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“Reflections” - Arthik Samata Mandal Page : 1

We are happy that Arthik Samatha Mandal (ASM), taking the inspiration from Mahatma

Gandhi, J.C. kumarappa, Gora, Saraswathi Gora and Devendra Kumar in the

leadership of Late Mr. Veeraiah, has been successful in fulfilling its role in the betterment

of our society, especially in the field of integrated rural development, with a secular and

scientific approach. In this journey of ours through the last thirty two years many

individuals, institutions, government, national and international donors and the communities

we are working with have extended their immense support and cooperation.

Many volunteers and students from India and abroad took time to be at ASM. Project

Trust is a UK based organisation which selects and sends its enthusiastic youngsters

overseas, male and female, to have an educational experience during their gap year by

volunteering in different organisations. ASM has been receiving Project Trust volunteers

for the last seven years. Ms. Hannah Leanne Brackston is one such volunteer to

ASM in the year 2006-2007. Impressed with her time at ASM she returned back to India

in September 2008 along with her friend Ms.Jillian Keast Greenwood to talk to the

staff and have a better understanding of the work that ASM does. They had documented

their interviews of ASM staff at different levels. The first part of the book presents their

documentation.

The second part of the book presents the experiences and reflections of few more staff

of ASM, who had been part of ASM’s journey in the field of development. I would like to

extend my thanks to my nieces, Ms. Subha Gora, M.A. (M.Phil) and Dr. Demos

Gora, MBBS(DNB) for their help and support. I would also like to thank our staff Mr.

Murthy YSRC and Ms. Suvani V for their technical support.

Foreword

Nau GoraSecretary, Arthik Samata MandalApril 18, 2009


I, Hanna Leonne Brackston, visited ASM twice. I was a volunteer ofProject Trust, U. K, placed with ASM. This experience of mine broughtme back along with my friend Jillian Keast Greenhood in August, 2008for about three weeks to help ASM in its activities. We took updocumenting ASM’s efforts in integrated rural development. Weinteracted with some of the staff and community members and madea report of our interviews and interactions.

Part-I

I’m fortunate to have been brought up in a well developed country with good social servicesand securities, excellent access to education at all levels, consistent availability of healthcare and other facilities. But here in India the situation is different. During my first visit toASM I have observed and learned the lifestyle, culture and attitude of people. ASM’s secularand scientific outlook, its developmental activities and approaches in such a political,cultural and social ethos inspired me to document their work. This is a mixture of a historyof ASM, information about programmes, past and present and case studies of staffmembers and the community who have helped by ASM and inturn helping theircommunities.

The name “Arthik Samata” comes from the Gandhian 13th constructive program meaningeconomic equality. Arthik Samata Mandal (ASM) was founded by Gora and J.C. Kumarappawho were inspired by Gandhian Principles of humanity and equality. Gora, founder of theAtheist Centre, was a well known Atheist and social activist. Atheist Centre is located inVijayawada city of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Mr. Veeriaih, Secretary and Chief functionary of ASM, responded the 1977 cyclone andtidal wave which devastated the coast of Andhra by taking up relief activities along withthe members of Atheist Centre. Later in 1978, the felt need to establish a voluntaryorganization due to the disastrous after-math of the events urged him to register ASM.ASM’s activities have grown since then and now not only covers aid and relief for disasters,but also covers a broad spectrum of activities which include practical and preventativehealth care, Education, Vocational trainings,Environmental protection, Community baseddisaster preparedness, habitat and livelihoodimprovement, women empowerment, Humanrights and Child rights, etc. The operational areasin Andhra Pradesh include Krishna, Guntur,Nellore, Prakasam, East and West Godavari andNalgonda and many more. The currentSecretary of ASM is Smt. Nau Gora.

To understand the changes that have taken placesince ASM came to life, we wanted to understand


1. What the villages were like before ASM’s developmental interventions?2. How ASM started?3. What is the difference in the standard of living of the communities after ASM’sinterventions?

The first activities that ASM had taken up in their relief and rehabilitation programs wasestablishment of child nutrition centers and health camps. Our conversation withMrs. Chinnamma, one of the oldest members of ASM about these early days, revealed

some of the very important aspects ofASM’s work in bringing about changeand the extent to which it had helped incoping with the previous rural problems.

The first nutrition centre was started inS.V.Palem (Surapaneni Vari Palem, asmall village only a couple of kilometresfrom Srikakulam) as the mal-nourishedchildren were getting sick frequently.Chinnamma also described in detailhow the hygiene of the children wasappalling with their clothes dirty and hairunwashed uncombed and matted. Evenfrom what I have seen in the village

today, I can see the enormous progress that ASM have made with good hygiene practices.Now everyone is so perfectly presented and clean. Saris and clothes are washed everyday after wearing. Once or twice a week hair is washed, and everyday it is combed andwith the women’s hair is oiled then neatly plaited. This same attention is paid to majority ofthe children. Despite the fact that in the west we have good levels of hygiene, we often feelless neat and presentable than the Indian women and children. She explained how at thattime there were no study houses, only mud and thatched huts. Many will be broken downeven now when there is a cyclone, depression or even just during monsoon season.

One of the major challenges that ASM had faced in the initial days, she explained, was justto approach the villagers. The villagers’ had strong resistance and distrust in the volunteersof ASM who were trying to help them, about their real motives behind their service. Childrenwould not talk to the volunteers because they had never met outside visitors before andwere frightened with no real knowledge of manners. The parents knew nothing aboutnutritious food or medicines and actually feared that ASM’s volunteers were poisoning thechildren. When ASM started to vaccinate, the children would run away because they didn’tunderstand that it was for their own good. The women also tried to keep the children awayfrom the volunteers, because they thought that the children would be kidnapped. This wasbecause previously some missionaries had come to the village and taken many of thechildren to put them in hostel convent schools, Chinnamma


explained. It took ASM a long time to earn the villagers’ trust. It seems to have taken aprocess of repetitive awareness programs by ASM to slowly encourage people to seesome of the benefits. Trust is a major challenge for any new organisation in rural India.

The nutrition feeding centre, we have learnt, beganjust as a table at the side of the road in S.V.Palem.They managed to build a shed after a while for thecentre in the same place. We have also learnt thatpreviously, in this area, there was no building forthe community to meet or for the relief work. Therewere only homes and very basic schools andtemples.

ASM’s feeding centre was available for children upto the age of 10 or 11 (5th class). They would eatmain meals at home but at the centresupplementary items were provided free of charge.In the very early days it was just milk that too madewith milk power that had been donated from othercountries after the cyclone and tidal wave. Againas neither the children nor their parents had neverseen this type of milk before and they were verysuspicious of it at first. Later as the organizationreceived more donations and funding they beganto provide more variations of nutrition. The centre

was open morning time 6-30am to 8-30am and they provided Upma, (an Indian breakfast,good for energy) and ragi malt. Twice a week eggs were given for protein. The childrenhad their lunch at home and in the evening the feeding centres provided green gram andother pulses, nuts, bread and biscuits. After ASM had promoted enough awareness thechildren came willingly. The centre served about 70-80 young children in this village for acouple of years. Within 6 months it was visible change could be noticed in the children

regarding how much good thenutritious food was doing them.They all gained weight and strength.This meant they had a betterimmune system and otherdiseases were prevented. Throughthe children the mothers also cameto learn of the importance ofnutritious food.

Kanu Gandhi & Abha Gandhi with ASM Children


It was through this initial contact with the children the ASM began to teach about healthypractices, such as; teeth brushing, washing the body, hair and clothes. On the road sidesimple medical care was provided for people in need. This health related care andeducation has developed enormously since these early days. We find it very inspiring,the quantity of time, understanding and patience that it must have taken ASM before theycould see the benefits of their work.

Following the 1977 cyclone and tidal wave, the Atheist centre also received a lot of donationsof clothing and bags. These were taken to the nutrition centres for distribution. It wasmainly warm clothing because following a cyclone there is so much wind and days ofrain. The dramatic change in temperature makes people sick. It also means that if theyleave the house, people will get wet. Many only have one or may be two changes ofclothes, because of their economic poverty and the wet clothes make them cold andsick. I remember experiencing this problem first hand during my last visit to India. Duringthe rainy season very few children go to school. This is still the case, because of a lack ofchanges of dry clothes and a fear of sickness. In my country we have clothes for everyseason and a lot of them. It is never a fear that cold or wet weather will make us sick andif it should happen we have readily available health care.

The first workers for ASM began as volunteers, as the organisation had no establisheddonors or money. Village women who did not already work were found and asked to helprun the feeding centres. Chinnamma was one of these women; she came forward becauseshe wasn’t working at the time yet had a six month old baby. She worked initially as avolunteer and her baby received milk and nutritious food through the help of ASM. Otherpresent members of ASM staff joined this way. Chinnamma still works for ASM today atSrikakulam.

Many others of today’s staff members joined shortly afterthe feeding centres as Balwadi teachers. This was aproject that quickly became a huge success andexpanded. A large quantity of staff we talked to beganas Balwadi teachers, were trained and many continuedtheir education. They now work as project departmentmanagers, campus managers and other experiencedstaff members.

Many of the ASM staff have a very long relationship withASM. In my interaction with them, we felt that they musthave a variety of different experiences with ASM. Webegan by taking the case study of Mrs. Ch. Gunavathi,shortly known as Guna to everyone. Guna joined as ateacher in a Balwadi run by ASM in Akividu,

Relief Activities at Kolleru Lake


her native place, where her sister was already teaching, at the age of fifteen after completingher 10th class as her family’s economic situation didn’t allow her to study further. Duringher time there she was also trained for nine months by ASM in the teacher’s trainingprogramme. Running of Balwadis was one of the large programs of ASM which acted asa pre-school. They educated very young children of 3-5 about basic alphabets and words,good practices, and the importance of education. This is a form of education that alsotakes place in our country as well to help the children to practice school based learningfrom a young age and also helps with their interactions with other children and childdevelopment.

Guna then progressed to working as an elementary teacher, for 1st to 5th class students.During this time as a teacher she was able secure a degree in economic, history andpolitical science in combination with the support of ASM by providing fees, books etc.This is a very similar story to those of many other staff who have also been supported byASM to complete further education. It is a clearwork ethic of ASM to try to provide opportunitiesand knowledge to all of their staff through itsencouragement and support.

Guna started in working in ASM Srikakulamcampus in 1999. Interested to know how shefelt moving away from home to work we askedher what it means to her. Contended sheexplains how her family was very supportive ofher decision as they could clearly understoodwhat it means to her. She was improving in allaspects of her personality both personally and professionally. She explained how for Indianwomen in her mid twenties it is very unusual to be unmarried in spite of being economicallyindependent. She is very grateful to Mrs. Nau for supporting her in being strong till shefound a suitable man to get married to, without letting the social pressure to push her intoan unsuited match.

Guna herself married two years ago at the age of twenty seven has finally found her rightmate. Though it’s an arranged marriage she liked him a lot when she met him. We havespent a lot of time with the two of them and it makes me very happy because they clearlyhave a good companionship. Many of the qualities of their relationship are the same asthose I have seen in my country. Many husbands in the Indian villages do not contribute tohouse work, and there is still a big problem with men drinking in the villages and notspending time with families. However Guna’s husband is considerate and helpful andtheir gender roles are largely equal. In fact through Guna’s work with ASM, her husbandhas also finished his studies and joined a new ASM program himself. He works with adisaster awareness program sponsored by German Agro Action’s funding.

During Guna’s time with ASM in Srikakulam she has been involved in many of the differentactivities and developed a very good understanding of different things. Through her


continuous hard work and efforts she had proved herself as a responsible member ofASM. We talked to her a lot about this and what other personal differences ASM hadmade to her life. She talked on so many aspects. In particular the way that ASM hadhelped her to change her attitudes and thinking. She explained how much of an inspirationMrs. Nau Gora and Mr. Veeraiah have been and how much she has learnt from talking tothem. They have also counselled her on many matters, how to deal with problems andhow to work with others. She says even though her own parents are her maternal parentswho gave birth to her Mr. Veeraiah and Mrs. Nau Gora are like parents also because theyhave helped her develop her mind. If Guna faces a problem she will freely talk to Mrs. NauGora who can help her to find a solution and other options. Guna is committed to work forin community and ASM.

Because of the different activities that ASM carries on and the opportunity that ASM createsto its staff to meet a wide multitude of people from different social, economic, cultural,geographical, political and other differences helps them understand life and the worldbetter. This is one feeling that many among the staff whom we have spoken with haveexpressed and are glad about. They also feel that if not because of ASM such a thingwould never have been possible in their lives. This exposure to people from differentcultures is due to ASM’s world wide relations. Guna also takes huge responsibility inlooking after the volunteers live as campus residents. Certainly her English and knowledgeof other cultures would never have been the same with out this exposure. Consideringthis factor I do feel there is a large contrast between Guna’s attitudes towards me and theresponses of the other village women towards me. In the village people do not know thatwe don’t wear saris and don’t eat rice and curry everyday in the west. They are also muchless careful with us, in terms of food and water habits and have little understanding of theculture shock and adjustments we must make in coming here. During our stay here,Guna was some where between a mother, sister and very close friend sharing culturesand lives.2 The friendship and things we both learnt about each others culture is somethingvery unique that was only possible because of our join involvement with ASM.

I was interested to learn that other members of the campus staff had joined ASM throughthe same route as Guna. For example another residential member, Ms. K. Aruna alsojoined ASM after 10th class, as a Balwadi teacher. Before this she learnt tailoring in a

tailoring unit run ASM which are established toteach young girls the skill of embroidering andtailoring so that they can be independent. Arunacan now earn through her tailoring work as wellwith the sewing machine that ASM had providedher with after her course. She worked at a Balwaditeacher for 2 years in Koduru near her village ofNakkavanidari. She talks with a lot of pride aboutthis work and one of her


memorable moments is the time when some foreign visitors came to see her teachingand were very full of praise of her work. Through this opportunity ASM gave her she hasgreatly improved her self confidence and self esteem. Though she is not interested incontinuing her studies, because of ASM she had acquired many other skills andopportunities. Her story is similar to that of Guna, that of a young Indian girl not only beingindependent and develop as an individual but as well being able to support her family andhelp society.

Aruna has a very friendly and energetic personality and often makes people laugh withher jokes. We think her responsibilities here with ASM really suit her and have brought outa lot of her good qualities. As she has no formal qualifications after 10th class and doesn’tspeak much English, the memories she is most fond of are times when she has achievedsomething or had a role in an important occasion. For example one of her best memoriesis her involvement in decorating the office ‘Bala Bhavan’ on Srikakulam campus, for itsopening. Aruna’s family have all benefited greatly from ASM. This is a very important detailin understanding the way ASM work to promote the livelihood of families and communitiesas a whole, rather than just helping individuals.

Aruna has two sisters working also with ASM. We visited her older sister, Indira, in theKoduru ASM centre. She works as a Balwadi teacher for pre school children who cometo the centre. She also works as a women’s organiser of ASM in Koduru area. She helpsconduct training and meetings for the women. The women’s groups also work with women’s

banking and the loan providing. ASM have given her this important role as well as goodfacilities and training. ASM also supported her to complete a Bachelors degree. She nowis very happily settled with her family there and was proud to show us her home and herwork. Her children are studying very well and they are well mannered and presented. It isthrough ASM’s awareness programs that as a family they have achieved this. It is throughthis older sister that Aruna came to work for ASM.

Aruna’s younger sister, Bhavani, also works for ASM, in the child sponsorship department.She entered this role after both her older sisters joined ASM. Like Aruna she is full of lifeand very warm and humorous. She has learnt a lot of skills through ASM’s training. Shealso is not yet married and lives on her own independently. This is a big step for a youngwoman and she explained how ASM has given many girls like her sisters an opportunityto take charge of their lives.

Sri Devendra Kumar and Smt. Atma Prabha at Srikakulam


All three of these daughters can through ASM, financially support their parents. Theirfather works in agricultural labour, but their mother has joined the women’s groups andtaken loans from ASM. She has bought 3 small buffalos and so now have her own businessand income from this. This is a huge step for her mother and has given the family a higherquality of life through this. For her mothers personal development it has raised her selfesteems and self worth. It is through her daughter’s involvement with ASM that she cameto know about these women groups. It is an example of child to parent education. In theirfamily home ASM have also provided a toilet. This has really improved village sanitationand self worth, as they have privacy and are self sufficient in their own home.

The other staff member we spoke to is Mrs. K. Nagamani. She also began as a Balwaditeacher for ASM. However her initial joining was very different. She lived in Gummuluru, avillage by the Godavari river, in west Godavari district. Her father had died when she wasfifteen and she was the eldest sibling, with two younger brothers and 2 younger sisters.The youngest brother was five at the time of their father’s death and her mother had tostay at home to do house work and look after the family. They became very poor and hadfew prospects.

