Chennai: 681 children in Kumaran Mahal

From Chennai Photo Album 2009

Tuesday, February 3

Today was the last day of our 3-day road trip to the Vellore area. We left the guest house of the Golden Temple in the morning and drove to the bustling town of Kumaran Mahal, Sathuvacharry where the children, all dressed in their new school outfits, waited for us in a beautiful marriage hall.

681 children received bed kits and left the area happily toting them home. Lots of happy children!

We finished about 3pm and one of the Rotarians, Chan, took us to a project he has worked on: a workshop for physically-handicapped women. He employs 136 women, all physically-handicapped in some way, who assemble parts for the automobile industry in India. It was incredible to see. There was a whole gamut of jobs being done.

From Chennai Photo Album 2009

One of the women was doing the final test for a car's lighting and horn systems, while others worked at circuit boards, and the last two ladies we saw worked together, one cutting pieces of scotch tape, the other rolling cardboard pieces about 1 inch long to a specific diameter then taping the cylinder, and tossing it into the box - to be used, I suppose, to protect a screw of that dimension when the product is sent to Tata Engineering or the other car part makers involved.

The women are on salary and share in the profits of the shop. They have health benefits and some insurance (I think) and Chan himself takes them on a 3-day holiday each year.

As well, with the help of the government who provided the land, a house with "proper toilet and kitchen, and measuring 210 square feet," is registered in each employee's name. The cost to each woman for her house is 5,000 rupees ($163.93 Canadian).

It was amazing to see, and all in all, a very good day.

Mary-Jo Lang
for Team Chennai 2009

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