Aralu-Belaku Site visit report (2013)Date: Nov 23, 2013

Steward: Tata Venkata (Project Steward and Coordinator, Asha Chicago)

Executive Summary

ARALU, is a NGO organization in Bidar district of Karnataka state. The Belaku residential home is supported by Asha Chicago and is located just outside Bidar. The children (age range 7 to 15) in the Belaku residential home are doing well and seem happy and enthusiastic about education. 5 children recently graduated from the local secondary school (10th grade) and have enrolled in a local junior college for the +2 program. Majority of the children finish 10th grade but there are instances of kids being pulled out of school by parents to be given off early marriage. The partner holds regular meetings parents to emphasize importance of education. The children receive 1 meal a day and have room to play and study. They get lunch at the local secondary school where they are enrolled. They also tend to a garden which partially fulfills the vegetable needs in the kitchen. There are chronic power cuts in the village. Power is available 4 hours a day and the timing is unpredictable. It is not uncommon for kids to eat and study with candle light.

Site Report Details

ARALU, is a NGO organization in Bidar district of Karnataka state. They operate in the backward and drought prone areas of the Bidar district. Long term objectives include integrated rural development, social and environmental awareness, education facilities, and develop depressed sections of the society. The area is economically backward with a predominant number of families working as agricultural laborers. Aralu Belaku is a residential home for children of poor families, orphans, street kids in the local rural areas.

Currently there are 20 children (11 girls, 9 boys) in ages ranging from 7 to 15. The children in the Belaku residential home are doing well and seem enthusiastic about education. In July 2013, 5 children recently graduated from the local secondary school (10 th grade) and have enrolled in a local junior college for the +2 program and currently live at home with their parents or with a guardian or in a government hostel. They study English, Kannada, Hindi, Math, Social Studies and Science. I saw the marks sheets of all the kids currently in the home and the marks are respectable. One girl Jyoti finished her PUC (+2) and is currently enrolled for a BA in a local college. Another boy, Robin, completed vocational training in Bangalore after PUC and got a job in LG as a technician.

The children get food twice a day. On my visit I had a decent lunch (rice, curry, pickles, corn rotis, sambar, curd). The kids take turns with kitchen duties and gardening work etc. The children occasionally go on field trips in Bidar. An NGO doctor makes periodic visits to the center for health checks.

The project partner, K.T. Meril, holds monthly meetings with parents to reinforce importance of schooling, children’s rights (RTE), individual performance, children’s health, social issues such as gender stereotypes and empowerment of women (discouraging early marriage of young girls at 14 years).

Observations

The power situation is not good. They have power 4 h a day and unpredictable. The kids have to read with candles sometimes and summers can be hot. Asha provided solar batteries about 2 years ago but they no longer work.

The kitchen uses firewood for cooking; besides the smoke etc, the wood gets wet during rainy season.

Rainy season can be painful as the school is a fair distance. Girls as young as 14 are given away for marriage. While this is a painful fact, the

increase in school enrollment of girls is encouraging and one expects that statistically, this social ill will decrease with time.

There was a sewing machine; but did not get the impression it was being used much.

Recommendations

I contacted Selco-India, a non profit group that works in remote areas to address power and lighting needs. Recommend that Asha working with them and fund the needs as necessary. The kids should use lanterns instead of candles.

Keep track of kids who go to govt school for +2 to ensure they seek guidance for a successful career path.

Aralu Belaku residential home

This room is essentially the dorm room for about 11 girls (15 X 20 ft). There is a similar size room for boys.

Some endearing cultural program during the visit

Library/TV room in the Belaku home

Govt secondary school in Yedlapur where the Belaku students are studying. The teachers were impressed with Belaku kids (who received their primary education in PPC) as they seem to do a better job with English than the non PPC kids.

Vegetable garden tended by the kids (tomatoes, chilli pepper, cucumbers, gourds, leafy vegetables, bananas)

Parents meeting with project partner (KT Meril) in the dining room.

Obligatory group photo with the Asha steward (Tata)

Marks sheets for the Belaku kids in various grades

Sl. No

Name Class Kannada Hindi English Maths Science Social Studies

Total

1 Kaveri D/o Dasrah 9th 61 52 48 51 65 572 Sunil S/o Dasrath 6th 67 45 38 44 56 623 Abhishek S/o Jayvanth 7th 74 39 45 56 45 584 Princy D/oPrakash 8th 68 54 42 47 53 685 Pawan S/oTukaram 9th 75 61 51 68 62 746 Kalpana S/oShanker 9th 70 46 45 54 61 747 Manjula D/o Dasrath 5th 65 49 52 63 66 788 Elshon S/oManohar 8th 74 51 49 52 48 549 Martha S/oBaburao 8th 55 42 49 55 42 6110 Jaganath S/oManohar 8th 75 51 42 47 58 6511 Sony D/oYesheppa 8 78 54 55 60 62 7812 YeshodhaD/o Jalendra 8 64 45 38 52 60 7413 Anushamma D/oShanker 5th 82 68 46 45 55 6314 Akash S/oSuresh 3rd 75 44 48 41 49 5415 Priya D/oPrakash 10th 68 48 44 56 58 6416 Arun S/oLaxman 4th 74 45 54 51 56 7517 Sachin S/oManohar 8th 84 65 47 64 68 7818 AjaykumarS/o Bhemsha 5th 64 47 54 56 58 7019 Shivkumar S/oSuresh 5th 63 56 50 54 58 6820 Prashanth S/o Swamidas 9th 79 68 55 58 61 75