As soon as Nagamani finished 10th class she took a job in a government school. It wasvoluntary teaching, but she had an income of about Rs.100 a month. She also did privatetuition with other teacher’s, an hour in the morning and then an hour in the evening.Through this she earned another Rs.40 a month. Her next eldest sister also joined in this

job to provide an income for their family to eat and tosupport the education of the younger siblings.

I talked to Nagamani about the reasons why shehadn’t been able to continue her studies. Besidesthe financial impracticalities she explained that thecollege was seven to eight kilometers away. At thetime there was no awareness of the importance offemale child education and young girls wouldn’t beencouraged to travel those distances. Parents weretoo scared to let girls cycle and also feared for theon looking of men. At this time there were also nobuses. She worked instead as a teacher in order toearn until 1986. At this time a cyclone hit her districtand there was so much flooding. She explained howall the houses were ankle or knee deep in water. Allthe crops were destroyed. People had no jobs, nomoney, no food and even education couldn’t continue.

“Reflections” - Arthik Samata Mandal

At the time Mr. Veeraiah and Mrs. Nau Gora travelled at to their village. They came by boatfor 7 km to reach there and were shocked by the state of the flooding. They began toprovide basic care, similar to the work started in the villages of Srikakulam in 1978. Theystarted with a small feeding centre by the road side, that fed children between the ages of6 months and 14/15years. They provided bread and milk that was fresh every morningand it ran for a year. Nagamani involved in this work as a volunteer and they went on tobegin teaching the children in the evening times. This teaching was for children aged 9-14. These were all school dropouts whose families depended on their income. So theywould go to agricultural work in the mornings and then in the evenings Nagamani andothers taught them in the night and shepherd schools run by ASM. Nagamani’s sister

also joined in this activity. They eachreceived a salary from ASM of 200 rupeesa month. This vastly improved home life.

The Balwadi program was first startedby ASM in or to increase the literacy levelsin the communities it’s working with. Thegovernment schools, then, conductedclasses from fifth class only. So ASM,trough its Balwadis facilitated to fill in thegap for the children to attaincompetencies for entering thegovernment schools. As a similar

program has now been taken up by the government under the name of Anganwadi, ASMsupports these Anganwadi centres in the identification of children suffering from malnutritionand providing them with egg and milk. They also help the Anganwadi staff in counsellingparents regarding the importance of nutritious food and on how they can prepare abalanced diet with things available in their household like green leafy vegetables etc. Inplaces like West Godavari where there are balwadies running but the problem of waterpollution exists, ASM constructed water filtration tanks.

Along with the essentials, the Balwadi teacher training programmes conducted by ASMalso emphasised with the types of education that need to be spread with communities.The training given was a three month residential course in Vijayawada at the AtheistCentre. The programme also included field visits. Prameela and Aruna described this asa very different experience for them as they had never spent a long stretch of time awayfrom the family home, this will have been true for almost all the young women as it is notIndian custom to allow young women away from the home unaccompanied. Many of thewomen were homesick. The training given intensive and included not only games andsongs to be played with the children but also other activities such as motivation techniques,child psychology, health and hygiene, nutritional training and food preparation techniques.ASM also invited doctors to teach medical areas such as health and hygiene. Rhymesand dance steps to communicate good health habits were taught. Physical Drills were

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also taught to the teachers to exercise the children. These were designed with care tostimulate all areas of the body.

The training given by ASM sounds more thorough andmore specific to the areas where social education isneeded. These trainings gave the teachers a wellrounded grounding of child development. A certifiedcertificate was also given at the end of the programme.It is sustainable training because once trained theteaching skills are transferable to any village,organisation or school. It also promotes the skills ofthe women who are trained and gives them a lot ofself value. Theses Balwadi schools are a reallyimportant way of educating good practices from ayoung age and preparing children for school. They alsoacted as aids to the parents going to the fields for work.Education is an area that has vastly improved in thevillages through ASM’s work and these Balwadischools were therefore the beginning of a wholegeneration of educated, literate children and adults.

Nagamani also showed us all of the teaching materials that she had made and used atthis time. One wonderful thing about Nagamani is how artistic and imaginative she is.She has so many enthusiastic ideas and seems to have really been inspired by theteachers training programs. She showed us a whole book of simple Telugu for babies,alphabets with drawings and animal names, colours etc that she had made. She alsoshared us flash cards and even visual aids that she had stitched, such as puppets. Shehad used these to tell stories and educate about good practices. She also showed usphotographs of some role plays that she had done with the children. For example she didrole plays which taught about good practices, such as, with litter and also how to treatothers. She made these plays funny and this worked really well with kids. She began withclasses of 40 or so but slowly she described year on year how there were less childrendue to family planning education.

Nagamani now works as a teacher in the extra coaching centre at Srikakulam. Thesecentres are established by ASM to help the first generation learners with their studies.She takes the youngest children and spends a lot of time making lesson plans and visualaids. She also does house/school visits to secure attendance.

Her youngest brother also became a sponsor child of ASM. The child sponsorshipprogramme then was funded by Save the Children Fund, U.K. This meant that moneywas provided for him to study all the way until he completed a degree. Not only did thismoney help with his equipment and his books and fees, but the exposure to ASM meantthat he attended a lot of awareness programs. This taught the family as a whole abouthygiene and health practices and other valuable life skills. Nagamani explained how her


mother was also required to attend monthly meetings for his sponsorship. It was throughthese meetings that she and the family were able to take a new approach to their familycast.The family are Brahmins, a high caste of Hindus. They can be priests in the temples, theyalso follow other rules such as a vegan diet, certain dress etc. One of the biggest socialproblems is that with the Brahmin caste, no-one who is not a Brahmin can enter theirhome. This made the family isolated and lonely after the death of their father. It wasthrough ASM that they learnt that we are all of the same blood, caste is un-important.They began to invite others to their home after this. In-fact we talked to Nagamani in herhome and she was so excited and proud to have us sit with her there. Her brother evenhad an inter-caste love marriage, after this new way of thinking that ASM gave him. Nagamaniexplained how difficult this had been as the rest of the family, aunties, uncles etc andwould not even attend the celebration as they disapproved of this so much. Slowly nowthey are starting to understand. In this way ASM have made a huge difference to thesocial and personal awareness of the family.

Even Nagamani’s husband, Mr. Radha KrishnaMurthy, also works at ASM. Being a Brahmin hewas at times working as a priest in the Hindutemple in his village. He said that though he hadmet Mr. Veeraiah only twice, he left an indelibleimpression in his mind. On one of these occasionshe was offered to help ASM in the agricultural work.he talked about how ASM have improved the paddycrop production through different strategies andgood equipment and says that an example of thisis irrigation. He says he is proud to help the local

farmers with innovative methods to produce more and get more income with theopportunity given to him by ASM.

Nagamani and her husband say that if it wasn’t for ASM their family would have had nofuture only suffering with poverty. She left with a beautiful description of how ASM’s workwas like putting a candle in every home bringing light to very dark situation.

Another person we have spoken to is Mr. Venkateswara Rao, he looks after the smalldairy farm run by ASM. Having lost his parents at a very tender age he could not studybeyond sixth class. Both he and his older brother used to work on paddy fields as dailywage labourers. Upon Mr. Veeraiah’s enquiring if he would like to take care of buffaloes atthe dairy farm run by ASM he had agreed. It had been seven years since. Later hisbrother also joined ASM a labourer and does a lot of campus maintenance. One thing Ihave noticed about Venkateswara Rao is that he is keen to involve and help in anything extra


that is needed. Lifting, fetching things, agricultural help and even at times he has helpedwith campus repair work, serving food and packaging food during flood times. It is aquality of helpfulness that ASM has brought out of him. Despite having few educationalskills ASM has helped him gain a lot of other abilities.

He is now a happily married man with sons and a daughter. He explained how ASM havehelped by providing books and clothes for his children. Two of his children also come tothe extra coaching centre that we have been involved in on the Srikakulam campus. Hetalks favourably of this. His most memorable moment with ASM is when ASM providedhim with 5000 rupees to build a proper roof for his house.

For many other men who work with ASM doing this kind of work, work provides goodwages including other help and advice when it is needed from ASM. There is a securityamong the staff with ASM, as ASM try to help them to secure the future for their childrenalso. Many are sponsor children or at least have access to equipment and the extra-coaching centers where possible. With the female workers, the sweepers and the kitchenstaff, there was another trend I noticed. This was that most of these women had come toASM in financial crisis, needing work. Most of them were either abandoned or widowed. Inthe case of the three women I have interviewed, two of them had been abandoned bytheir husbands and left with very young children.

One of the ladies we have spoken to is Ms.Lakshmi Tulasamma has worked now in ASM forover twenty years. She came to ASM after herhusband had left her with no money. She beganworking in the hospital at Srikakulam serving thepatients, fetching food and water etc. She said shehad enjoyed this role and the mix of people sheworked with. She also cooks for camps and reliefactivities. She has greatly improved her skills andself confidence through this important role.Previously she would have only ever cooked for amaximum of 10 people, usually family members.With ASM she has had to learn to cook for up to 500people. She has also learned through this how to plan and organize a work team.Cooperation, patience and using her initiative have been essential in this job. As she hadthree young children when she was abandoned we were keen and very curious to knowhow ASM helped her during this time. She explained how along with her monthly salaryMR. Veeraiah also helped her with an extra of Rs. 250 – Rs 350 per month which wouldbe useful to meet her personal needs. As ASM helped her three children to study throughits child sponsorship programme they were all able to get educated. This helped usunderstand how there is an improvement in education through the generations. LakshmiTulasamma herself only studied to fifth class.


The caste system is also in place in Indian society. This is a system that sets someabove others such as only some high castes can play the role of a Hindu priest andemphasis on this system is decreasing. However the importance of inter-caste relationsand social interaction needs to be continued in order to gain respect for those in thelowest castes. The government regulations mean that caste now does not need to bedeclared in job applications and on other legal documents. ASM actively encourages thisand the Gora family prides itself on its inter-caste marriages, it also firmly upholds that nodowry will provided or accepted for marriages within the family and they will accept lovemarriages. Mrs. Nau Gora comments that caste is not relevant when helping those whoneed it she comments that “We are all human beings”. We have therefore also talked toprivate members of staff and others employed by ASM who are not directly involved withthe projects.

During conversations with us Mrs. Samudraveni comments that if it was not for workingat ASM, she would have never met or been exposed to westerners and worked amongintellectuals. Sumudraveni describes herself as a helper at ASM. She does various jobsat ASM including cleaning, washing, etc. She has been working here for 20 years. One ofher two daughters was a sponsor child. Around the time she joined ASM she had beenrecently widowed not only leaving her in a financial crisis but as well as the sole breadwinnerfor the family. Mrs. Nau heard of her troubles through her daughter who was attendingeducational activities connected with ASM. As she currently had a post available shedecided to help her. Samudraveni describes how Mrs. Nau Gora not only helped herfinancially but also personally to come to terms with her loss and the problems connectedwith this. Her daughters, she described became difficult and blamed her for their situation.My heart ached for her as I cannot imagine the pressure this would have affected herwhile she was dealing with her own grief. Added to this was the sudden launch from acomfortable life to a life that is verging towards destitution. Mrs. Nau Gora and the familyhelped her accept this and now we encounter a positive woman, constantly smiling. Shedescribes her work as “happy”. She is obviously comfortable with the environment andthe atmosphere at ASM.

Mrs. Nau also spoke of other staff that had similar situations. One lady she told us of wasalso widowed 10 years ago and went from a wealthy, married position to one which wasalone and unfortunately in debt. Mrs. Nau Gora and the Gora family are helping her bygiving her a more financially stable position.

These examples show that the principles that the Gora family practice with in their socialwork is also echoed in their private life. Caste being inconsequential and the workers atASM are obviously considered an extension of the family. This statement of becoming “partof the family” was repeated by many people we talked to in many different extensions of theorganization. The people are always willing to consider themselves as part of this Gora’sglobal family.


Mrs. V. Jayalakshmi got educated with the help of ASM sponsorship programme from 6th

to 10th class. Later she underwent nursing training at Kasturba Gandhi National Trust,Indore, Madhya Pradesh. After completion of her training, she returned back to ASM andsince then she is working as a Health Worker in rural areas.

Her father was a carpenter and her mother was atailor. Though she and her husband belonged to thesame cast and the families knew each other, herparents did not come forward for the marriage beingafraid of any hurdles arising from her sister’s inter-caste marriage. Mr. Veeraiah conducted their weddingand asked them to deposit the little amount they hadin the bank for their future. She fondly recalls howthat small amount which she then deposited in thebank twenty years ago came to her rescue in timesof need for her children. She considers it to be a greatgift from Mr. Veeraiah.

Jayalakshmi has been involved in all of ASM’s healthinitiatives for the past twenty years. SupplementaryNutrition Program for Balwadi School (preschool)children below 3 years gave life to many malnourishedchildren who otherwise might have perished. SpecialNutrition Centres were arranged and identified undernourished, malnourished children on house to house

basis and supplied low cost nutritious food like nutrition powder, milk, groundnuts andseasonal fruits, and as well counselled the mothers about the importance of the low costnutritious diet. ASM extended its Supplementary Nutrition Program to elementary schoolgoing children whoattended the remedialeducation centres with anaim to improve theirnutritional status. ASMinitiated in forming SchoolHealth Committees with anobjective to bringawareness on personalhygiene and sanitation,which helped to educatetheir parents and thecommunity through thesechildren.

ASM also conducts the awareness sessions for boys and girls of adolescent age group toeducate them about their personal hygiene, importance of balanced diet, problems facedwith child marriages. Girls are educated especially about menstrual hygiene and anaemia.


Special attention is paid to Rubella vaccinefor girls. Girls and parents are educated aboutthe various bad effects caused due to Rubella(German Measles) disease in the newbornand the necessity of rubella vaccine to girls.Overwhelming response from parents’ sidehelped vaccinating adolescent girls in largenumber through ASM. Adolescents are alsogiven sex education and well informed aboutSTDs and HIV/AIDS. Adolescent Peer Groups

One of the activities I, Hannah, have been veryinvolved in is the extra coaching centre. I taughtEnglish and did games, art, dance and songs withthe children of the Srikakulam centre. These extracoaching centres have been running by ASM sincethe last thirty years mainly because of two reasons.The schools in rural areas are not competent enoughto give quality education and create an amiableatmosphere for the overall development of the

are formed to act as catalyst between thecommunity and ASM to enhance the healthawareness among the adolescents.

ASM conducts several health camps toeducate the rural communities about first-aid,importance of antenatal check ups, safemotherhood practices, immunisation, familyplanning, value of nutritious diet, personalhygiene, environment clean and green, waterpurification methods, etc. ASM also conducts health check up camps for school childrenin the disciplines of dental, dermatology, general health. General health camps areconducted for the community as well.

ASM started a first ever Rural Hospital, by name Arogya Sudha built in its campus atSrikakulam to provide health care. With the monetary help from Save the Children Fund,UK, we could provide better facilities for the inpatient care. Later, Ambulance service wasalso started to provide emergency care.

Jayalakshmi expresses her happiness for being actively involved in all the health projectsof ASM from the day she joined as health worker.

Extra Coaching Centre/ Remedial centre


children. As many of the children attending these schools are first generation learnersthey did not have either guidance or friendly atmosphere at home to study. The extracoaching centre is for children aged four to ten. They come from 6 am to 8am beforeschool, then 4pm – 6pm in the evenings after school. The aim is that through these extraclasses these poorer children can maintain a high level of education. The need is becauseall of the slightly better off families send their children to private tuition before or afterschool. This creates a big divide in the abilities of the richer and the poorer. ASM want thisextra education to be available to all. In fact the education governor of Andhra Pradeshremarked that children attending the ASM extra coaching centres are a lot more energeticand participate much more than children of other private tuition centres.

From our observations we have seen how theteachers work and the activities which are availableto the children. From 6 am -6:30am, the teachersdrill the children. The exercise is good for their healthand also practices discipline. In the evenings theyalso give the children time to eat, do homework andat the end the teachers organize games or culturalactivities. Then the children leave after singing thenational anthem. During our classes, we took eachage group for half an hour a day and did basicalphabets, spellings, a little grammar and tried topractice a lot of spoken English. We felt this wasimportant as it is something we could provide asnative English speakers, which was different fromthe teachers here. Our observations were similar to

that of other people in that the children were so enthusiastic and excited to participate inclass. We could tell that they enjoyed coming to the centre and we felt this indicated ahuge success for ASM.

This time we spoke to several of the teachers about how they had been trained and whatother things they did towards the extra coaching centre. They have all had several daystraining when they joined and many such as Nagamani began as Balwadi teachers. Radhikaa teacher on Srikakulam campus explained how previously she had worked as a privatetuition teacher, but found working in ASM much more worthwhile and rewarding. Forexample she explained how in addition to the regular classes, teachers at ASM are alsocommitted to teaching about good healthy practices, hygiene, petty savings etc. Sheexplained how they encouraged the children to follow what they have learnt.

The teachers educated them to keep aside a couple of rupees every time they were givenmoney for sweets, or by a relative. Each time they should keep it in a safe place. Thismeant that at a point, for example the rainy season, when families have no work thereforeno money, the children could use what they had saved to help with their own education, forbooks, fees etc. I was shocked that they taught this to children as young as first class.


