these children to attain normal physical, religious and psychological development and enable them to understand the social/cultural norms that hinder their growth and development and achieve educational excellence and talent/skills development.

They are involved in the community development through participatory work with the community around and nurture social justice. We provide opportunities to enhance their sense of self-esteem through multifarious activities and inculcate in them a sense of belonging and serve others.

There are 32 children in this home and are drawn from different socio-economic backgrounds.

We need US$ 20 per month per child to meet the total expenses. Individual sponsorship or project sponsorship will be very much welcome.

9. Home for the Deaf, Thirumaraiyur, Tamilnadu in South India.

Realizing the fact that a large number of disabled children are not cared for and provided education and rehabilitated particularly in the rural communities, the Home for the Deaf was started to provide opportunities for the care, education and development of Deaf children.

This home seeks to provide physical, religious, psychological, social and rehabilitative nurture and environment so that the disabled children will develop into useful citizens in the society and lead a harmonious life in their future.

Besides providing their basic needs, the Center facilitates them through various programs in order for them to develop a feeling of social recognition and acceptance and be guided to utilize the opportunities available to them to discover themselves and attain maturity. The SAC-CCC also feels it important that these children shed off feelings of inferiority and pursue educational excellence, skills development so that they will govern themselves with least assistance from others even as they grow into maturity and become self-reliant.

There are 32 deaf children at the Center for the Deaf drawn from very poor families in the surrounding rural communities. We need US$ 30 per month per child to support. Either Individual sponsorship or project sponsorship would be most welcome.

The Health camps conducted in the slum communities are meant to bring about health awareness to the slum communities. Health Camps, TB detection camps, immunization camps are held from time to time as part of awareness programs as well as detection, immunization and short-term/long-term treatment programs.

Four medium to large slum communities in the eastern part of Bangalore are under the SAC-CCC health program cover. There are over 18,000 units/families in these four slum communities. We solicit the voluntary assistance from local physicians and health care volunteers but need financial assistance for the conduct of the health camps. To conduct one health camp we need US$ 200. There is a need to conduct as many as 6 to 10 camps per year.

11. Student Assistance Plan in Chittoor Rural, Andhra Pradesh.

School going children in rural villages are hard hit due to lack of proper rural school infrastructure, lack of teaching staff, basic study materials etc., These rural children are unable to compete with their urban counterparts who enjoy the urban infrastructure.

Rural children are unable to cope with the situation and in turn do not develop their potentials and talents. Many children succumb to the situation and drop out of the school system.

Student Assistance Plan has been developed by SAC-CCC to provide the needed basic study materials, minimum fee that is charged by the school, uniforms/clothing, shoes/chappels, lunch expenses and meet the expenses incurred on account of additional teaching assistance given by specially trained teachers. Through this plan a number of rural children are benefited and develop their talents and potentials. The Social Workers plan and execute different extra-curricular activities for the rural children.

There are 60 children under this plan now. An amount of US$ 15 to 25 is required per student per month depending upon the class/program of study undertaken by the student. We encourage you to participate in this program to enable children from rural areas to get enrolled in the educational system for their future study and development.

12. Child Development Center, Dharapuram, Tamilnadu, South India.

Child Care in rural areas is an important aspect for the development of rural communities of India today. There are over 650,000 rural villages in India and constitutes about 80% of the total population. Yet, it is frustrating to know that appropriate plan funds are not allocated to assist and develop poor rural children by the local and central government. Though the state and central government agencies have programs, they are unable to meet the basic educational needs of children. The non-governmental organizations have greater role to play in this area of service to children.

The Child Development Center at Dharapuram is developed to provide basic physical, emotional, religious and social development through planned nutrition, hygiene and other essential care programs; This Center gives an opportunity for the cobbler community children for which this Community Development Center has been developed to meet the developmental needs of children from these communities.

The Center also facilitates the cobbler parents to get integrated into other local communities through proper understanding of their social strata. They are also enabled to understand the importance of child care and guidance and educate them in the area of health, hygiene, social awareness and integration through planned programs at the Community Development Center.

Educational awareness and day care programs are designed by social workers and teachers at the Center to assist the children and encourage the parents to meet at frequent intervals to discuss about their social problems and health concerns. By way of assistance the children are taken good care so that they will develop with normal health and grow into maturity.

There are 38 children at this Center and we require US$ 15 per child to support. Individual sponsors or project sponsorship is welcome. Besides the expenses to the day care services we need special gifts for our programs to the cobbler parents. We encourage you to assist us.

13. Home for Children, Nigambo, Sri Lanka

Extra-ordinary and frightening situations continue to disturb people in Sri Lanka due to ethnic conflicts. Consequently, a number of children become orphans overnight and there is tremendous need to care for these special group of children. A Home for such children has been initiated at Nigambo near Colombo to care, educate and rehabilitate children from both Singala and Tamil ethnic communities.

There are 24 children in the home. These children faced death but were rescued under mysterious circumstances. The Home provides total care to the children. Taking care of their physical, emotional, religious and psychological needs is a great challenge of our Social workers and child care workers.

We need US$ 25 to support a child per month. We need your help and cooperation to take care of these precious children. Individual sponsorship or project sponsorship is most welcome.

14. Center for Mentally Retarded Children at Sawyerpuram, Tamilnadu, South India.

Realizing the fact that a large number of disabled children are not cared for, educated and rehabilitated in the rural communities, the Center for Mentally Retarded Children was started to provide opportunities for their care and basic life skills development.

This Center seeks to provide physical, psychological and rehabilitative nurture and environment so that the mentally retarded children will develop to help themselves to meet their basic needs. There are 21 mentally retarded children at this Center and are drawn from very poor families in the surrounding rural communities. We need US$ 30 per month per child to support. Either Individual sponsorship or project sponsorship would be most welcome. We would appreciate your generous contribution and assistance.

15. Day Care Service Centers, Chittoor Rural, South India.

As part of Community Development in the backward rural areas in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, women and child development is considered vital. Following this assertion, the SAC-CCC has initiated two day care service centers in tow rural villages. Besides caring for children in the villages the women are provided basic health care and child rearing practices in the evening. The Social workers and Child Care workers emphasize child care and nurture, active participation of the parents and the cooperation of the community for a healthy living in the rural community.

The two day care service centers in the Chittoor rural areas have been initiated with a view to provide basic developmental possibilities to children from the most backward and outcaste communities in the region. These children at the center have the access to adequate physical nourishment, interaction through play and simple talent development oriented pedagogical programs.

The children are taken when they are at the age of 2 1/2 to five years. When they attain their sixth birthday, they are encouraged to attend the primary schools. Plans are made to continue their studies with certain assistance in the future.

There are 50 children at these two centers. We need US$ 10 per child to support for the whole of month. Either individual sponsorship or project sponsorship is very much welcome.

While the aged face a lot of psychological and emotional challenges, lack of proper nutrition, health care and active environment add to their misery and they find themselves in the land of the lonely. Though the family environment provides a sense of belonging in Indian families, lack of basic facilities for a peaceful and healthy living makes the life of the aged suffer the worst trauma.

Keeping this in view, the SAC-CCC has initiated two service activities -one at Jeevanahalli slum and the second one at Chittoor rural area as model centers. There are 22 aged persons under this program. These aged persons are provided non-institutional care at present with monetary assistance given directly to them so that they could buy for themselves their most urgent needs. It is envisaged that a home for the aged will be started soon at Bangalore to house the aged and provide total care but continue non-institutional care for the aged in the Chittoor rural center.

We need US$ 15 per month per aged person. We encourage you to participate in this worthy cause of caring the aged.