Philanthropy in Southern India
Recently visiting Southern India (Kerala and Tamil Nadu) we found some of the friendliest people on the planet, and visited four orphanages as well as charitably funded hospitals and schools.
We also met two leading local philanthropists – both of whom have achieved huge change but keep a very low profile – and learnt again from them the value of direct community engagement and building programmes for long-term change.
Changing children’s lives costs around £12.50 a month
A minority of children in the orphanages were true orphans, but all came from destitute families where they would have been put to work as soon as they were old enough. Children were being fed, clothed and educated by the charities concerned which is of immediate benefit to the wider family. The official minimum wage of about £1 a day isn’t a reality, every day off is a day without pay and ill health is a constant risk.
We found a huge emphasis on education. The future these projects are creating is one where children from Tsunami villages will not become fishermen, and tea pluckers’ children will leave the tea estates for lives elsewhere.
‘Even in the villages people watch TV. They see around them the lives people are living and they want more for their children.’
‘If we do not do this we will have enormous unrest in maybe 10 years.’
One of the smaller orphanages required an average of 1,000 rupees (about £12.50) per child per month to fund everything, though 1,500 rupees would have been a safer target, as the teachers wages rise every year. Multiply it up and £15,000 will support 100 children a year.
What was very clear is that charities need good links with Western supporters to keep the funding flowing, as the culture of giving is less strong locally. Rural projects live from day to day, and some are scarily dependent on a single funder.
All agreed that the true current costs were between 1,000 and 1,500 rupees (£12.50 - £17.00) per child per month. This is an area where a small contribution can make a huge difference. As the children become more educated, expectations rise and funding college is more expensive. We sent the rupees we hadn’t spent to one of the orphanages on our return to England. £20 bought a bike for the girls to share and get out and about in a very rural location.
Educational models vary – schooling may be at the orphanage, or at separately funded schools or funding is provided for children to attend high quality mainstream schools (only a real option in or near urban environments).
Where the children were in mainstream schools the orphanage paid for all their expenses, kept an eye on their progress and involved them in their activities. Although home might be one room, mud-walled and lit with one neon strip light, the children had plans to go to college to study nursing, accountancy and IT. This is truly life-changing both for them and their families.
On long-term outcomes
‘Take children from the fishing villages who are under 5, ask the families to save 100 rupees (£1.20) a month for 5 years: that’s 6,000 rupees. If they do this we will add 20,000, so a total 26,000 rupees. We will then invest it – provided the children stay in school – until they are 18, when we estimate they will have a fund of 80,000 rupees. Enough to go to college, set up a business, buy a house, or pay for a dowry. They will never be fishermen again. There is no fish and no future – the commercial boats 3 miles out take all the fish. The people are starving, even before the Tsunami.. ‘
‘There is no state pension and our workers homes are part of the job, which they lose when they retire. Looking after parents is a huge burden for the children. Now with Fairtrade support, we have set up individual savings accounts which we manage. The aim is to create enough for every worker who has been with us for 30 years to buy a house on retiring. It would have been cheaper to build houses on the land here, but they don’t want that. They want to move to where they have family, so we have made that possible. At the same time we have set up the equivalent to a limited pension fund paying out for 10 years. It is important to take a long-term view. The government offers cheap rice and free TV’s to get elected. It wins votes, but does not help the people.’
