About the Organisation: Over the past 10 years the organisation has enhanced the quality of life of the community it serves and also supports organizations that aim to give dignity to human lives. They give medical care and help with hospital referrals and feeding the poor every weekend. There is now another arm that was set up after the Tsunami in 2005 after witnessing the mammoth devastation caused.
Who they are: This community initiative was started in 1998 as a non-profit organization mainly consisting of students, housewives and music aficionados as a way of giving support to under-privileged children and widows in the area. Various projects were developed including running a music school in
Chennai and organising concerts and festivals with the proceeds going towards helping Acts of Mercy.
What they do: This organisation has 4 very distinct projects running:
- An English Medium school for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and 1 st standard aged children.
- A Tsunami rehabilitation project where, amongst other things, the organisation arranges fishing trips out of the local village for tourists.
- An income generation project working with women, particularly those widowed, to train and set them up in business as dressmakers.
- Construction of a model village for widows & orphans.
What you can do: This project welcomes volunteers to help in whatever way they feel possible. A program can be developed to suit you and your skills. One that is either dedicated to one aspect or a mixture of all four if you feel up to it! Here are examples around the four main areas of their work
The children are always thrilled to see a new and different face and it is proven to have the effect of encouraging them to come to school! Gap year volunteers in this project would be able to interact with all 5 classes on a daily basis undertaking a mix of activities, e.g. assisting with teaching in the classrooms, developing and delivering lessons or using creative skills to do drama, theatre, art & music classes.
The school is small but is run by very dynamic people so there is likely to be other activities outside of school time that the volunteer could be involved in .
With the womens income generation project, you will get to know the women and their level of skill, develop a training scheme and schedule to suit their availability, learn what fabrics and facilities are available to you and decide the best way forward with the dress designs and tailoring.
Anyone with muscles and knowledge of construction would be useful to the organisation in the building of the new village as they are relying on ad-hoc help and advice from well wishers in the locality.
This project has great elements of sustainability as you will be able to see something concrete - literally - from your time here.