This
is a project of sponsorship in India for orphans and children with jobless
parents or having a very poor financial situation. All children attend the
St.John School. The coordinator of this project is Fr. Nithiya Sagayam, a
capuchin priest. The support of each child will cover the expenses for education,
food and basic medical care.
The donation for the sponsorship is basically of 20 US Dollard per month.
The minimum period for the sponsorship is 12 month. Each sponsor will receive
the address of the school in India, the address of Fr. Nithiya, a picture
of the child and a brief report concerning his situation. If the sponsor wants
to visit the child, this can be organized with Fr. Nithiya and the local
IRFF representative in India.
A short introduction of this program by Fr. Nithiya Sagayam: St.John Higher
Secondary school is specifically a charity educational institution recognized
by the state government of Tamil Nadu, in South India. There are more than
100 residential children studying in the school while 200 more children from
the neighboring remote village come to study there. This school is situated
in a small remote village called Sithanangur, near the small town of Villupuram.
Almost all the children of the lowest caste of the society. The caste system
is the worst structural violence done to the people in India for more than
3.500 years. The low caste people have no land, no facility to grow and no
employment, no educational facilities etc. They are usually boded laborers
under few rich landlords. Their children can not go to school due to poverty
and because they have also to work in the fields. Recently some parents want
their children to study in the school, but they do not have school near by
and they have to travel by bus daily for which they do not have money.
This school was primarily begun for the welfare of these oppressed children.
Besides the low caste children, there are many children without parents or
without one parent. There are elementary schools (From 1st to 5th classes)
in many villages, but there are no high schools nearby. Therefore the children
stop going to school anymore. These children were collected from the neighboring
villages and then a school begun for them from 6th to 12th classes. That means,
when a boy or girl completes these 12 years of studies, he or she can enter
in a university or try to get some sort of employment too. This will be great
solution to the oppression and to the poverty.