However it was explained to us that parents often do not save and the men are oftenspending money on drink or movies which means that lack of family money at times is abig cause of school dropouts. Therefore children’s saving was so important and alsoencouraged a good mindset for saving as adults.

This was one area that was taught to the teachers in their training. They continue to havetraining programs for a few days every three to four months. I was present for one ofthese previously and very impressed by the level of quality in the training. ASM provided avariety of outside speakers who taught about different learning and teaching techniquesand child psychology. I think these are very motivating for the staff as I have witnessedhow they often produce new flash cards and activities after these sessions which theyare keen to use.

The planning for the extra coaching centre is also based around the time table of thegovernment schools. The teachers have good relations with these teachers and gothrough the yearly syllabus with them. They also take a long time collecting individualmarks for each pupil at exam time and identify the strengths and weaknesses of eachpupil. In turn the government teachers encourage the pupils to attend the extra coachingcentres. To add to this the extra coaching centre teachers also identify children who areregularly late or misbehave and the teachers go to the children’s homes to speak to theparents about the problems.

They explained to us the reasons for children’s absentness or lateness. For exampleeither the parents are occupied with other siblings and not aware of the importance of thecentre for their children, or often un-motivated children go and play instead of going directlyto school because no one accompanies them. There is also a big problem in that theagricultural workers often go to the field at 6 am, returning at 6pm and so they are notaround to send the children to school. The teachers also make house visits to everyhome once or twice a year, to collect household information.

Finally the teachers also explained how ASM had provided books, bags, pens etc to everysingle government educated child. This is essential to the economically backward familieswhere buying these items is a big family burden. ASM also have provided benches, tables,charts and teaching materials, such as black board paint, play equipment, toilets and

even a safe lockable library in the governmentschools. This assures a really high level ofeducation quality and children, teachers andparents say the efforts of ASM make a hugedifference to future opportunities for the children.

Bridge school project

One of the really important educational programsthat ASM provided for a few years was a Bridgeschool for school drop outs. I, Hannah, was


heavily involved in this program for 2006-2007. I taught English daily and did art andgames with the children. The idea behind it was to provide education for children who haddropped out of school, with the aim that they could then be integrated back into mainstreameducation by the next academic year.

The problem of school drop outs is a large one in rural Andhra Pradesh. I was shocked bythe number of cases in each village. I spent a long time making case studies for thechildren and understanding the reasons why they no longer attended school. For half ofthe cases the problem was lack of awareness with in the families. As many of thesechildren are the first generation to be educated the elders at home did not understand the

importance of education. During thechildren’s stay with the ASM BridgeSchool, ASM actually conducted a lotof parent meetings to emphasize whya child needed to be educated andhow the families need to support thechild. ASM also taught both theparents and children about otheraspects like healthy practices, theimportance of birth registration, etc.

For other children they came from such poor economic backgrounds that the parentscouldn’t afford for the children to be going to school and not working. In many cases thechildren had been going to the fields to do agricultural labour from a very young age. Insome cases because the parents worked very long days, therefore the children weren’tsupervised and sent to school. In other cases where children lived in very remote orsmaller villages, there was no local school and parents either couldn’t afford to pay fortransport or didn’t want their children travelling so far. In a few cases there were childrenwho have none or only one parent. This meant that the family again struggled economicallyand in some cases if there were a lot of younger siblings then the older children was to

remain home to look after the younger ones or todo household work. It seemed to come down to amatter of poverty and a lot of social and financialdifficulties.

To deal with this problem the children were invitedto live on the campus for eight months. They foundout about these children through home visits andword of mouth. Then they selected the fifty mostappropriate children. During the Bridge Schoolprogram everything including food, accommodation,books, uniforms etc were provided for the childrento ensure that there is no extra


financial burden on the parents. For the eight months that I was involved (Dec 2006-July2007) they had a total of fifty students. Two thirds of the children were male and allaged between 7 and 15. I was shocked to find that due to leaving school at such youngages many of the children were 3 or 4 school classes below their peers. The level ofEnglish was poor and a few children had to begin Telugu alphabets from scratch.

Their living space as well as their food was taken care of very well. Due to the quality andquantity of the food a lot of the children who had been malnourished put on a healthyamount of weight. They also had access to good health care and checkups on campus.In the beginning days of the bridge School the children also had to be taught a lot ofhealthy practices such as teeth brushing, and showering twice a day. I felt all of thesewere very important life skills. There was a very strong sense of community among thechildren regarding the way they looked after each other. There was a problem for a whilewith bullying and because of home sickness some of the boys fought and misbehaved. Alot of counselling was given to each child to help improve this area and to educate thechildren about bad habits that existed among some of them, such as gambling, chewingtobacco and drinking. The case of homesickness surprised me although I could relatewith this problem and was able to talk to the children about it. It was a real problem initiallyfor example several children tried to run away, one in particular climbed the gate at midnight and got into the back of a wagon headed for his town. He was picked up the nextmorning by the police. By the end of the Bridge School I remember a lot of the childrencrying and incredibly sad to leave. I think this shows the success and the good quality oflife that ASM provided for the children.

The main academic subjects were along the basic syllabus of the government schools,with classes. In addition to the whole process examinations were given at times when thegovernment schools were also doing exams to help the child cope up when he/she rejoinsregular school. At the end of this exam period ASM also funded a trip to Hyderabad. Thiswas a really special experience which the children were delighted about. Chances likethat are normally only available to the wealthier people this raised the self esteem ofthese children. In fact ASM provide similar opportunities to all of their staff and it’s a reallyunique experience essential to helping them bond.

At the end of the eight months of Bridge School, the children preformed songs that theylearnt and as drama that was used to educated people about the importance of U.B.R.There were several closing meetings and the children were given new bags, clothing andequipment to start school. New challenges were posed to ASM in joining these childrenback into school. As the government had just begun their own bridge school schemestudents from NGO’s were not accepted in most of the age groups. ASM then helpedthese children by paying to send the children to Hostel missionary schools. Howeverdespite the parent meetings run by ASM some parents just wanted the children homeand didn’t accept the importance of education. This is an on going struggle. Many childrenhowever did join their local day time government school with more motivations and abilitiesafter their time with ASM bridge School.


I am writing this story as an example of the attitude towards women which ASM is constantlyhelping women to fight against. Kanaka Durga is working for ASM as a coordinator of apsychological study of early childhood development which is being conducted by aPsychology professor from Canada, Prof. Tara. Her job is to conduct activities with childrenin villages.

Though she has completed her under-graduation she had to remain at home as a housewife as her husband struggles with the idea of her having independence from him. This ispartly so because the caste she hails from is alien to the concept of women studying andworking. She had fought hard and finally managed to step out of her house to work. Thoughshe is successfully managing her professional and personal life she still faces oppositionfrom her family. She expressed that though she wants have only one child and bring herup well she doesn’t have a choice as its against the wish of her husband and the in-laws.

It seems that this educated woman from an educated family has encountered oppositionthrough her career from the people who should be supporting and encouraging her. Theattitude towards caste among the educated shocks me as these are the people who areexpected to be intelligent and aware of these issues. They have also have been exposedto the outside world and for them to be denying the opportunity to others surprises me. Ifeel her situation will improve because I can see she is not going to give up her right towork now she has it.

She also expressed that working with ASM is like having a family support her reasoningand individuality. She says that through her work here she is not only able to gain manyskills but as well derive courage and support to face the challenges posed by life.

Difference made through generations.In order to understand the changes ASM have made over the years we have taken a casestudy of one of the agricultural workers in the Srikakulam campus. Her story itself highlightssome of the other problems in rural Andhra. She is a grandmother with a line of threegenerations of family helped by ASM. Her name is Nanacharamma and she has workedwith ASM in Srikakulam for the past twenty years. Unlike most of the other members ofstaff she is uneducated and her work is not directly with project work, but with labour ofASM’s land and catering on the campus. She never attended schools as a child, becauseher village had no school and it was too far to travel everyday to the school in the nextvillage. She also had no interest and her family hadn’t been educated so they didn’tunderstand the importance. She also came from a poor income background, so theyneeded the children to work as early as possible. She began working on a agricultural plotat he age of ten. When she got married she, along with her husband and her five childrencontinued doing the same on a small plot of family land. At the age of fifteen their only sonwas bitten by a snake whilst in the field doing agricultural work. At that time they had noaccess to health care and very little understanding about what to do to help remove thevenom. By the time they had managed to sell their small plot to pay for the


medical expenses and seek help it was too late and the son had died. She had a reallyhard time with the grief and it was too much grief for the father losing his only son andtheir land, he fell very sick and also died very soon after.

We were really moved by this story and how strong she was in telling me, as we werepractically strangers. She has clearly had a lot of difficulties but achieved a lot and despitebeing of old age is still working labour wise for ASM. She actually joined Arthik SamataMandal when Mr. Veeraiah wanted a help in the campus. He invited her to work on campuswhere she gets a good wage and at times she is involved in kitchen work with free nutritionalmeals. She talked about her observations of the health care and different people andproblems she had met. Now her twodaughters as well are employed with ASM. Inthis way ASM is directly helping them. Herother two daughters live in other villages bothdoing agricultural labour.

I was interested in whether in the secondgeneration; Nancharama’s children hadreceived education. She said all her daughtershad attended school though were not able tofinish it through. This was with theimprovements to available schools and greater awareness of education’s importance.However none of her children studied up to tenth class and for this reason their only realjob prospects are as the agricultural workers.

All four daughters are married and each has two children. Two of her grandchildren whoare in primary, come to the extra coaching centre in Srikakulam. I think it’s really importantto see how over the generations each set of children completes more years in school.Nancharamma explained how ASM helped not only through awareness about educationbut also through the sponsorship program of Plan International. She explained how thisprogram has provided her grand children with books, clothes and other materials that aretoo costly for the family to afford. The extra coaching centres have also helped to ensurethe quality of their education and taught them a lot of social and health practices. Sheremembered also how one of her granddaughters received gifts from her sponsor parents,of toys and a little torch. One of her grand sons also received a bicycle from ASM to helphim continue in a school in another village. She is very hopeful about the future of thesechildren and considering the hardship she has faced I think it’s really positive to see howfrom generation to generation ASM is bringing change through awareness and thesponsorship programs.

Sanitation – Drinking water Case study

We talked to many people about what the biggest problems had been before ASM hadbegun. Many people talked about education and health care but it seamed that for someof the rural villages the basic problem that led to so many health related problems, was


the lack of clean sterilized water. severalpeople who had lived near the river KrishnaEstuary explained that if they bore for waterall they could get was salt water due to theclose proximity to the ocean. Therefore hadto drink only from the river Krishna itself. Toillustrate this situation we went down to theKrishna in Srikakulam and brought backbottles of water.

The river water today is thick and brown, although apparently previously it was evenworse than this. The reason is not only due to the natural mud and silt that is washedfrom the banks, but it is also caused by the different uses of the river like washing animals,clothes, machinery and people. It’s also polluted with chemicals from where it passedthrough cities, as all along the banks people drop litter and go to the bathroom. On theedge of the part of the river we visited there was a lot of white foam and stagnant pools.Previously people had no option but to drink this. They also knew nothing about how toclean the water.

At the very beginning of ASM’s work, ASM began teaching people about the importance ofsafe water. People explained that previously there had been so many deaths due to polio,cholera, jaundice and diarrhea. These are all caused by feaces that made their way intothe river, due to the lack of sanitation awareness and toilets. It surprised me that manypeople didn’t even filter the water. One lady explained how some people tried to separatethe cloudy water using our bottle of Krishna water to demonstrate. They used a piece ofwhite rock that is available to buy in all villages called patika. Using our river water sheshowed us how stirring the water about 10 times with the crystal would separate themucky water into larger particles. If this was left for 20 minutes to stand still, then afterwardsthese larger dust particles sank to the bottom and the clearer top water was drunk.However even with my basic knowledge from school, we knew that this was not actuallyremoving or killing bacteria.

ASM started by explaining this fact to people. They taught the people to use this method,but then the top layer of water must be boiled, on a rolling boil for a few minutes in orderto kill the bacteria. They went on to teach how you should then still filler the water througha piece of fabric in order to remove other debris.

This is a simple process and immediately began to save lives. It was a lack of understandingabout where these diseases were coming from that was causing so much of a problem.People also didn’t know how to treat common problems at first. For example as theybegan to understand that Diarrhoea is caused by water, they would refuse to give waterto a patient suffering from this, because they believed it would make the problem worse.Of course it resulted in so many deaths from dehydration.

At every program held by ASM they would spend some time teaching about these safewater practices. Slowly over time, the government also began teaching about this problem.


ASM along with the government began to construct toilets and filtered water pumps in thevillages. This is ongoing work but has already raised sanitation levels and understandingof safe water practices.

A custom of Child Marriage

During my previous visit to India I had encountered a lot of very young women withdaughters who were my age. Over my year I began to learn how this came about. It wasbecause of the practice of child marriages. I remember meeting one lady who had marriedat the age of twelve. Her husband had been in his twenties and she had several childrenwith him. This had shocked me so much as it’s a non-existent problem in the UK.

During this visit we were able to talk with a lady who herself had married at thirteen. Shehad only studied up to sixth class. She had been the second of four daughters and so shedescribed how her parents were under alot of pressure to produce so much moneyfor dowries. The sisters were also only oneor two years apart in age. After hermarriage, she fell pregnant at the age ofthirteen. She had a baby girl by the time shewas fourteen. She explained how at thispoint she was very frightened with so manychanges going on with her both physicallyand mentally. She painfully recalls thephysical challenges that she had to face inher first few months of pregnancy also with

a lot of sickness and bleeding at times. A daughter was born healthy, but the family had alot of economic problems in supporting themselves as they were themselves still youngand with no full qualifications to support themselves. Before one year after her first deliverythe lady fell very ill as the pregnancy she was putting a lot of pressure on her internalorgans, which were also still growing.

She fell pregnant again with a son and again suffered a painful pregnancy and birth,although she knew by this point what to expect. She also had close connection to ahealth worker of ASM, who advised her and helped to look after her. In this way ASMhad a role in her health care at the time. Again after delivering her second child shefell very sick with health problems. As she could not eat consequently, she had lostso much weight and became very weak. At the time she would only sleep and thefamily expected that she would die. She was still only a teenager herself but withalready with two babies. It turned out that stress had caused ulcers on the pancreas.Eventually the family sold what little land they had bought, in order to meet hermedical expenses. She had to undergo an eight hour operation after which theproblem was largely solved. However the family suffered a lot of economic problems.


At this time she was able to join a tailoring class at ASM. After finishing her course intailoring and embroidery she was also given sewing machine to support the family. Wehave seen some of her work and it is beautiful. We can see how proud of this she is, andits helping to give her a good income.

Her daughter is also sponsored by ASM and has been able to complete ten plus two andis now being trained to become a nurse. Her son is also studying. The lady explained howmuch she wants her daughter to study and get a good job before her marriage. She againsays her future would have been very different if it wasn’t for ASM.

Case study of Intra family marriages

One of the problems throughout India is with marriages that take place between twofamily members. The most frequent marriage is between a daughter and an uncle. Thereason this problem exists is because of the traditional Indian systems. This is due to theproblem of dowry. In an intra-family marriage, there is no need for a dowry. Marriageinside the family also secures that the daughter will stay close enough to home to lookafter the mother and father in old age. Otherwise women go to live with the family of thehusband and leave their own homes completely. Having a marriage with in the family isalso a good solution for people with difficult or disabled children. The whole pressure offinding a suitable match for the daughter is quickly removed.

I have heard of several people where this has occurred. In particular we went to the homeof a well educated lady who had two children and a good job. Her first child is a son whois now attending school and progressing well. Her second child is a daughter born withlarge developmental problems. She has a lot of difficulties with simple movement andcommunication. When the mother took her several times to the doctors in differenthospitals, they have diagnosed and operated on an abscess which developed on thechild’s neck. The mother was informed her that the reason for her daughters disabilitieswas intra family marriage. During the house visit we observed the difficulties and extrawork that the parents had with her. Her development was well below that expected for herage group. She would struggle a lot with school and socially. However we were reallypleased to see in this instance how much the parents clearly loved her and tried to helpwith her development.

The problems with intra-family marriages are with a high rate of genetic disorders andinfant mortality problems. This is due to the increase of homozygosis recessive lethalalleles. It is a complicated scientific issue which many people in the villages are unawareof. I asked this mother how she had received help from ASM. She explained how she wasa part of ASM’s micro health insurance. Arthik Samata Mandal, work in areas that are notprotected well by the government and that don’t have good access to health care facilities.One scheme that they have developed was the principal of Micro health insurance. Wefeel this is a very practical and positive idea. For all families who could afford, each familymember pays thirty rupees a year into the insurance. If this is used by four thousand tofive thousand families as it was then, they were guaranteed to cover for medical expensesupto two thousand rupees a year each. In most cases this would not ever be needed, butit provided people with a security. This helped her to reclaim her


medical expenses. She also explained how during her pregnancy, she had been involvedwith the ASM’s scheme to encourage mothers to go to the hospital for their deliveries. Inthe scheme the mothers pay fifty rupees a month, for the first seven months of theirpregnancy. If they go to the hospital for birth, ASM they give the mothers thousand rupeesafter birth. This also helps them financially for the first few months after birth when thewomen cannot work.

