Post on 14-Feb-2017
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillagristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
www.sristivillage.org www.sristivillage.org
fghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzx
Sristi Foundation Empowering people with disabilities
Newsletter – 2, September 2014
Page | 2
Sristi Foundation Empowering people with disabilities
Thazhuthali, Tindivanam T.K.
Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu -604 304 INDIA
sristivillage@gmail.com www.sristivillage.org
Newsletter – 2, September 2014
Dear Friends,
Hearty Greetings from Sristi Foundation!
It is our great pleasure to put forward the second issue of Sristi Foundation Newsletter. We
are delighted to share with you some of the recent successes, challenges, and developments
at Sristi Foundation. We hope you find the newsletter both informative and a pleasure to
read.
The main objective of the organization is “to
establish “Sristi Village”, a self-sustaining,
inclusive and eco-friendly village, which
provides a family atmosphere where
everyone can reach their full potential
regardless of disability, race, gender, etc.
Further, people with intellectual disabilities
and the marginalized will be equally active
contributors”.
At Sristi Foundation, we have been working hard to make this dream come true. With
the support of friends from around the world, we purchased nine acres of land, and are now
well on our way to establishing our Sristi Village community. In fact, our first community
members have arrived! Please continue reading to learn about our inaugural community
celebration, our first cultivation, the launch of our website, and other exciting news.
Sristi Village Journal
July 14th, 2014: Preparing the Land
Today we started preparing our land for organic
cultivation. Necessary preparation includes land
levelling, summer ploughing, contour bunding, and
mixing natural manure with the soil. This is our first
cultivation, so it is a moment of reflection as we dig
and prepare for what is to come. What will grow
from this land? What will grow from this vision?
Page | 3
July 20th, 2014: Young, Energetic, Innovators at Sristi Village
Today a team of young people from
Blossom Foundation paid a visit to Sristi
Village. Blossom Foundation is lead by Mr.
Arun, a final year engineering student at
Manakular Vinayagar Engineering College,
Puducherry. Mr. Arun and his team shared
with us their innovative ideas for technology solutions to solve everyday problems. We are
highly impressed with their creative ideas.
July 26th, 2014: First Community Meeting
News is spreading about Sristi Village; at present 40
people with disabilities have come forward to say
that they wish to join the community. Today is the
big day for a community meeting of potential
members. At this stage, we must choose the right
beneficiaries. Our plan is to invite a maximum of 10
people into our first community group. Once this
group of 10 residents is finalized, they will join us in
Sristi Village and begin contributing to all our activities, including cultivation and designing
and building the village.
August 3rd, 2014: Visit from UnLtd Tamil Nadu
Today we received a visit from Mr. Gijs Spoor and his
wonderful family. Mr. Gijs Spoor is the founder of
UnLtd Tamil Nadu, a start-up incubator that is
providing Sristi Foundation with invaluable guidance
and support. Mr. Gijs Spoor shared his precious time
with us to discuss how we might enhance our activities
and improve efficiency. We are grateful for his
support.
August 20th, 2014: Inaugural Community Celebration
This is a very proud moment in the history of
our organization. Yes, our first community
members have arrived! This is the moment we
have long awaited. Our first group of 10
community members includes people with
disabilities and non-disabled. Today they
formally join Sristi Village, bringing to life the
Page | 4
dream of a community where diversity is celebrated and dignity assured. We are thrilled to
welcome our first community!
We celebrate today with a big event,
overseen by chief guest Sri-La-Sri
Sivagnana Balaya Swamigal, 20th
Pontiff, Mailam – Bommapura Adheenam.
Also in attendance at the inaugural
celebration are the Village Counsellor,
the presidents of Thazhuthali and
neighbouring villages, teachers, parents,
children, and members of the public. It
is certainly a day to remember.
August 27th, 2014: First Cultivation
Another historic moment for Sristi Village: With
the help of our first community members, we
begin our organic and traditional South Indian
cultivation. The land is prepared with natural
manure, and today we begin – it is time to plant!
