Chennai: Six-year-old C. Priyadarshini can no more feel the rough sand surface when she lies in her newly constructed home at Annai Sathya Nagar of Thirukazhukundram, Her smile during the house warming on Tuesday brought tears in her parents who now own something for the first time – a proper house.
Hailing from a bonded labour Irula family, which was rescued by Tamil Nadu government from a rice mill in two separate instances last year, Priyadarshini would no more live under bare sun, courtesy, team effort of social work students of Madras Christian College.
The 212.5 sq. feet house constructed for three out of eleven houses was made possible from pooling in funds from private companies like Ramco Cements and NGOs like Thozhamai. Students are expecting to construct the remaining eight houses in two months. Government has liberated the tribe, but students- Anupriya Murugesan, Santhosh Syangdan, Shilpa George and Sam Jebadurai have toiled more than two months to construct a shelter for the 11 rescued families. “Rescued labourers from the rice mill were placed in the Irula settlement here as they belong to the same community. But they did not avail themselves of any facilities,” said Sam Jebadurai who came to know about the community through NGO, International Justice Mission.
Students were shocked to witness the hard living style with no hygiene and comfort. It is to bring a change that students were placed in a community, unlike the usual rule of placing in an organisation. “They lived in a tentative tent made of sarees and rags. Most of them developed scabies due to unhygienic living standards,” said Shilpa George, who took care of health and education of children in the community.
Talking to DC, T. Jyothi, a beneficiary, said the house has elevated their status as a human being. “We were referred as homeless, untouchables everywhere, including hospitals. We were liberated from bondage, but it was the students who created something of our own,” said Jyothi with tears welling in her eyes.
“What else can we ask for? It is like a dream come true,” said another resident, Mallika. “When we were thrashed and harassed to get work done in rice mill, we felt like animals,” said Elumalai, another resident.
To create the sense of love for their houses, students included residents in doing the masonry work. Also, houses were constructed according to their wish, in an indigenous Irula style with roof covered with thatched leaves. The settlement is off the radar from the media and their plight during the floods went unreported. After providing flood rehabilitation, the students worked to construct not just their houses, but also the livelihood by teaching them mushroom cultivation. “Men eked out a living by working in construction companies. The illiterate women had nothing to do,” said Anupriya Murugesan, who worked on income generation programme.
They had to teach them from the start, as the women do not know how to count money. “The levels of backwardness was such that I taught them from adding the numbers on the sand. They can now sign in Tamil. Opening a self-help group account in a bank took us two months as they had no ID card,” added Anupriya. “We are now working to get them ration cards and community certificates,” added Sam. “Through documentation and power point presentations, I stepped into many firms to collect money. Many friends have donated the money”, said Santhosh Syangdan who raised the funds for the cause.
