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Changing Lives, A Rural Development Project in South India

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Newsletter August 2019

By admin | September 4, 2019
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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

2 days ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

Our Crakehall School, Mettupalayam has finally received the Govt school books for the term that should have started on the 1st June! In line with all Govt schools, our two primary schools aren't allowed to open, however, Venkat has been organising daily lessons in each of our feeder villages, supported by our teachers. The first few photos are taken in a Govt mother and baby unit in Puddunagar village, the settlement of the Kuruvi Tribal folk.
As our own leaders are stating, children's education Is a priority, and we are also able to provide them with their mid day meals. ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

5 days ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

A good selection of vegetables for this week's food parcels. So colourful and nutritious ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

1 week ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

Very concerning to read this morning's news from India, a daily increase to more than 800 deaths and over 50,000 new confirmed cases. Last week, in view of the pandemic's increasing spread, we undertook an updated risk assessment in order to ensure that our Food Aid programme is carried out in the safest way possible. This is to care not just for Venkat and IRDT staff and teachers, but also all the local community.

From Wednesday therefore, no individual food parcels will be handed out at our project, but instead, each community's supply will be delivered to the edge of their village or settlement, for distribution by volunteers from that community.

There may well be increased cost involved, but safety precautions cannot be compromised at this critical time.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our programme-since it started in April, Venkat has provided more than 10,000 weekly rice and vegetable parcels to needy families in the Mettupalayam project area. ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

3 weeks ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

Food Aid update-so far this week, 1020 families have received their rice and vegetables, with probably, another 50 expected tomorrow. Our Covid 19 relief programme is paid up to the end of July and we will be considering another month's extension on Sunday.
So far, there is no immediate end in sight to the lockdown and travel restrictions.
It seems a long time since we started a small Food Aid programme in early April, looking to help some 250 families. We are very grateful for all the donations and support given by our Friends which has enabled Venkat to extend his support to so many needy people. ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

3 weeks ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

Venkat is still able to offer some farm work to local women. Weeding the groundnuts (peanuts) provided four hours work and each woman was paid 135 rps.
The Food Aid programme is also paying volunteers another 100 rps for their contributions. ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

4 weeks ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

Once again, another record number of families receive vegetables and rice for the coming week-1052!!!
Things aren't improving yet in our area, which remains in lock down.
We shall soon be reviewing the funding for our Food Aid programme and would like to thank everyone who has donated to date. ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

1 month ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

Now for a little light relief, how about these two mating snakes, filmed by Venkat on our farmland. Not too close now Venkat! I've just been reading on the news that over 600,000 Indians have died from snakebite in the last 10 years! ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

1 month ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

Last week, over 860 people received either a full weeks supply, or an emergency supply. More folk arrive each week and we are now very concerned regarding the virus transmission risk of people coming to our project in Mettupalayam, looking for food.
After much discussion and head scratching, Venkat and his team have come up with a new system.
Only the villagers living in Mettupalayam will come to the project to collect their supplies. All the other 13 settlements will have their vegetables and rice delivered to their village in plastic bags. Each village will have one or two volunteers from that community, at hand to enforce social distancing, and to hand out the supplies. Each family has been given a token to control the numbers. There is a significant additional cost as we are paying each volunteer a small weekly sum of 100rps, and each week some 1600 bags will be needed.
As this is a new system, no doubt there will be some fine tuning needed, but our concern is to ensure Venkat and staff are safely able to carry out this essential work. Whilst a little unhappy regarding single use plastic, we can at least ensure that it is collected up later for recycling/ disposal. ... See MoreSee Less

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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

1 month ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

This is a copy of another special newsletter that we have distributed to our Friends.

July 2020

Hello Friends.
We have prepared a further short newsletter, in view of the extraordinary situation brought about by Covid-19.

Food Aid Programme
A strict lockdown is still in place around our project area and extending to Chennai. As a result, most businesses and markets are closed, travel is strictly limited and almost all local people are without work and income. Locals who work in the large cities have been forced to return to their villages.
Our project has been a genuine lifesaver for those hit hardest by the situation. We are blessed to have someone in Venkat, who has over thirty years of knowledge and contacts in the area, so that we can target our food aid support to those who need it most. Your support has enabled us to provide weekly rice and vegetables to over 700 (yes, seven hundred) families. It is a heroic effort, finding supply and delivery from wholesalers, unloading and arranging vegetables into batches for each family, agreeing collection days for different villages and tribal groups, then managing huge crowds arriving at the project. Desperate for food, people arrive many hours beforehand and some will then wait up to 4 hours in the heat of the yard to collect their supply. We are so proud of the project team, Venkat, the teachers and others who have stepped forward in this time of extreme need. In turn, they are all incredibly grateful to you, the Friends of Mettupalayam, for your financial support which has made this possible. We have had some generous extra donations which have helped make this possible so far.
As we speak, with no immediate end to the situation, we have agreed to continue the aid programme for the month of July.

Our Website
We are pleased to advise that we have made several improvements to our website at www.irdt.co.uk We encourage you to have a look and to recommend it to your friends and contacts. We now have a simple “Donate Now” button feature and the website features our new look and logo. The logo (see top of page) comes from an original design from two students at Crakehall primary school near Bedale. More of this in our next newsletter. It has been expertly brought to life and gifted by our friend Jordan Took. Jordan visited the project a few years ago and now works as a graphic designer. The website holds lot of information on the project, plus access to newsletters, a link to our regular Facebook updates and much more!

We will give more information in our next newsletter in August. In the meantime, thank you all for your continued support during these difficult times. ... See MoreSee Less

Welcome | IRDT | Friends of Mettupalayam Trust | Charity

www.irdt.co.uk

Friends of Mettupalayam is a village based project supporting children and adults in a very poor rural area of Tamil Nadu, South India.
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Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

2 months ago

Friends of Mettupalayam Trust

After yesterday's hiccup when the vegetable wholesaler wasn't allowed to go to the market to buy vegetables, another trip overnight has been successful. This means that today will be manic, with around 400 people arriving to collect their weeks' vegetables and rice. With supplies for 150 families going out to Perunagar, and the remainder being collected tomorrow, Venkat expects well in excess of 700 families will benefit again this week.
It is impossible to overstate how important this Food aid is turning out to be, with no work available in the countryside and very few suppliers open in the towns. ... See MoreSee Less

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