Pregnancy Case study

We were also interested to see how the health education programs had changed thingsfor people. On reaching the village of Srikakulam we spoke to several pregnant women.We talked in length with them about the health risks and what they had learnt throughASM about good healthy practices and post natal care. We also discussed the hospitalvisits for pregnant women in rural India.

One woman began by telling us that she had been very worried about the first couple ofmonths of pregnancy. She had not taken all of the right nutritious food, not drunk verymuch water etc. She found out she was definitely pregnant after she was over two monthspregnant. At this point she went to the hospital and they conducted the first scan.

At the time the doctor had explained to her that for women in India, babies have a goodchance of being born healthy if they look after their nutritious intake. We talked to herabout how she felt about her pregnancy. She explained she believes she must keeppositive. A good positive mind makes a good positive pregnancy and hopefully healthybabies. We also noticed that her commitment and interests in the gods had increased.She explains she is praying daily for a healthy baby and trust in the gods to help her.

Once they are pregnant women often fall sick and suffer with nausea and sometimes alittle bleeding. In India there seemed to be an intense amount of fear about these problems.However in the west we know that both of these occurrences can be quiet natural duringpregnancy.

For women who are short in height there is a worry also that the baby’s growth will affectthe mother’s organs. This is particularly a problem when the mother does a lot of agriculturalwork and is expected to continue this during her pregnancy. One woman told us that inher previous pregnancy she had worked in the paddy fields even in her ninth month. Formembers of ASM staff who are pregnant it is Smt. Nau Gora’s policy to make sure themothers health is put first. For example people told us how they had been given goodamounts of time off work. Smt. Nau Gora also provided a lot of informative health careadvice about pregnancy and counselling. Pregnant lady told us proudly how because ofthe awareness, she and her husband began going regularly to the nearest hospital forcheck up every fortnight.

During pregnancies people also decide how many family members come to support andhelp the woman. They help with all the difficult work such as cleaning, cooking and keepingher company. We think this demonstrates how well ASM have managed to create fullfamily awareness about the care that pregnant women need.


Case study of an ASM Health worker

During our time in the village we were able to spend some time talking to several membersof another large family who had all been helped by ASM. Their family story was also ofsignificance because several of the major problems with Indian village customs werepresent.

The lady we spoke to is a health worker for ASM. I, Hannah, had met her several timesduring my previous visit to India. At that time she had no proper home. She slept with herfamily and many village people in the village church. They had no toilet, only water for acouple of hours a day and to add to this she has had a lot of personal problems. I wasreally pleased to see that on my second visit, she had managed to have her own basichut built. This was with the help of the government and her own savings that ASM hadhelped with. Several of the other structures surrounding the church had fallen in last yearrain, but for every two mud, palm huts that had fallen there was one brick hut constructed.These were also with the help of the government and support from ASM.

This lady and many of the other people in this rural slum area had been sponsor childrenwhen they were young. Her parents themselves had studied very little. They haddiscontinued for economic reasons. This is a common case, as is the fact that it is

usually the men who have studied a few moreyears than the women. It demonstrates the lackof importance given to educating females. ASMhad directly helped her father by giving him a jobwith ASM as a social worker. He joined in 1983and worked for there for ten years. His role was toassess village problems, give out loans etc.

She is the eldest of five children. All of the childrenwere sponsor children. This way all the fivechildren were helped with funding for educationand were able to complete their high schooleducation. She explained that without ASM’s helpher family would have had no education.

After completing tenth class she joined MPHWcourse (multi purpose health worker) training withASM. It gave her detailed training and aqualification. It was run in Srikakulam Campus andduring her lunch break she also took classes inthe tailoring unit for just ten to fifteen minutes perday. This skill helps her earn a little extra whenneeded. After this she got appointed by ASM as ahealth worker in Koduru.

She lived here and was married in 1993. She hadtwo sons soon after this. Her marriage


unfortunately has caused her so many problems. Only three months after the weddingher husband began to beat her. She describes him as a sadist and a sex maniac. Shehas told us stories of how she was also beaten in public at train stations etc. It took herten years to finally persuade her family that she needed to leave him. Such is the burdenof a divorced Indian daughter that the situation had to get really bad first. She talks of howif it wasn’t for ASM her life ‘would have been very dark,’ she would have had no future andno skills or income to improve her situation. She explained the supportive role that ASMhad provided her during these dark days of her life.

She explained how ASM also encouraged her and helped her in securing a better paid jobin a large hospital in Challapalli to support her family better. It was because of thequalifications and experience that ASM provided her with that she was able to do standboldly in life. She worked there for nearly ten years until the job became too difficult. Thejob required her doing evening/night shifts which means leaving home at 8 pm and returningat 8 am. As her children grew up she couldn’t look after them. They were at school whileshe slept. She wasn’t there to cook them dinner or breakfast and she really struggledwith this as her husband was of no help.

She left the hospital job and joined ASM. As a health worker and later was entrustedgreater responsibilities in the field. She very much enjoys this work and says it gives herso much confidence. She loves helping people. She said if it wasn’t for ASM she wouldhave spent the rest of her life as an agricultural labourer.

Tailoring Training for young girls

During my year in Srikakulam with ASM I became very involved in one of the campustailoring projects. This was the training of young girls who had just completed tenth classor dropped out of school just before completing. They would otherwise have been marriedoff very young because of the burden to the family. They would have become younghouse wives or otherwise gone to the field to do agricultural labour. It was the hope ofASM that in training these girls to become tailors it would provide them a good skill andgood job. It would also delay their marriage and when they finally were married they wouldhave a transferable occupation. During their time with ASM (six months to one year) they

also receive awareness programs aboutgood healthy practices and are alsoexposed to other activities on the campus.I went to one of the groups for an hour aday. It was the only time these girls hadreally mixed with someone of anotherculture. At first I actually found it difficult asthe teacher treated me differently and I thinkit made the girls jealous. I couldn’tcommunicate with them either. After I learnta little more Telugu and had been attendingregularly I was able to join in more


socially. They wanted to know everything about my country. I have even begun a littleEnglish teaching with them. In turn they taught me to tailor and embroider fabric. I thentaught them to paint saris. During their training, my parents visited ASM and they met myfamily and I also went to many of their homes. When the unit finished the girls were eachgiven a sewing machine. In this way ASM conducts trainings to adolescent girls and givesthem a better status.

On my return I met one of the girls I had been close to in the tailoring unit. I was keen tohear what difference ASM’s work had made to her. First she told me that out of the twentygirls, ten were still stitching professionally and she said only five of them had been marriedin the last year. Previously another two girls had told me that they planned to continuetheir studies now and join intermediate standard.

The girl I met, was the only are in the group who was my age, now she is twenty one andbefore starting the tailoring unit she had got married. She was the only one of the twentygirls already married. Her marriage had been very unique because she had an inter-caste love marriage. Her husband is a panchayat electrician. She had met him whilewalking through the village daily to go to school. His caste is slightly above hers, althoughshe told me she didn’t think it mattered. Neither of their parents had approved. Apparentlythey eventually agreed to the marriage but are not that happy. The couple live in a verysmall, simple hut on their own and do not see their families that often. She cooks for theboth of them and takes on a lot of responsibility for house work etc. For a young girl inIndia this is a big step. Her connections to ASM and other people she knows who workwith ASM taught her that caste is not important and her tailoring training has given her askill, confidence and self worth. As she was the eldest in the tailoring class she was oftenvery fast at the work and a sharp learner. She ended up taking the role of teaching theyounger students at times and helping the teacher. She told me now that she has beenable to earn well through her tailoring trade and she is used a lot by campus staff members.Even in this way ASM is sustaining her work.

To add to this, due to the effort and skill she demonstrated in the tailoring unit, ASM calledher back to take on another job for six months. She accepted this and still works ontailoring in the evenings. Her work is quite unusual because it is not a project run by ASM


but instead it is working for a Canadian psychology professor Ms. Tara who pays ASM toemploy people for her. The work is research in the field of child development, in babiesaged one to three. The psychologist initially gave 3 days training to the girls with the helpof a translator. My friend had the role of playing with and supervising the children, whileher colleague did the simple tasks with the children that was instructed by the psychologist.The two girls carried out these tests and activities, documenting it, for the psychologistfor further five months.

This job opportunity ASM provided to this young girl after the tailoring unit has in turntaught her new skills, such as more English from the Canadian, how to conduct studies,use a digital camera and collect data. It is a large responsibility working for an importantperson and this girl feels she has been very lucky to work with this project. She enjoys herwork and likes the psychologist. To add to this she has a good salary and is improving herquality of life.

We also took a visit during our stay in Srikakulam to the current tailoring unit. This year it’snot on Srikakulam campus but in the large community hall ASM have built in Papavinasinum.Again the teacher has a class of twenty girls aged fifteen to twenty. In this class howeversix of the girls were already married. By the end of the course she explained three ofthese young girls had left early as they were now pregnant. I was shocked about this asthey were all younger than me. We talked to the girls who seemed really enthusiastic andthey showed us the folders they had made of their work. They had also decorated a lot ofsaris as gifts for members of staff. What I found so lovely about these was the way thatthe work was a joint effort and it seemed that socially the girls had become very close. Allof them said that after the course they would continue to stitch at home with the sewingmachines that ASM provide them.

We also spoke with the tailoring teacher about her experiences with ASM. She had studiedup to tenth class and then married and became a house wife looking after two children.She had taught herself tailoring and embroidery skills in her own village and did this forextra money from home. When she reached a difficult financial point at home she cameto ASM for help and they provided this work as a tailoring teacher. She really enjoys it andfinds it really worthwhile. I think it has given her a real sense of belonging and the girls lookup to her. I think that one real credit to ASM is how they work with people and with theirown personal skills, helping to practice and develop them for the advantage of thecommunity also.

My first impression was that Miss V. Ujwala is quiet and softly spoken with a pleasantmanner. She describes how she started her career as a teacher after receiving a degreein English Literature from Maris Stella College in Vijayawada. She describes her experienceof teaching as negative, as she found it difficult to keep her voice raised all day. Coincidentlyher teacher, Subha, was one of the younger members of the Gora Family. So she hadalso had interaction and experience with the Project Trust Volunteers placed in with ASM when


they went to her college for cultural exchange sessions. She describes her move to ASMlargely due to her wanting to work for social development, even if it meant indirectly through

administration. Ujwala had obviously had various experiences of people connected toASM so had a good idea about the organization and its purpose.

Ujwala describes her main role as administrator in communication for the Universal BirthRegistration programme (UBR). As birth registration is a fundamental right of every childand the first legal acknowledgment of child’s identity and existence in the society, the birthcertificate plays a prominent role in every stage of life be it to get admitted into a school,obtain passport, driver’s license, etc. Similarly it ensures accurate censes to any nationto plan development. Strengthening the birth registration system in India has become apriority area. In A.P the percentage of birth registration is around 60% to 70% while only40% are registered and recorded. This is due to the lack of awareness regarding thesignificance of a birth certificate, especially in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. So themain aim of the project is to increase demand of birth registration and certification in-order to achieve 100% birth registration and certification in low reporting districts of AndhraPradesh by 2010. UNICEF and PLAN have identified fourteen low performing districts inAndhra Pradesh. ASM partners Plan-India and other networking NGOs in implementingthe UBR Program in Andhra Pradesh. Initially in the in the first phase of the project ASMstarted with six districts, later expanding and concentrating on nine rural areas of A.P.

Awareness on different aspects of birth registration like the right way of obtaining a birthcertificate, to obtain the certificate in the very place the child is born, to obtain the certificateon or before twenty one days from the time the child is born and without any fee etc werebuilt among the communities.

Different occasions like Independence Day, village festivals and other major events wherethere are large gathering are utilized to educate people on UBR. Several innovative methodsand approaches like auto rallies, role plays, songs, stick dances and conducting differentcompetitions,

ASM was also successful in influencing government officials of make UBR one of the toppriorities in their agendas. Religions heads also plays a vital role in this regard. Child to


Child and Child to Parent activities proved to be the best tools in sensitizing people anddissimilating the key concepts of UBR.

Talking about the many interesting experiences that came her way during the program atdifferent stages, she explained how they had observed the ratio of girl child birth registrationis high as the government introduced welfare schemes to mother who gave birth to femalebabies. Gender bias, superstitions, patriarchal setup all played a vital role. They haverequired people with good working knowledge of the procedure for programmeimplementation to guide the people. Reaching remote habitation itself is quite an experienceshe said.

Talking about her experiences at ASM she describes her experience as a translator toProf. Tara a child psychologist from Canada who has been researching child developmentamong some of the children in the area. She tells us how within twenty days of joiningASM she was asked to go with Tara to some of the villages for a couple of weeks. Sheinformed me that this was the first time that she’d spent a long time without her family andthat this was a completely new and liberating experience for her. I asked her about practicaltraining she had received from ASM. She had participated in courses involvingdocumentation work and community organization through UBR and Plan partners. Themain skills she says she has gained from her work with ASM are improved English Skills,time management, communication skills and personal management skills. She also saysthat she has gained all of her computer skills through working with ASM.

Ujwala described the whole ASM organization as an extension of the Gora family, Smt.Nau Gora being a “mother’ to her and the other staff. Smt. Nau Gora she describes astreating everyone as an individual, understanding their personal needs and problems.She says that she’d been offered other posts with other organizations but she’d refusedthese offers to stay at ASM. She obviously loves her job with ASM.

She describes ASM as being eye opening for even her as an Indian lady. She had like allothers in her generation heard stories from the elderly telling her about walking miles toschool and the old methods of living and studying. ASM showed her that this was notsomething that existed in the remote past but something which is still happening in remoteIndia.

Ujwala sees ASM as expanding because of its good reputation. Her experience with otherNGO’s shows her that some are profit based and “greedy”. ASM is a flexible organization.Her role is also flexible depending upon the projects at the time and she sees herselfcontinuing to work with ASM in the varied role she has experienced to date continuingtowards educating women and children in the province of Andhra Pradesh.


WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES


Mrs. U. Prameela was the one working with the women’s groups in Koduru. We spentsome time with her and she was kind enough to describe her history with ASM. She saidshe joined in 1980 after completing tenth class and a typing class. She was given threemonths training as a Balwadi teacher in ASM and after that she had got one year trainingby the government. Then she joined ASM at Srikakulam and volunteered to help withdifferent programs such as eye camps and nutrition centers. With the help of ASM shealso did a degree in sociology. She is another person who has a very long standingassociation with ASM. Talking about her experiences working with ASM she explainedthat ASM’s concentration on women development issues is its recognition of women asthe most vulnerable even among the poorest of the poor in the Indian ethos. Explaininghow if a women is empowered the whole family is empowered Prameela explained thedifferent initiatives that ASM had taken up for womens’ empowerment. The first step towardsthis was to identify and train women in income generating activities inorder to make themeconomically independent. Simultaneously ASM had also started conducting functionalliteracy to adults and several other activities like setting up of women’s self help groups tohelp themselves financially, giving start up grants/initial credits to encourage women tobecome innovative small-scale entrepreneurs, conducting health awareness programs ,providing family counselling to support especially widows, deserted and destitute womenas well as unwed mothers, working towards removal of superstition, conductingworkshops and trainings for life skills development, etc.

ASM‘s women development programs concentrate on making men and women realizegender equity and the way in which they can complement each other. ASM’s womendevelopment programs also concentrate on social, economic and psychologicaldevelopment of women so that the families are ensured better life as women play role inthe family. ASM always involves both men and women in its programs in order to ensurethat men do not feel left-out and both men and women realize and understand that for thebetterment of their family they should work together complimenting each other’s rolesand understanding each other’s varied responsibilities and uniqueness.

One of the problems ASM faced in encouraging women to come to these groups was theproblem that the men didn’t allow them out often. Slowly the awareness programmeschanged the attitude of men and also the help that ASM was giving them in their agriculturalwork through the RLIP (Relief Lift Irrigation Project) made a difference. ASM helped thesefarmers by introducing a new type of irrigation which instead of hand pumping watermade irrigation easier. It was a mechanized pump that lifted water from irrigation channelsdown the edges of the fields. ASM also gave loans to the men to buy pumps of their own.These loans again were repaid over a period of time. These new mechanisms increasedcrops production from six to seven bags of rice per field to twenty five to thirty bags ofrice. This meant that the men began to trust the ASM workers. The trust in ASM by menmeant that men began to encourage the women to also get involved in ASM’s programs.Thus the added income from the women to the family pleased the men and changed theirattitude to women having their own jobs.


