Houses For Dalits

From the Field
Uncaste India

Chevuru Village Update

Work camps of volunteers headed to Chevuru Village this past Spring to complete unfinished houses started by the Indian Government. A group of 6 volunteers in March and 18 in May set out as the first international volunteer group to visit Chevuru. Insufficient funds had been issued to some of the villagers by the government to construct new homes due to destruction from monsoons on their thatched huts. Yet requests from the government for the villagers to raise their own money to aid in the construction have left these homes unfinished. The incomplete structures serve as a constant reminder to the villagers of their poor financial and social circumstances.

With the help of the volunteers, ARV and Longitude, and money raised for this cause, the work camps were able to build roofs for 5 of the houses, completed masonry work for 19 houses, and have over 20 homes nearing completion. With several work camps planned in the near future, Longitude and ARV are expecting to build a total of 51 homes for Chevuru families. Please check out the Monthly Giving page to become a part of securing these homes for the Chevuru villagers.

Comments

medical care for Dalit villagers

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 23:05.

Previously, I have donated to a fund for medical care for the Dalits started by Andrew Santos, who worked to build homes after a tsunami. While the Dalits had many basic needs, this was one not yet being addressed. Has this fund been put on the back burner or are the villagers still receiving heip from a health care worker? Thank you for taking time to answer this question.

Medical Care for Dalits

Submitted by shawnrubin on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 21:53.

Thank you for your question regarding the Medical Camp that was started in 2007 by Andrew Santos called KI-Care.

This program along with the Children's Feeding Center were both put on hold in late 2009 due to a lack of funding for these projects. Both programs had an incredible impact in the short term and were crucial for the villagers, but neither program was sustainable so eventually Ravi decided that if ARV focused its resources on its UnCaste India initiatives they could create programs that were more self-sufficient and easier to fund within the villages where they work.

We are pleased to report that Longitude is working on securing a grant to fund a mircro-finance program in the KI villages. We believe that this program will help to put more money into the pockets of the Dalit villagers allowing them to better provide both food and health care for their families.

Things are much better in the village of KI these days and even though malnutrition and poor health care still exist the fact that each family has a safe and secure home has helped to move these Dalit villagers forward and give them more hope for their future prospects.

The people of KI village still receive Health Care from ARV when they need it most. You can read more about the work of ARV at this web address, <a href="http://golongitude.org/node/241" title="http://golongitude.org/node/241">http://golongitude.org/node/241</a>.

Thank you so much for your question!
Shawn Rubin
Longitude President

Houses For Dalits