Prameela came to Srikakulam in 2002. At the time Save the Children had recently withdrawntheir sponsorship and Plan International had begun new sponsorship with a focus onchild sponsorship and helping develop the community as a whole. For the 1st 6 months ofher time in Srikakulam she was commuting from Koduru as her daughter was finishing10th class at the time. She spent 4 days in Srikakulam and 3 days in other villages duringthis time before moving to Srikakulam in 2003.

Currently in Srikakulam there is a MACTS system in place which Prameela manages.MACTS stands for Mutually Aided Co-operative Thrift Society which currently has 400groups and 4538 members. This society helps women with banking by helping createbank accounts for savings and giving loans. She says that 10,000 loans have been givenwith this society for domestic, business and health purposes. The advice given to thosesaving is that a small amount should be set aside each week or month between 10-30rupees or less if this amount cannot be afforded. The loans have the same or similarsystem to that of Koduru, in that a lump sum is given which is repayable over a year to 18months, groups of 10 women meet each month to collectively hand in the repayment.

Prameela also co-ordinates Self Help group organizations which encourage saving andbusiness strategies. Her daily work involves visiting each village to check and organizepaper work and creating receipts for the loans and savings. She has sub-organizers or“cluster” managers who manage 1 or 2 groups in each area. She checks that their clusteris working well and advises them on day to day matters and problems.

Talking about the program impact she says that it has given women now has voice indecision making. She says that women are able to come out of houses for meetings,exposure visits etc and that gender equity is achieved.

Prameela expresses that she and husband share responsibilities at home because ofthe influence of ASM in their personal life. She proudly says that in spite of living in aconservative Indian society she was able to assert herself and take care of her old parentswhen her brother neglected and abandoned them. She also proudly says that she wasable to follow what she believed in talked the women in the villages she worked in aboutgender issues in around life. She said that as she believed that a child is a child and thatthere is no difference between a boy and a girl she and her husband decided to have onlyone child. The couple are blessed with a girl whom they named Teja.

Prameela expresses joy the way community trust her and the way in which they hold awork and advices close to their hearts. She says that this trust in her helps her a lot in herwork in the communities as they are ready to listen and implement the programs. Freedomto express and freedom in the implementation of the program which is largely encourageby ASM, she says, had helped her improve her skills and had strengthen the feeling ofbelongingness this work and satisfaction which enables her to help among the poorest ofthe poor, she says gives her ultimate satisfaction in life.


Mrs. Bhikshavathi was eager to talk and smiled and joked through our whole conversation.She is one of the longest working members of the staff. She completed her studies inPolytechnic Diploma in Commercial Practice and at this point she knew of ASM throughher father who was a close friend to Mr. Veeraiah. She had grown up and lived in Srikakulamitself. So she was often heard of ASM and its development work. Her work at ASM involvedkeeping accounts and other secretarial work. She lovingly recalls the way she had acquiredpet name ‘papa’ by which is popularly known as to everyone. As she was the youngest ofall the staff Mr. Veeraiah called her as ‘papa’ meaning little girl in telugu. Laughing shesays that even the people from donor agencies know her as only Papa but not asBhikshavathi. She said that her affection with Mrs. Nau and Mr. Veeraiah is still like theirdaughter to this day.

Recalling the way development had taken place in and around Srikakulam, she says, thatcommunities in these villages were completely ignorant of even the terms like banks,loans and government schemes. It was only ASM, for the first time in the lives of thesecommunities that had not only introduced such concepts but as well brought a lot ofawareness on the importance their functioning also. She still remembers how in the initialdays though ASM did not have any good infrastructure for administration moved forwardwith its innate passion to serve in spite of all the odds. She also recalled the number ofdevelopment initiatives that ASM had taken up those days. When banks refused to giveloans for individuals and small groups for sheep and cattle rearing, agricultural purposes,etc ASM gave surety got the loans sanctioned from the banks.


During her time with ASM Bhikshavathi has also completed a lot of other trainings onaccounting and in computer skills. She narrated the way in which she had a humble startin ASM and now raised to take up key responsibility managing all the financial areas.

She explained passionately how she felt ASM is different to other NGO’s as it acts like ahuge family. She feels so because Late Mr. Veeraiah and Mrs. Nau are very close to allthe staff and are personally interested in their personal welfare giving them guidance andadvice. This she considers a very high quality in an organization. She also describesanother quality which plays a key role in the organisation, i.e., their personal care ininteracting with the community they are working with to know their needs and find innovativeand practical solutions for their problems.

We asked which areas she felt ASM had been most successful in and with enthusiasmshe produced an enormous list. Most of it focused on the children education programs atvillage level in particular the child sponsorship, handicapped care, non formal education,woman improvement, vocational training, weavers’ development etc. She said that hermost memorable moment with ASM is the visit of H.R.H Princess Anne, President, TheSave the Children Fund, UK.

In 1985 she was married to another man who was also employed with ASM as well inSrikakulam campus. Theirs was a controversial love marriage. The couple had facedmany difficulties not only for choice of a love marriage, but because the man was of amuch higher caste. Bhikshavathi’s father had no objections and at this time she had nomother, but the groom’s parents were very unhappy with marriage. They sought Mr.Veeraiah’s support and help that they were able to convince her husband, Mr. VijayaMohan’s parents. She feels very happy that their marriage was conducted by Mrs.Saraswathi Gora. They are now a happy family with a son studying engineering. This shespoke of with a lot of pride and from my understanding we can see this as a big achievementin view of the cultural problems and expectations.


Arthik Samata Mandal - Health Interventions

Health programs have been one of the core focuses of Arthik Samata Mandal. Even in thefirst days of the Organization’s Genesis after the 1977 cyclone there was a huge effortput into providing health care for flood and cyclone victims. Starting in 1978 ASM organizedregular health education programs, medical health camps, provided supplementarynutrition for children, pregnant and lactating mothers, elderly and disabled. Health educationhas been at the fore front of the ASM response to health problems, through treatment andprevention of further risks. This is essential to bringing change. A lot of the practical workhas taken place in the villages of the focus area (flood / cyclone prone and drought pronedistricts of Krishna, Guntur, West and East Godavari and Nalgonda). For this ASM hasconducted many special camps in villages with support of Specialist doctors. Theapproaches to educate the community are varied like well baby shows, folklore songs,dance/drama, skits, puppetry as well as books, posters pamphlets etc. There is a lot offocus towards teaching children who in turn can educate parents. Dr Maru, Director,Health Programs, ASM played a pivotal role in all health programs from the beginningdays of ASM. Alongwith Dr Maru, Dr Samaram also extended his full services to ASM inimplementing its health interventions. ASM had trained many health volunteers to serve inthe remote villages where anykind of health facilities are not available.

Part-II


Ms Bhavani hailing from a remote rural village after completing her 10th class, underwentcommunity health worker training in Kasturba Gandhi National Trust, Indore, MadhyaPradesh and approached ASM for her rural placement as part of her training program.Later she joined ASM as a health worker. Initially she helped Dr Maru and Dr Samaram inpolio corrective surgeries and postoperative physiotherapy health program of ASM atVijayawada.

In 1990, with the advice of Mr Veeraiah, Ms Bhavani alongwith her husband and her kidmoved to Suryapet, Nalgonda District in Andhra Pradesh where ASM is working to upliftthe lambada tribals who are geographically and economically backward. They arecompletely unaware of health and hygiene, modern medicine practices due to their cent-percent illiteracy and lack of communication with the other world. They still continue ageold practices like cutting the umbilical cord of the newborn with the help of two sharpstones, applying cow dung to the cut end of the umbilical cord, etc. Moved with the prevailingvery high infant mortality and maternal mortality rates among the lambada tribals, ASMdetermined to work in the community to educate and make them understand the importanceof modern medicine, safe delivery practices, general health and hygiene, nutritious dietinorder to improve their quality of life.

Recalling her first days of entry into these tribal villages, Bhavani expressed that she wastreated as a foreigner. She was unable to understand the language of the Lambada tribals,so she felt she cannot work with them. But, after the six months of her determined initialinteractions with the community, she is able to continue her work there and now, shesays that the community trusts her and listens to her as one among them. She says withhappiness that as days went on, the community never treated her as an outsider and thisgives her a lot of contentment in her work.

Mrs Bhavani was instrumental in successfully implementing the ASM health projects inlambada tribal villages. She as a village health worker actively assisted Dr Maru in trainingthe so-called Tribal Birth Attendants who are illiterates and use age old methods to conductdeliveries in unhygienic way. Dr Maru laboured in practically training these Tribal BirthAttendants in conducting delivery with sterilised kits, cutting umbilical cord with sterilised


scissors on a clean surface and newborn care. Frequent training programs wereconducted in this regard with the help of other doctors from Suryapet. This worktremendously improved the infant mortality and maternal mortality rates. Save the ChildrenFund, UK encouraged and supported ASM to continue their work in these tribal areas andhelped to establish two tribal health clinics.

Frequent health training programs revolutionised the thinking process among the tribalbirth attendants and they themselves came forward to bring change in their personalhygiene practices like taking bath daily and wearing washed clothes, combing their hair.They understood that their tribal dress with mirrors which they usually wear continuouslyfor some months is the cause for spread of infections to mother and the newborn whenthey conduct the delivery. Therefore they approached ASM to provide an alternative dresswhich is easily washable. Initially ASM provided them with two sarees and a first-aid kit toenable them to conduct deliveries hygienically. Later these tribal birth attendants expressedtheir happiness and gratitude to ASM, as they received due respect from the tribalcommunity and others for their services in improving the health status.


Continous Health Awareness Programs are conducted under the able guidance of ourProject Director Mr. Hari Subramanyam and Dr. Maru to educate the tribal communityabout the problems faced due to their tribal customs, superstitions, child marriages,illiteracy, lack of social mingling, food habits, etc. Various health education programs forcouples, adolescent girls and community are conducted to bring awareness aboutimmunisation, antenatal care, safe motherhood practices, family planning methods,personal hygiene, skin care, balanced diet, anaemia, etc.

To promote and maintain these health services continuously, some ‘capable illiteratewomen’ are trained as Health Change Agents who bring awareness in their localcommunity on health issues. Health Posts were established by ASM in the tribal villageswhere first-aid is provided and some common medicines are made available for immediatetreatment for ailments like body aches, headache, vomitings, diarrhoea, etc. The medicinesare kept in different coloured lid bottles to enable the illiterate women to identify the particulartablets correctly. ASM arranged ambulance with an objective to reach the remote tribalcommunities which do not have any communication with others.Mrs Bhavani expressedher gratitude and happiness that she could see good improvement in the health statusand quality of life in the tribals.

Dr Satyanarayana as health coordinator is lending yeoman support to ASM to providehealth services to the tribal communities in and around Suryapet. He plays active role inthe health education programmes to create awareness on health issues.

He recalls, initially only two doctors were working in the area and how they alternatelyprovided services in the hospital and participated in the community awarenessprogrammes, health camps and other health activities. He says he need not go into thevillages as often as before because of the good progress made by the communities withthe help of ASM’s health initiatives.

He is happy to say that ASM has done exemplary work in the lambada tribal community toimprove health status and quality of life. He shares few incidents; a tribal woman proudlysays her daughter-in-law bought her a saree instead of a traditional tribal dress withmirrors.


The step taken by ASM to change their daily wear to saree, with an initiative to improvetheir personal hygiene has brought in tremendous change in the attitude of the person.Another touching experience is the awareness created regarding the importance ofimmunisation for Tetanus during pregnancy and antenatal checkups. Pregnant womenon their own are attending for antenatal checkups and asking him for TT injections.

Dr Satyanarayana explains in detail how the success of ASM’s health initiatives can bemeasured, if one looks at the success made by the village health pharmacies (healthposts) and the micro-health insurance program. Through health posts the communitiesare happy for receiving immediate primary medication for their common ailments. ASMas well provides micro-nutrients and treatment for secondary diseases for the peoplesuffering with tuberculosis because government provides them only with anti-tuberculosismedicines.

ASM developed a community managed scheme, Micro-Health Insurance to provide securityfor their primary health care. As these communities are devoid of access to good medicalfacilities, this Micro-health Insurance system is developed. In this system, every memberof the community pays a meagre amount of Rs.25 per year and they are guaranteed tocover for medical expenses upto Rs.2000 a year each. In most cases this may not beneeded, but it provided people with a security. Initially, only 5000 people were enrolled andover a period of time the membership has now increased to nearly 20,000. I am veryhappy that our Project Director, Mr. Hari Subramanyam with his innovative ideas andguidance helped us in taking forward these health initiatives into the remote tribal villages.

Mrs. Mary Rani hails from an economically backward family and had to discontinue herstudies after class ten. Her uncle brought her to Atheist Centre where she was counselledby Mrs. Mythri who told her about the different training programs available at Atheist Centre.When she heard about the health initiatives of ASM she became very interested in themand wanted to get trained as a nurse. During her training period she also took part inseveral other activities done by ASM among which she dearly likes the sponsored childrenand parent meets. She used to regularly attend these meetings which not only inspiredher and also brought about a lot of awareness and exposure to her.


PHYSICALLYCHALLENGED

CHILDREN


In 1981, the International Year Physically Handicapped, ASM initiated corrective surgeriesto bring mobility to the physically challenged children. It started with Srikakulam andVijayawada. Mary Rani felt happy that she could have an active parti cipation as a healthworker in continuing the polio corrective surgeries and physiotherapy program since herjoining into ASM. Corrective surgeries were carried out for congenital deformities likeclubfoot, cleft palate/lip and rickets. Polio Corrective Surgeries was carried out with thehelp of private doctors like Dr PJ Brahmanandam, and Doctors of Vasavya Nursing Home,Vijayawada. Based on the need, ASM also helps many patients by referring them tosuperspecialty hospitals and by providing financial support. ASM does not stop withcorrective surgeries; but follows up its patients by providing education, which is crucial tomake them self-reliant. ASM provides accessories such as hearing aids, calipers, artificiallimbs, tricycles, speech therapy, physiotherapy and sends children to schools for thedisabled. The disabled children are given education and vocational training programs. Italso inspires and motivates them to become small entrepreneurs with start up grants.Thus, the corrective surgery program


is comprehensive with identification, treatment, follow-up and rehabilitation. This has agreat impact on the community as it brings back the mobility of the children, increasestheir self-confidence, and transforms them from being neglected members to breadearners of the family.

ASM believes that the community should become independent and self-reliant. This aspectwas stressed by giving basic home-based physiotherapy training for parents who hadphysically challenged children. The training helps parents to be self reliant for monitoringand attending their disabled children. ASM also provides institutional physiotherapy andhas set up units in Akivedu and Suryapet.

She is happy to share how she was influenced by the secular social work of Smt.Saraswathi Gora and Mr Veeraiah. Hers is an inter-caste marriage. Her parents did notagree for her marriage. Hence she approached Gora Family. She got married to MrRamana, the health assistant to Dr Samaram and Dr Maru at Vasavya Nursing Home.The couple did not like the barriers of religion, caste and discarded the traditional way ofwedding and got married by Registered Marriage. Mary Rani says that they are leading ahappy life with one son.


Mrs. Malleswari is daughter of the Superintendent of Information and Public Relationsdepartment of the government. She lost her mother due to domestic violence. Later shewas adopted by a couple who were ignorant of importance of education and she had todiscontinue her studies at a very early age. After her marriage, Malleswari was tortured byher husband and unable to bear the physical abuse and with a fear of succumbing todomestic violence similar to her mother, she returned to her adopted parents. Malleswariwas directed to ASM by her neighbour to undergo balwadi teacher training and a co-worker of her father advised her to undergo nursing training which may be of help to herto work as health worker in ASM. Being a daughter of Superintendent in governmentoffice she felt below dignity to be a nurse or a balwadi teacher. But when she approachedASM, she was counselled and explained about dignity of labour. Being convinced, shedecided to become a nurse and underwent health worker training in ASM. She givescredits to ASM and Gora Family for providing her constant support. She expresses herspecial regards to Dr Samaram and Dr Maru for constantly motivating and encouragingher, which she feels is the greatest blessing in her life. Malleswari sighs she had to quitnursing profession due to her personal health reasons and now shifted to tailoring andalso worked as beautician. Now she is happily married to a widower who is a doctor-settled abroad.

Malleswari recalls how enthusiastically she assisted in conducting eye camps by ASM.Because in the target area there was high incidence of congenital cataract and nightblindness hampering the livelihood of the family, ASM started conducting regular eye campsfrom 1981. Eye Awareness Health Camps were conducted to educate people about thecause for blindness, importance of vitamin A, role of malnutrition and also were informedabout corneal transplantation. The children were screened, given medical treatment andvitamin A drops to prevent night blindness. Old persons with cataract were screened,corrective eye surgeries performed and later spectacles provided. This gave those elderlypeople a chance of being able to continue independently with everyday life and contributeto the society. Corrective surgeries were also performed for congenital cataract andpterygium. With the help of government, mobile ophthalmic units were arranged andprivate doctors rendered their services. ASM had carried out more than 100 eye campsand about 150 eye operations were performed in each eye camp. These initiatives madechildren and adults to become self reliant and contributed to the betterment of thecommunity.


Due to the superstitions and blind beliefs regarding postoperative diet among thecommunities, ASM arranged awareness programs during the eye camps, to educatethem about nutritious diet especially in the postoperative period. So, the operated personswere given accommodation and taken care of by ASM in the camp area itself for about 7days postoperatively providing them the nutritious diet and eye care with an objective tohave good postoperative outcome.

Malleswari expressed her immense happiness that beneficiaries of eye camps and doctorswell appreciated ASM’s concern to the needy in restoring eyesight. She felt glad that shewas also a part of these services.

Mr. Mallayya belonged to Pedanemalli, Nalgonda District in Andhra Pradesh where heused to work as an RMP. Interested in social work, and having progressive ideas, heregularly used to attend the meetings at the Atheist Centre. He says, around 1983 ASMstarted mother and child care centre (talli pillala samrakshana) at Pedanemalli. Earlierthe situation was worse. There were many incidents when women lost their lives duringdelivery. Due to lack of awareness on health issues and no medical facilities availablehere, there was severe malnutrition and also communicable diseases were prevailing inlarge scale.

Mr Mallayya shares an incidentwhen Mr Veeraiah, secretary ASMand Group Captain L D Chartervisited their village, found a ladydead body lying infront of a houseand enquired about the cause ofdeath. Learning the cause to bedeath during delivery, Mr Veeraiahand LD Charter felt the need for

primary health care in the village. In this way ASM started mother and child care centre atour village, Pedanemalli. ASM trained persons from our area, who were interested in thehealth work like me, so that we can come back and work for the community here.


Thereafter health check-ups for pregnant women, immunisation, counselling andawareness programmes were carried out in the village thus improving the health status.

Mr Mallayya explains that the people here were geographically, economically and sociallybackward in addition to illiteracy due to which superstitions, blind beliefs, witch craft, etc.,were prevailing. In addition to health services, ASM decided to establish a centre, GoraVidyalayam with an aim to create awareness and educate people to raise their standardof living. With continuous efforts of ASM inthis area, superstitions were dispelled to alarger extent and health status was alsoimproved by conducting regular awarenessprograms and providing health services.Impressed with the results in this area, ASMextended its activities over a hundred villagesthrough integrated approach in aspects likehealth, education, livelihood, habitat, womenempowerment, etc. Mr Mallayya felt happythere was a lot of change and improvementin the areas with the interventions of ASM forbetterment of communities.

Mr. Laxmayya working with ASM since 1984 says he could clearly see a lot of differencein the approach of ASM towards development. Initially, ASM worked with charity motiveand participation of the community was limited to needs assessment. In due course oftime, through its experience ASM started adopting participatory methods and communitybased approach. ASM also had to face a lot of challenges in relation to the attitudinalchange of both the donors and the communities, but was able to successfully balancetheir motives for the community development. It is a major challenge for any NGO to bringawareness and understanding in the community about the community capacity, buildingfor sustenance and development. Through the years with its dedication, innovative methodsand sincerity, ASM was able to achieve this in the communities it is working with. Withthis trust of the people, ASM introduced the concept of Community Based Organisations(CBOs) which would work for their respective village development.

Mr. Lakshmayya says ASM Project Director, Mr. Hari Subramanyam guided the CBOs information, registering, identifying problems in the village and coming up with the solutionsand made sure that there is definite contribution from the community; so that these CBOsbecome self-sufficient and self-sustained. Mr. Mallayya narrates about a CBO which wasstarted with contribution of Rs.1 as a membership fee and has now sustained to a levelwhich gives loans and as well recovers it and thus using it as a circulation fund to developtheir own village. He emphasizes that the CBOs are properly functioning due to theiraccountability and transparency.


Along with other activities and programs, ASM started Water, Environment and Sanitation(WES) program to improve the hygiene of the community. Through WES program, ASMlaid stress on environmental issues. Regular awareness campaigns and exposure visitsto different places were conducted. He gives an example how much change ASM hasbrought in the attitude of the community. Mr Lakshmayya narrates ASM supported thecommunity in Dubba Thanda for constructing toilets to each household for better sanitationfacilities. He proudly says, it was recognized by the Government of India, as the first fullysanitized village in Suryapet Mandal and received the President of India’s Award of onelakh rupees which was used for the village development. People from around 15 countriescame here to observe and learn how this program became a grand success. The villagersalso followed other environment-friendly methods like using separate bins for dry and wetwaste, building of soak pits, compost pits, etc. The children also grew kitchen gardens.

Talking about how ASM tries to bring changes in the attitude of the communities, MrLakshmayya explains when loans were given to the community by ASM to buy cattle fortheir livelihood, in order to inculcate social responsibility, ASM would ask if the personreceiving the loan would donate one calf to the organization. Surprisingly, ten people gotinspiration from ASM and voluntarily came forward with the calves. The income that ASMgenerates from these cattle is utilized in turn to help the community wherever it is needed.Such attitudinal change in the community helps development work to continue.

Mr Lakshmayya shares how ASM had a positive impact in his life. He was teaching theilliterates voluntarily at a night school in his village Pedanemalli, after completing his tenthclass. In addition, he used to teach at Gora Vidyalayam, the first school started by ASM inthis area. He also continued his studies and obtained a bachelor degree in Telugu Literatureand underwent a government teacher’s training program for one year. After marriage, hiswife also joined as Balwadi teacher in ASM. Later both of them joined as teachers inJairamgudi School and within six months of their joining they have increased the strengthof the school from 30 to 90 students. Donors came forward to build a school buildingwhen they noticed the progress and motivation that the students and the teaching staffhad made. A new innovative idea was introduced by Mr. Lakshmayya where the sameteacher continues to teach the students from class 1 up to class 4. This he says it


creates responsibility on the part of the teacher as they are solely responsible for theprogress of that particular group of children. Happily he recalls how a group of 16 studentswhom he had taught in the initial days have all done their bachelors in education and arenow working in different fields be it government or private. This freedom of thought andaction that ASM encourages in its staff is according to him the biggest motivation forpeople who work in it.

Recalling early days of ASM in this area he says that during one of his visits Mr. Veeraiahenquired about his family’s wellbeing. Lakshmayya answered that they are doing fine butas his wife was suffering from fever at that point she could not join them at school andwas at home. Upon Mr. Veeraiah enquiring if she had taken some tablet, Lakshmayyaanswered negative and said that he was planning to take her to the hospital in Suryapet inthe evening, which is far away from this place. From this incident Mr Veeraiah felt theneed of training school teachers in basic health aspects. Immediately primary health kits,material on health and health care were given to teachers and the teachers were trainedto be health volunteers in their respective villages. They were also trained in identifyingseveral other ailments and referring patients to the hospitals. He recalls how leprosy andother ailments were identified and given timely treatment only because of these trainingprograms.

He also explains how a very remote tribal village namely, Burkapitta Thanda, which wasneither existing on the map nor identified by anyone, has now become a major local selfgoverning body, after a school was established there by ASM. One of its students, VinodKumar, who completed his engineering received a prize from the Chief Minister of AndhraPradesh for securing highest marks in 10th class as well as in his intermediate(12th class).Recognising his intelligence and abilities, a private college came forward to help him withhis further education. Another pupil O. Swathi from K.T. Annaram stood state first in classten. Her father was given cattle for livelihood and her mother works as an Anganwaditeacher. She is a sponsor child whom ASM helped with education. Ramesh, who wasinflicted with polio received polio corrective surgery, a tricycle, and education from ASM.ASM also took special care while constructing a toilet in his house to make sure that itcatered for his needs. Though he got a seat in veterinary sciences, through a state wideexam, he could not join this course as he could not stand in the lab for long hours to dothe experiment. This is because after the surgery, he neglected practising standing andwalking with the callipers. If he had done so, it would have strengthened his legs and hewould have become a veterinary doctor. Now he is pursuing his graduation in science. MrLakshmayya says, if ASM wouldnot have started Balwadis in these socially, economicallyand geographically isolated tribal communities, and later upgraded to primary andsecondary education with the help of donors like Save the Children Fund and PlanInternational, many children like these wouldnot have had an opportunity to bloom. It isonly in the recent years that the government had taken up the development issues likeeducation, health, etc. in these areas. It was ASM who started these programmes longago and now supports the government initiatives only not to duplicate the work.


Mrs. B. Jayalaxmi comes from an ordinary family. She faced many problems because ofgender inequality and social injustice. With the help of a voluntary organization she studiedmatriculation. When cyclone and tidal wave hit coastal Andhra Pradeshin 1977, she wasone among the volunteers of Atheist Centre who rendered her services in relief activities.She was very sincere and hardworking. She was one of ASM’ most reliable volunteers inits initial difficult times. She worked in the villages of Chintakola and Sanghameswaramwhich were among the most badly hit. When ASM started its relief and rehabilitationactivities there, the villages neither had communication nor roads. Only the sound of thewaves could be heard there. She boldly stayed in those villages to help and consolechildren and women by providing food.

Most of them belonged to the fishing communities. They have lost completely their families,huts and livelihood. The condition of the villagers was horrible and pathetic. She had towalk at least ten to fifteen kilometers by walk to reach the nearest main village to buy andcarry back food to be fed to the children on her head. Her sincerity, hard-work and behaviormade the people trust her. She tried bringing awareness regarding health and hygiene,dispelling superstitions, etc. While working there a nurse, Ms. Elsa Vasanier, form Hollandwho worked with Dr. Alfrend Schwitzer came to help in health activities of ASM’s reliefprogram. With the encouragement of Mr. Veeraiah and Mrs.Hemalatha Lavanam theyboth constructed simple toilets and bathrooms for women using the available materialsand made villagers utilize them.

In the beginning the villagers were hesitating to take modern medicine as they were usedto traditional methods. But slowly they recognized the effectiveness of modern medicineand they were happy to accept Ms. Elsa’s treatment and advice on health.

The work of ASM, through Balwadi for child development, health and general awarenessprogrammes for adults brought change in the attitudes of men and women to accept newprogrammes for their development and better future. Ms. Jayalaxmi says that throughawareness and education programmes, the number of child marriages decreased. Sheproudly expresses that she could do some good work for the needy through ASM. So sheshowed her gratitude to Mr. Veeraiah and Mrs. Hemalatha Lavanam.

Mr. G. Rama Krishna is one among those staff members who have a very long standingrelationship with ASM. He is a graduate. He is an active and enthusiastic worker.Sharing his experiences about 1977 cyclone and tidal wave on Divi Island of KrishnaDistrict, Andhra Pradesh, he recalls its devastating effect on the lives of the peopleliving there. He says that his family is one among many who have seen the worserepercussions of the disasters. After the 1977 disaster many organizations andphilanthropists started relief activities. Many children became orphans and familymembers were disturbed a lot with socio-psychological problems. During that periodlate Mr. M. V. Krishna Rao the then state Minister, who belonged to Divi area startedmany relief activities; one of them was a residential school for orphan children.Ramakrishna being a graduate, joined as education volunteer, in that school. The aimof the school was to give psychological counseling and vocational training along with


formal education. This idea was based on Gandhian principle of basic education. It was whenMr. Ramakrishna was working in that school that he came to know about Mr. Veeraiah and hiswork. Motivated, he met Mr. Veeraiah and joined as a volunteer in ASM. He said thatthough he did not have full awareness and understanding about social change activitiesand Gandhian secular approaches it was through his participation in the programmes ofASM and the able guidance of Mr. Veeraiah that he had gained a lot of experience andknowledge.

Mr. Ramakrishna recollected how one ofASM’s success principle right from the timehe had join till date is its need based approachand timely intervention. He also recollected thetimes when ASM carried on its relief activitieswhere no one else could reach. He considersconducting of health camps in the mosteffected areas and distribution of tool kits tothe artisans like cobblers, barbers,carpenters, weavers, etc in the effected areato earn livelihood as one of the best work doneby ASM.

Working with Mr. Veeraiah, he said, was a very good learning experience. Talking aboutthe innovative programmes that Mr. Veeraiah introduced, he explained the food for workprogramme which not only involved the respective villagers in cleaning and digging thedrinking water tanks, and irrigation canals to earn their livelihood but as well was imbibingin them a social responsibility and oneness. In due course of time, he said, ASM extendedits support for desalitation of agriculture land for cultivation and provided seeds for cropsand kitchen gardens.

ASM had also provided oil engines to createsmall size lift irrigation facility to coastalagricultural lands where marginal farmers didnot get water through irrigation canals. Laterwith the help from Norfolk Overseas Aid, ASMtook up major lift irrigation project which helpedfixing electrical motors which supplied waterfor about thousand acres of agricultural landfrom the irrigational canal ‘Ratna KoduruDrain.’ Under lift irrigation project ASM had alsohelped the farmers get loans for agriculture.This was the first time that these marginalfarmer were able to manage get such loans.

Apart from the marginal farmers, communities living on the sea coast villages whichwere dependent on “Salt Farming” for livelihood greatly benefited with the support fromASM. In Koduru and the villages beyond, during the rainy season excess water from theuplands caused frequent floods in the low lying areas. ASM helped dig and build drainageto drain excess water into the outlet.


ASM also had taken up many otherdevelopmental initiatives likeplantings trees under social forestryprogramme to protect the bunds aswell as save environment, conductfeeding centers, construct schools,give life skills and vocational trainingfor adolescent girls, build overheadwater tanks, etc. It was in this villagethat Mr. Veeraiah started women’s

groups (like present self help groups) not only for educating them and bringing awarenessbut as well to make them self reliant in the name of Mahila Mandals. ASM conductedawareness programs or Information, Education and Communication on health, adulteducation, and functional literacy, removal of superstitions, social issues, and importanceof savings and concepts SHGs which helped them to change their attitudes, life style andfor social mingling. ASM also helped them by giving looms, loans for petty business,kitchen gardens, raising nurseries, seeds for farming, cattle, etc. ASM was the first NGOwhich initiated Self Help Groups for women of Koduru Mandal of Krishna District long

before the government came up with sucha concept in the name of DWACRA. Theseinitiatives helped women progress towardsself respect, gender equity and self reliancewhich were alien to them earlier.

As part of ASM’s large scale immunizationprogramme, it sponsored Rubella Vaccineto adolescent girls which helps preventcardiac problems, frequent abortions, congenitaldisease and physical defects of the babiesin womb. Through this program muchchange is noticed among the parents about

the importance of Rubella vaccine which in turn helped discard some of the superstitionsrelated to child birth.


According to Mr. Ramakrishna one of the biggest achievements of ASM is bringing ofunused waste land along the sea shore where prawn culture could be carried on. ASMalso invited experts to train the farmers in using the brackish water to cultivate prawns.They have trained in detailed from the initial to the last step in cultivating prawns. Thetraining programme was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr. K.Vijayabhaskar Reddy. We are very grateful to Mr. Mandali Krishna Rao’s support to Mr.Veeraiah in initiating the project.

Sharing his experiences in different programmes of ASM, be it small or big, Mr.Ramakrishna said that Mr. Veeraiah’s holistic approach towards social work had atremendous impact on the all round development of the community.

ASM’s continuous work in the disaster relief and rehabilitation made it realize the importanceof community based disaster preparedness and mitigation (CBDP) programme. Thisconcept helped the villagers not only take ownership and responsibility of their villagesbut as well be well equipped to take suitable steps in disaster preparedness andmanagement. The registration of CBOs also helped them improve their livelihood, enhancetheir skills and knowledge on different government schemes and other opportunities.With the support form Caritas India and German Agro Action ASM is now able to extendits support for around thirty most vulnerable villages of Andhra Pradesh in the CBDPProgramme.

Mr. Ramakrishna expresses his gratitude and happiness to be part of ASM family in helpingthe needy through timely interventions. He said that there are many others like him forwhom working with ASM had been a turning point in their lives.

Mrs. Ariga Bhagyam is a young and active woman. She is born into a agricultural family.Her family lives in a village which is on the bank of river Krishna and very close to Bay ofBengal. It is frequently prone to floods and cylones. When Bhagyam was a child herfamily was one of the worst effected victims in the 1977 cyclone and tidal wave. She lostmost of her family members in that calamity.


Mrs. Bhagyam narrates that since 1977 she has been experiencing many cyclones, floodsand Tsunami. She has been a witness to people’s sufferings in such situations. Shestrongly wanted to find ways to reduce their suffering and loss.

When ASM started a programme on community based disaster preparedness (CBDP)and mitigation in most of the villages which are prone to natural disasters. VasumatlaVaarpu is one of those villages where Bhagyam resides. She is one of the active membersof the CBDP activities. She gets full cooperation from her husband.

In this project awareness and trainings are being conducted to men, women, childrenand other stake holders like teachers, Panchayathi institutions, Government duty bearers,etc. In the training programmes the first step is to form Community Based Organisations(CBOs) in every village consisting of members from all sections of the village irrespectiveof caste, religion and other groups. She explains how difficult it was in the initial stages ina few villages to convince the people to form CBOs due to political and religious influences.

The next step after the formation of the CBOs is the preparation of contingency plans ofthe respective villages with a participatory approach. By doing so she says that the villageshave learnt about their village situations and conditions and the way to face and reactduring the disasters. She narrates further that during the training period Task ForceCommittees (TFCs) are formed from within each village to handle the situation duringdisaster independently.


There are five teams in TFCs namely Early Warning, Rescue and Evacuation, First Aid,Shelter and Food Management, Water and Sanitation. Bhagyam says that these teamsare trained from time to time with the help of different resource persons to enhance theirskills and knowledge with scientific and social outlook. She proudly says that though sheis completely engaged in all the activities of the CBDP programme, as a member of theFirst Aid Team she is helpful to villagers’ whenever there is a need in general. The TFCteams of all villages conduct mock drills periodically. Though the mock drills the TFCscan train the other villagers in their villages. The main purpose of the CBDP is selfgovernance and self management of the disaster in the village till they receive help fromoutside sources.

She further explains that the TFCs are given the task force equipment like radio,megaphone, life jackets, lifebuoys, raincoats, first aid kits and also train them preparelight weight floating aid form locally available plastic bottles, plastic vessels, dried coconuts,preparation of emergency stretcher using bamboos and bed sheet for shifting aged andsick. A community kitchen set with a stove, water and provision storage bins are alsogiven. To strengthen these activities ASM also introduces other activities like collection offistful of rice, community based revolving fund for livelihood promotion, training to selfhelp groups, sensitization on issues like gender equity, child rights social problems andhealth and hygiene. ASM also arranges exposure visits to improve the knowledge andskills related to CBDP programme. Talking about the experiences she had in the exposurevisits she said that when she visited one of the villages she felt that the people who wereresiding there were more vulnerable to floods and cyclones because there is no otherway to reach a safer place in emergency when compared to her own village. She thereforefeels happy that these activities and programmes changed their attitudes and lifestyletowards the concept of ‘one for all and all for one’ with a positive attitude.

To carry forward these programmes with their own identity and sustainability ASM formedthe CBOs and provided legal status by registering them as ‘Navodaya GramabhyudayaSangham’ in each village. It’s a great achievement and change which we did not evendream about earlier.

Talking about the way ASM has changed the lives of the people living in these villages,Mrs. Bhagyam explains that the main achievement of the CBOs was bringing unity amongthe villagers. Another good achievement of the CBOs is the feeling of social responsibility amongeveryone towards facing the natural disasters. The villagers now also have the opportunity todiscuss their problems with the government officials. She talks particularly how on twooccasions the concerned government officials happen to attend meetings conducted intheir village by ASM as a part of CBDP programme and immediately realizing the need of thevillages fixed street lights in one village and a telephone in another. Thus she says that theoverall impact of the programme in these villages is tremendous. Bhagyam expressesher joy at the thought that though people cannot stop a disaster they are now in a positionto minimize the loss caused by the disaster with the knowledge and skills that they haveacquired so far. She and the villagers are grateful to ASM for introducing the concept ofcommunity based disaster preparedness and mitigation and directing their lives in a newdirection.


Mr. N. Somayajulu, Srikakulam association with ASM is very long standing. He is acommerce graduate and later was guided by a local organization in Vizag towards ruraldevelopment. As he was not happy with his previous job he was looking for new opening.It was then in 1982 that he was attracted by the Gandhian approach of ASM and sincethen he had been working with ASM till date. He has been involved in ASM’s initiative for avery long period of time. He recalled that he started working with ASM as a volunteer indifferent activities that ASM had taken up. Later he was given responsibility as a coordinatorin flood affected areas of West Godavari in the relief and rehabilitation programmes ofASM. He then shifted to work in the tribal development project of ASM in Nalgonda districtof Andhra Pradesh which is a drought prone area. There, he says, that he had gainedvery good experiences while working with tribals.

His key responsibilities include identification of issues, planning the implementation ofprograms at the field level, reporting, proposal writing and monitoring, coordinating healthprograms. He finds that the approach of ASM which goes with the old chinease proverbnot to give someone a fish to feed the needy but to teach the person in need fishing, hadbrought tremendous impact in the communities.

The collective action in the communitiesshifted from the hands of religious headsand zamindars to the hands of the capableleaders who emerged from within thecommunity. His source of inspiration in thework he does, he says, is the Quality ofwork, the dignity and respect that is givento each and every individual involving thestaff in program planning andimplementation, the transparency anddynamic personality of Mr. Veeraiah. Hehas many memorable work experienceswhich gave him a lot of contentment in his life.The food security of the coastal communitieswas at stake as cultivation was dependenton the monsoon rains.


The monsoons were irregular and many times failed. The reduced rainfall andunpredictability of the seasons affected the livelihood. ASM introduced the lift irrigationprogram in fifteen hundred acres of cultivable land (Islands in river Krishna called LankaLands). The program included land leveling, canal digging, provision of seeds, fertilizersetc. Simultaneously casuarinas plantation was undertaken on the bunds on Lanka land inKrishna district to contain flooding and soil erosion. These initiatives increase the foodsecurity of the community and reduced the chances of famine and hunger deaths in thearea.

When he was getting married he specifically explained to the girl that he would like toserve the community and so find a job that would require him to live in the villages. Heexpressed that he would marry her only if she is comfortable with this idea of his. As perhis wish his wife also supported him and was working with ASM for a very long time.

He recalls the times he had left ASM twice and eventually, not satisfied, returning backagain to ASM. With a smile he confesses that he had done so because of “the youngblood that was running in me at that time.” He proudly asserts that finance was never anissue at any point of time. He recalls how he was equally contented when he drew justrupees Rs.500/-. It is only now that his drawing more a salary.

Mr. K. Dayakar got married to a relative who was working as a Balwadi teacher in ASM.He completed his degree after marriage. In 1989 he underwent IRDP (Integrated RuralDevelopment Programme) training that ASM gave aspiring social workers and later joinedASM as a community organizer in the same year. From then the couple continued workingwith ASM after shifting their family to Srikakulam. Right now his wife works as a teacher ina Remedial School run by ASM. Mr. Dayakar had been working in ASM since then indifferent capacities like community organizer, cluster coordinator etc. and as well tookpart in different developmental activities.

Speaking of his experiences working under the guidance of Mr. Veeraiah and Mr. HariSubramanyam in the Social forestry programme he says that in seven villages of LankaLandas ASM had taken up Plantations. He had undergone training in grafting and otheragricultural developments to help, ASM train the communities they work with. Under thisprogramme fruit bearing trees were distributed and sometimes helped to be maintained in


the communities. The biggest event was the planting of casuarinas. With the help of thisplantation the community was able to contribute to build a bridge and also help set upelectricity in their villages from the amount that they got from selling casuarinas. This heconsiders to be a great achievement in the history of these villages, the communitiesbeing able to raise above the circumstances that life had thrown upon them without justbeing static by just receiving the help and not helping themselves in turn. Kitchen gardernswere encouraged greatly and methods of getting good yield and maintaining the kitchengardens with low cost was taught to the communities.

Another programme he fondly recalls is the Lanka Land Development programme.The king of Challapalli area had donated vast agricultural lands to the labourers who wereliving there. ASM help them in communicating with the govt. officials, getting the landregistered, levelling of land, constructing bore wells, installing motors and oil engines.ASM also helped these people by giving them training in income generating activities.

Since then he has been working in ASM in different capacities. As a community organizerMr. Dayakar was responsible for giving loans for agriculture taking surveys and monitoringand seeing to it that all the other developmental activities are going on well. As a clustercoordinator he was also responsible for the child sponsorship program and all the activitiesaround it because the programmes in ASM adopts a child centered communitydevelopment approach.

He feels that it is the opportunity that makes all the difference. Children from economicallybackward communities are forced to turn into child labourers. They shed their dreamsand rights for the sake of their families and toil day and night. Deprived of opportunitiesand their rights, they become victims of exploitation. Taking this into consideration ASMdecided to provide opportunities to these deprived children through its comprehensivechild sponsorship program. The aim of the program is to make children realize theirfundamental rights and become productive citizens. The child sponsorship program ofASM started in 1979 in partnership with ACTIONAID, which came forward to support sixhundred children from ten cyclone prone villages of Srikakulam. The success of thisintervention has brought in collaboration with Save the Children Fund (SCF), U.K., whichsponsored Two thousand children from Srikakulam, Akivedu, Koduru and Vijayawada.SCF and ASM’s collaboration in the past 20 years has seen the success of Two thousandchildren and their families. Presently ASM is in partnership with PLAN International, U.K.that sponsors Six thousand five hundred children in Nalgonda district and Three thousandeight hundred children in Krishna district.

These experiences have proved that only a comprehensive developmental approach,focusing on health, habitat, livelihood and education and carried out for a minimum of onegeneration, can result in realizing the rights of the children. The child sponsorship programhas brought out the innate potentials of many children, who have become productivecitizens today. Mr. Dayakar expressed that his joy is beyond words when he comes toknow about sponsor children who not only settled in good positions in India and abroadbut also are helping their communities in return.


If weavers of Krishna district are able to have two square meals a day without starving todeath it is only because of ASM, says Mr. Subbarao of Ghantasala weaving community.The credit of improved handloom tool kits, and improved habitat also goes only to ASM hesays. In 1990 cyclone which had occurred in the month of May, in Krishna and Gunturdistricts, more than the agricultural communities, the artisan communities were the ones

who were disastrously effected,especially the handloom weavers.

As they have lost the looms and otherthings which were giving themlivelihood. ASM first came forward torepair their looms so that they can starttheir bread earning activities. Mr.Veeraiah trough his frequent interactionwith the communities used to discusstheir problems, needs and lives. Hethus also started rehabilitation andother development activities in these

communities. After this whenever a flood or cyclone effected in any area ASM firstapproaches the weaving communities for relief and rehabilitation. This is because thesecond largest community in rural India is that of the weavers after agricultural labourers.But after a few days following a flood or cyclone the agricultural labourers can resumeback to work. Whereas this is not so with weavingcommunities as they loose their tool kits, looms andmaterial in the course of the disaster. This was howthe first initiatives were started in the weavingcommunities by ASM. Mr. Subbarao had first knownabout ASM when ASM helped his weavingcommunity in relief and rehabilitation work and alsowhen ASM helped his community by giving ‘Marasu’weaving machines.

After the 1990 cyclone in order to avoid starvationin weavers’ families, the then governmentimplemented a programme called the ‘JanathaSarees’ and provided weavers with some work. Thewages offered to them were not only meagre butas well delayed in payment. ASM advanced thesewages to ensure there is no starvation. When theweavers received their wages from the governmentthey had repaid it back to ASM.


He explained that he himself wouldn’t have been able to complete his B.Com withoutASM’s help. After completing his degree he got an opportunity to join ASM who werehelping his community. He fondly recalls the way how he was inspired to help his owncommunity. He said that it was Mr. Veeraiah’s slogan ‘Buy one saree and feed a weaver’sfamily for a meal’. That had motivated him join ASM in their interventions. ASM has beenhelping his community in all aspects of their lives both personally and professionally –health, habitat, livelihood, sanitation, designing, marketing, training, exposure visits,conducting exhibitions; start up grants for material and labour, etc.

ASM had also introduced Jakkard style of loom was for the first time (including trainingand giving of machines) for the first time in Gantasala and Challapalli area of KrishnaDistrict, he says. The weaving communities in his area never knew about such looms before.

As they were only able to weave traditional patterns and designs which they could marketonly in rural areas their economic situation was not improving through years due to their


restricted market. So ASM got the National Institute of Designing, Ahmadabad to trainthem so that they can improve their sales with the changing trends and have access towider market. They were also weaving only saree. It is only through these trainingprogrammes that the weavers of Krishna and Guntur districts were for the first timeweaving for dress materials chudidars and Punjabi suits. Learning to weave with chaindoby, he says, is one of the biggest assert to the weaver as it enables them not only to getextra ‘mazoori’(wage) but as well help them weave the latest patterns/designs. ASM hadnot only trained them but as well had given them these chain dobies.

Marketing development in the form of exhibitions, exposure visits to get a grasp of themarket scenario, training and giving machines required for the latest designing is anothermajor help rendered by ASM to their communities. ASM had also provided alternative andsupporting vocational training like tailoring and embroidery for adolescent girls. It helpedthem to not only support their families’ livelihood but as well helped the young girls postponeearly marriage and live life confidently.

Prior to ASM’s intervention the communities used pit looms and were living in only thatchedand mud houses. Even a heavy rain (not to forget that this coastal belt is hit by either acyclone or a flood every one and half year) would not only fill the pits with water (again notto forget that the water in these pits took long to soak and so was the cause of all kinds ofdiseases and sickness due to stagnant water) but as well ruin all their material.

Another important development initiative that ASM has taken up in the weaving communityof the coastal area is giving ‘charkas’ (spinning wheels) for taking yarn from cotton andpreparing it to be used in the loom. Spinning wheels were given to women, with a specialpreference to single and old women, so that they could be independent and support theirfamilies.

House construction program support enabled the workers to continue their work in spiteof the natural disasters. Though the government has given the weavers money to constructhouses it was not enough to build strong houses. So ASM extended its support to completerhouses. These houses had only one room and it was often difficult to use it for both workand day to day life. ASM helped these weavers by providing asbestos sheets and standlooms so that they can construct a work shed in front of their house. Later, ASM came upwith a two room model of a house which is elevated above the ground. One room servesas a workshop, the other as a living space. As most of the weaving families in this areawere living in low lying areas even a small downpour lead to overflow of streams andcanals which would flood these low lying areas. This affected their livelihood and health.So ASM built bund to save these communities from flooding.

In 1996 when a large number of weaving families were greatly hit by a cyclone in East andWest Godavari districts ASM came to their rescue. The developmental success achievedby ASM in these communities was greatly applauded by the then Chief Minister of AndhraPradesh Mr. Nara Chandrababu Naidu in his special letter to Mr. Veeraiah congratulatinghim for his wonderful work.


According to Mr. Subba Rao, houses being constructed on high earth elevation and theintroduction and training to work with new models of looms and donating spinning wheelsto widows and old women, he says, brings him a lot of happiness amongst other activities.He feels utmost satisfaction when the people who were trained at ASM not only makelives for themselves but also train and support in and around the area. They also areinvited as resource persons to train weavers in other localities.

He proudly expresses that many state and national government officials applauded thatno other NGO had implemented their development work with such integrated approach.He said that his community had received training form international designers like Mr.Kaffe Fascet to compete in the international market. All through the training programmeMr. Fascet had lived with the weavers in their houses. He is grateful to ASM for such anincredible opportunity.

One of his most memorable moments with ASM is his participation in the WeaversConvention organised by ASM in 2002 which brought weavers not only from in and aroundAndhra Pradesh but as well from neighbouring states.

Mrs. T. Vijayalakmi is an example of many Indian women who are born in economicallypoor and traditionally conventional families but who have succeeded in crossing the narrowboundaries of the system and become independent. She has managed to finish hergraduation in spite of all the odds in life. Recognizing her strong urge to work and supportherself and her family economically, a family friend of theirs suggested her to meet Mr.Veeraiah for help. Mr. Veeraiah recruited her as an assistant in the child sponsorshipprogramme that ASM was working on in the slums of Vijayawada city. ASM, in thisprogramme, mainly concentrated on providing educational support to children fromeconomically and geographically backward areas, children of single parent and childrenwho are orphans and children who are differently able which was supported by Save theChildren Fund, U.K.

Under the child sponsorship programmeevery child had a bank account in its name.These were joint accounts with mother/guardians and ASM’s representative as banksignatories since the children were minors.At the bank mothers who knew how to signwere able to get through the process andwithdraw the money quickly. For the illiteratemothers, who were around 90%, it took longas they had to go through the verification

process of their thumb impression each time they visited the bank. This caused a lot ofunrest among the illiterate mothers. Recognizing their plight ASM suggested these mothersto take up adult education classes that were run by the government. But there were otherhurdles involved; preventing them from attending these adult education classes like timing


of the classes, distance, social aspects like resistance from the illiterate husbands, etc.ASM then came up with the idea of ‘Child to Mother’ education starting with the motherslearning how to sign. In order to encourage children and their mothers ASM used to conductseveral competitions. A unique feature of these competitions was that each child decidedthe way the competition was to be conducted for his/her mother. Simultaneously ASMalso conducted monthly meetings for bringing awareness on different issues likeimportance of health, girl child education, removal of superstition, promotion of genderequity etc. They have also started monitoring their child’s education and life. As a resultof this mothers also started visiting the school their children were going to and startedinteracting with the teachers to know about the progress of the child. Some of the womenhad successfully completed their graduation later on which was useful to get good jobs.This raise of literacy rate among mothers and awareness on different issues helpedmothers take more control over their lives and of the lives of their families. Awarenessprogrammes on family planning were given great priority to improve their health, economicstatus and child development.

In order to raise the confidence levels, give scope for their creativity and improve theirskills ASM held a variety of competitions and programmes from time to time. To promotekitchen gardens and dignity of labour ASM conducted competitions in arranging vegetablevase and vegetable decoration. Vijayalakmi says that she feels that this was one of the most


satisfying moments in her job as she saw the happiness in the children and mothers whonever had such an opportunity prior to this.

Talking of the impact of the programme, she explained that the programmes helped removemany social and cultural barriers and differentiations. One major achievement was thatthe Muslim women who initially wore ‘parda’ voluntarily gave up wearing them as theydidn’t want a separate recognition but wanted to be identified with all others. They saidthat this way they feel as women, no matter which caste, religion and class they belongto, they are equal. These women were so bold in their step ahead that they even spokeabout their choice in women’s gatherings.

ASM used to conduct pot-luck parties once a year. Due to the caste and religious barrierssome women initially hesitated participating in these parties but later realized that all areone because of ASM’s secular social work approach. Such programmes also helped fora better understanding between different social groups and in the lives of the individuals.When these children grew up, some of them, Vijayalakhmi says, had inter-caste andinter-religious marriages. Due to the awareness in families the change had been acceptedeasily. Such programmes have also helped decrease the number of child marriagesconsiderably.

Vijayalkshmi recalls the way how child sponsorship slowly led to family sponsorship.Under this priority was given to deserted women and widows with children. This helpedwomen to become economically stable by starting petty business or taking up vocationaltrainings. This self sustainability gave such women, who are looked down in Indian society,a status to command the respect of their fellow beings. Some of them with the awarenessand counseling that they had received at ASM either re-united with their husbands or gotmarried again. The counseling aspect of the programme to children and their familieswherever necessary has helped fill in the gaps that existed between the mother and thechild thus leading to not only improved education but also affection within the families.

Vijayalakshmi said that to inculcate leadership qualities and a sense of responsibility andownership, ASM in its monthly meetings introduced several innovative techniques. Shegives one example to show the effectiveness of these innovative methods. In the beginningASM staff used to maintain the attendance registration of the children and mothers whoparticipated in the meetings every month. Gradually four to five, who were able to write,maintained the attendance register in turns. By the end registers and cards were left


on a table and the participants individually noted their own attendance. ASM was alsosuccessful in imbibing in them the concept of savings and helped them plan the little theygot carefully and save money which was useful to them in their future.

As programme slowly extended around Andhra Pradesh residential camps broughttogether people from different areas, cultures and social backgrounds under one roof.She recalls the times when the participants gave challenges to the organizers and recallsthe incidents like how children and mothers from urban areas knew vegetables by theirname and form but were surprised how they grew and how children from rural areaswere astonished by the traffic and population. Thus these camps also acted as exposurevisits.

Another major intervention of ASM with the help from SCF and voluntary services fromthe doctors was conducting screening and corrective surgeries for physically challengedchildren from remote areas of Andhra Pradesh. As the pulse polio immunization was analien concept there were many children affected by polio. After the screening, surgeryand follow up the children were also supported for their education through the childsponsorship programme. I feel so happy whenever I think of how ASM gave a new life tosuch children who were once thought as a burden on the family and proud to be contributingmy little share in this endeavor.

Vijayalalshmi feels that the programme impact was vice versa. Frequent home visits andschool visits made ASM staff to understand the problems that the mothers and childrenface and how the programme could be modified to suit their requirement. She said thatshe had never known about the importance and functioning of social structure and itsimpact. She also expressed that just the fact she is working in ASM which is a part ofAtheist Centre was quite a challenge to be accepted by her family and friends. She wasnot allowed into to the church which she regularly visited since she has joined ASM.People were inquisitive about the preaching at Atheist Centre. It was only when sheconvinced them that ASM worked with a secular approach towards social work and thatreligion and belief is something very personal that she was allowed back into the church.Secular outlook and personal discipline are the qualities that ASM had imbibed in her. Shesays that many of her experiences and learning were very useful in her own life also. Shesays that this is case with all of the staff working with ASM. This, Vijalakshmis says, is theway in which ASM tries inculcating sincerity and moral responsibility not only in thecommunities it works with also its staff. Mr. Veeraiah and Mrs. Nau always treat the staffas their children guided them for their better future. This is the reason I couldn’t not leaveASM for the last twenty one years she affirmed.

As ASM has been working with socially, economically and geographically backward communities,in due course of time, it had realised that the families in these communities are greatly dependenton money lenders and banks to fulfil their financial need and often ended up in huge debts.The money borrowed as well accumulated huge interests which the families were in nocondition to repay. Realising this condition of theirs’, ASM introduced women self-helpgroups to address their financial needs. For this ASM conducted a number


of awareness programmes on leadership and financial management. In later years ASMregistered these women self-help groups as Anthodaya MACTS (Mutually AidedCooperative Thrift Society) in Nalgonda district and Navodaya MACTS in Krishna district.There are nearly ten thousand members in this programme. Talking about theachievenment of the programme Mr. Ranga Reddy, in charge the MACTS project ofASM in Nalgonda, expressed that to his knowledge Anthyodaya MACTS society of Nalgondadistrict is the first in India to register the highest number of tribal woman as members. Hedid not find words to express the indebtedness and gratitude of the community to Mr. HariSubhramanyam who had been a key person all through the programme right from thestate of conceptualisation to its present state.

MACTS women groups initially started off bysaving just Rs.10 per month individually.Women who were able to give only Rs.1000as loans previously are now able to giveabout Rs. 25000 to Rs.30000. This is thekind of progress that they are able to makeby not only becoming economically strongfor their own families but as well helping theirgroups which in turn are helping theircommunities. Explaining about AnthyodayaMACTS, he described that, the groups which

were strengthened, supported and helpedby ASM once are now functioning on theirown. These thrift groups are governed bythe women themselves. They do all therequired work like accounts maintenance,documentation, reporting etc. For itssustenance a donor donated land. With thehelp of ASM and their own contributionsMACTS now, not only has a building withgood infrastructure like computers but aswell is able to give employment to fifteenother people. Now ASM’s role in the MACTS is only that of a facilitator. Through the yearsthe women became so confident that they now say that it is ok for them if ASM decides tohelp someone else who are in need, as ASM had given them enough confidence andtraining but request ASM to guide and help them when advice and guidance is needed.

Another great achievement of these women is that through the prompt repayment of moneythey were able to even generate money through three major developments. One is the settingup of solar dried mango jelly unit, another is the establishment of brick manufacturing unit andthe third is to invest in buying a tractor which could be rented out for agriculture. Even whenthe members of MACTS borrow it to work in their own fields they make sure to


pay its rent. These three are major income generating programmes for MACTS alongwith their regular individual saving. Talking about how Mr. Hari Subramanyam had beenan inspiration for them to help themselves, Mr. Ranga Reddy narrated the way in whichMr. Hari got personally trained in mango jelly and brick making and the way he had trainedthe members of MACTS himself.

He said that gender equality, increase girl child education rate and social mingling werealso achieved through these programs. ASM made sure that they held MACTS meetingsin different regions and invited others to come and have a social dining after meeting sothat all beliefs regarding caste, religion and other issues are dissolved and people learn torespect each other as human beings. There lambada tribal women wanted to recognisethemselves as one among other groups. So they shifted from their traditional attire tosaree.

Due to impact of MACTS and ASM’s continuous awareness campaigns the number ofchild marriages had greatly been reduced as women not only contribute to the families’finance but as well gained awareness and exposure on myriad issues. This also led toawareness on small families and their importance.

Another key issue that ASM had to deal with in Nalagonda district, according to Mr. RangaReddy, was water and soil management. Nalgonda district was a drought prone area andagriculture mainly depended on rainfall. The marginal farmers also dug bore wells whichexhausted ground water.

Due to this reason there was a lot of seasonal migration as well. Though land was givento the tribal community, they were unable to cultivate it due to drought conditions anduneven lands. To help these communities ASM had taken up Nastural ResourceManagement programme. Under the water shed management programme ASM had builttanks, check dams and canals to collect and store rain water. Due to ASM’s interventionthese land are now cultivated successfully. Paddy, Jowar, vegetables, cotton, etc aregrown in these lands. When there is good rain, paddy is even grown twice in a year.People started settling in. It is only around a month or two in summer that the communitiesdo not have any work to do. The rest of the year they cultivate their lands. The governmentintroduced a scheme called National Rural Employment guarantee scheme where peoplefrom such areas are given work for a hundred days. This way they are now able to supporttheir families all through the year. Previously there used to be a lot of migration. Peoplemigrated to the coastal regions which increased competition there. Through the watershed management, this problem as well is addressed. The villagers as well took up rainwater harvesting, collected rain water from the roofs of houses and utilized it for drinkingwater purposes also.

Thus, ASM with help form PLAN International took the initiative by giving awareness onrainwater harvesting, construction of watersheds, building of percolation tanks throughwhich ASM was able to show practically to the communities the advantages of suchprogrammes. In the beginning not a single farmer was willing to give the land for theimplementation of the programme, but building of water sheds to store water or to irrigatetheir lands in modern eco-friendly ways.


ASM also introduced the concept of seed bank for landless marginal farmers. In thisprogramme ASM provided seeds to landless farmers. The farmers who received seedsthrough this programme formed into self help groups. After cultivation they, collect them,in the form of seeds along with extra quantity, as interest decided by the group, to theseed banks. This way they mutually help each other.

The concept behind the above mentioned programmes is that of ‘One for All and All forOne.” ASM has not only initiated the work in water management but also developed aconcept on Drinking water and sanitation. The programme was taken up in five villageswhere total community undertook sanitation and as a recognition government awardedNirmal Gram Puraskar which was presented by president of India. This brings communityefforts in building confidence and motivation in sustaining the activity. Realizing the successof this programme this activity was replicated in nearby villages. Children are key changeagents in the programme. People expressed great joy seeing how the land which wasonce wasteland, due to their ignorance, is now so fertile full of greenery giving themlivelihood.

Mr. Ranga Reddy says that working in ASM,especially as an education supervisor andhealth co-ordinator, helped him personally aswell as professionally. He says that he hadlearnt a lot about child psychology and the wayenvironment (both physical and psychological)influences a child’s future. Wherever he goeshe makes it a point to first interaction with thechildren about their needs in the communityas he feels that they would give frank opinions.

As ASM’s is a Child Centred Community Development Approach, heath and educationbecame its main focus. The intervention of the school development programme is aresponse to the request made by teachers and communities that. After a number ofchildren and community consultations, ASM realised the gaps in the education system. Inthe consultations conducted by ASM, when questioned about the lack of interest ineducation in those communities, parents and children confessed that the lack ofcompetency and interest in the teachers to be the main de-motivating factor. They assertedthat they would contribute their share in the successful running of the schools if theteachers taught well. When the teachers were approached for an explanation they opinedthat they would teach well if they were informed and trained properly as how to teach well.This encouraged ASM to take up School Development Programme (SDP) informedMr.J.D. Corporate Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation officer of ASM.

There were other factors influencing the working of schools like poor infrastructure facilities,lack of teaching-learning material, lack of understanding and cooperation between theteachers and parents regarding child’s education, corporal punishments, etc.


As a response ASM started the schooldevelopment programme. ASM createdawareness among the parents about theimportance of education in building the futureof their children. To create interest in educationamong children ASM conducted exposure visits,children’s camps, different competitions, ralliesetc for children. ASM also supported the schoolswith construction and repair of school buildings,construction of school toilets, constructionplaygrounds and installing play equipment,creating drinking water facilities, etc. ASM hadalso supported the schools by providingteaching and learning aids, school bags,uniforms, books, etc. ASM had also conductedtraining programmes for teachers to improvetheir competencies and knowledge. In order to

increase the competencies of both the teachers as well as the students in schools ASMfollows a number of methods like class-room observation format, children’s consultations,child assessment test(the outcome of which would be an indication of the teacherscapability) to mention a few among many other. It had also taken up programmes likepreparation of work books to develop better subject wise competencies. ASM had alsostarted Parent Teacher Associations for better understanding among them.

Mr.J.D. recalling a major challenge in the field of education in Nalgonda district, explainedhow Lambada language (the native tongue of the tribal communities ASM is working with)had no script. ASM tried creating a Lambada Primer. This was very helpful for the teachersto teach Lambada children and the Lambada children to learn better. Other challengesinvolved were community acceptance, finding volunteers to work in such remote areasand ignorance of the people. The credit of introducing the concept of education to thesecommunities goes to ASM. It was ASM which started schools in these communities.

Among other qualitative efforts, ASM also acts as a facilitator in dissemination of informationregarding the resources of the services available from the government to the community.It facilitates by acting as a linkage and holds meetings between different community basedorganisations, self help groups, children’s clubs by bringing all of them together and oneroof to share ideas and knowledge and to hold discussions. It also conducts motivationmeetings for the communities, consultations with children and parents, etc.


When the state office of education visited the schools in which ASM started its SDPprogramme, they extended their support impressed by the innovative methods adoptedby ASM. Years later when Plan International designed a similar programme to adoptglobally, as ASM was already achieving great success in this programme they immediatelysupported ASM in its SDP program . This indeed is one of the greatest achievements ofASM.

Mr. Ch. Satyanarayana – Project Director, ASM, Krishna District

Mr. Satyanarayana shifted from a corporate sector when a friend referred ASM to him. Hewas working with mentally handicapped children in a government of India undertaking.Though he shifted looking for livelihood, ASM’s approach towards social work, he said,suits his attitude and he derives immense satisfaction and feels that it’s the right place forhim to continue working in. His corporate experience as well helped him in his work withASM in designing and implementing the programmes. Initially he was involved in theadministration only and gradually started involving in the implementation of the programmes.As part of programme monitoring while visiting the tribal villages of Nalgonda district henoticed that communities were scared even to come out and talk to the staff taking themto be either spies of police or exercise department. Through constant interaction of thestaff with the communities and other awareness and capacity building programmes, withina short span of time ASM was successful in not only winning the trust of the communitybut as well was able to bring to light the hiddenleadership qualities among the communities.Many from these communities are nowholding different responsibilities at differentlevels, starting from ward member to mandalpresidents, in the Panchayat Raj system. Mr.Satyanarayana later he shifted as projectdirector. This he says has satisfied his urgeto work as one among the community. Hefeels that a integrated approach towards ChildCentered Community Development from reliefto development is a remarkable approach inthe field of development as the child asserts a very important role in the functioning of thefamily and in turn the development of the community as a whole. This way the approachalso helps build a strong tomorrow by giving scope to focus on development with a multi-dimential view. It is a coincidence that plan adopted the same approach later on in itsprogrammes. Under this approach the programmes covers issues like child education,health, sanitation, environment, women empowerment, community governance and childrights.

A unique feature of the approach is ‘Child consultations’. ASM had taken input for the developmentof weaving communities from children belonging to these communities. One child, hesays, had expressed that he is studying as well as contributing to the families’


profession. The child is keen on perusinghis education as their community is unableto cope up with the changing scenario. Theapproach had a positive impact on thefamilies and communities as well. Thecommunities are astonished at the factrealising the understanding of their childrendifferent issues and their contributiontowards the well being of not only their ownfamilies but towards their communities asa whole. The parents even aspire to followtheir example.

ASM also conducts Bal panchayats, mockparliament and children clubs from time totime to discuss the progress of the villageand take necessary decisions. Thisapproach helps best in working in a countrylike India which is divided in the name ofcaste, etc in establishing commonalitycreating a platform to help them raise aboveall these narrow differences.

The Children clubs also bring awareness in the communities on different aspects ofhealth and other issues like sanitation, education and birth registration. They also extendcounselling services for school drop outs and other related issues. They try discussingwith parents and teachers on remedial measures. They operate at the village level withchildren as members who meet once a month to discuss their plan of action for themonth. They divide themselves in to sub- committees and work on programmes likeUBR, etc.

According to Mr. Satyanarayana the role of ASM in such programmes to strengthen them,fill in the gaps of government programmes and also acts as a facilitator. Mainstreamingof people living with HIV/AIDS, removing stigma and bringing community governancethrough secular outlook is another major achievement of ASM. Different committees areformed with women as key role players for gender equity. Narrating the impact that ASMhad brought through its development initiatives he says that one member of LegislativeAssembly of Andhra Pradesh, when met Mr. Satyanarayana in a meeting, confessed thatpreviously had misunderstood ASM to be one among many NGOs with commercialmotives. But he later realised that it is in fact the only NGO dedicated for the service of thesociety with secularism, transparency and accountability as its key aspects in functioning.

ASM plans mainstreaming of children in difficult circumstances, eradication of socialstigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs), bringing ownership andsustainability of various programmes with secular approach, promotion of incomegenerating programmes for women’s empowerment, community mobilisation towardsdisaster preparedness, establishing advocacy and networking with likeminded institutionsfor greater outreach in its future work.

V - VisionaryE - EnergeticE - ExecutiveR - RationalistA - AdvisorI - IntegrityA - AccommodativeH - Humanitarian

Sri Veeraiah - “An Asset to the Society”AASMAN Family

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