Our crops this season will be minor millets (foxtail
millet – tinai, little millet – samai, kodo millet –
varagu, corn, and red gram). Our community
members are involved in each and every activity of cultivation. We are very proud and
impressed with their involvement. We hope our first farming venture will be a success. We
anticipate that it will be, thanks to the expert guidance and assistance of Ms. Kumari and
Care Society.
September 12th, 2014: Happy First Birthday
Whose birthday is it? The birthday of Sristi Foundation! Yes, it is hard to believe, but
exactly one year ago today we registered our organization and officially initiated the project.
So much can happen in a year. The journey of the past twelve months included big challenges,
many fascinating moments, and sweet, sweet,
successes. People are responding to the vision of
Sristi Village, and together, with tremendous,
heartfelt, work, we are making the dream come
true.
We celebrated today with parents, local leaders,
and friends from the wider community. Sristi
Village community members served a delicious dinner, and organized a lively, inclusive, dance
party. It was a wonderful event. Our chief guest was Mr. Sathish, past president of Rotary
Club Pondicherry, Beach Town, who attended with his family.
Page | 5
We, the Sristi Village community, take this opportunity to thank each and every person who
has offered encouragement and moral support during the past year. In particular we would
like to acknowledge:
1. Leon, Brigitte, and Kinderlachen (Germany) for their tireless support.
2. Mr. Nicolas Jogel from France, for his crucial help purchasing the land and kick-starting
the project.
3. Mr. Arulmurugan and his family, for their dedication to Sristi Village.
4. Ms. Alison Waldman from the USA, for supporting and mentoring the project. We thank
kanthari International for connecting us with this amazing person.
Infrastructure Update
With the support of UnLtd Tamil Nadu, we
had an opportunity to meet and speak with
Mr. Paul, a landscape pioneer from the
Auroville community. Based on our need and
his suggestion, we constructed an internal
road to improve access on the Sristi Village
land. Our next step in the building process is
to meet an eco-friendly architect who will
help us design our energy efficient and eco-
friendly buildings.
In the meantime, the people of the village have
paid heed to our current situation, and have
agreed to rent us a building to lodge our first
community members at the low rate of 36 Euros
(INR 3000) per month. We highly appreciate
the cooperation and support of the village
people.
Announcements
Website launched!
We are pleased to announce the launch of the website for Sristi Foundation.
www.sristivillage.org We designed this website to provide a comprehensive overview of our
vision, mission, objectives, history, and various activities of Sristi Village. We will continue to
update the website regularly with new events, case studies, and news from the village and our
partners. Please take a moment to look through the website and share it with your friends.
We would like to thank StudioQ, Ms. Anna Reid, Ms. Gayathri, and all our friends and
supporters for their outstanding work over the past few months to transform our ideas into
this wonderful website.
Page | 6
Donors Receive Tax Benefit
You can now receive a tax benefit when you donate to Sristi Foundation! The Foundation is
fully registered under the Income Tax Acts 12AA and 80G, department of Income Tax,
Puducherry. Donors may receive a 50% tax exemption from their taxable income when they
donate to Sristi Foundation.
And in further good news, Sristi Foundation has finally secured prior permission under the
Indian FCRA Act to receive foreign contributions.
Meet our first long-term volunteers
We are delighted to be joined by our
friend and supporter, and first long-
term volunteer, Ms. Elodie from
France. Ms. Elodie helped raise funds
for the purchase of our Sristi Village
land and cultivation, and is now sharing
her expertise in theatre and youth
development directly with our
community. She has extensive
experience working with special needs
children, and is involved with Sristi Special School as well as with establishing the village.
We are also excited to welcome
Ms. Charlotte, from the USA. Ms.
Charlotte is a Permaculture and natural
farming expert who brings decades of
experience to our agricultural activities.
Our third long-term volunteer, Mr. David
from Germany. Mr. David has a passion
for working with children with
disabilities, and he is helping with day-to-
day activities at Sristi Special School.
We say a big thank you in advance to our first, brave, long-term volunteers! We are so
grateful for your support, and delighted to welcome you to Sristi Village.
Page | 7
Special Requests
A vehicle for Sristi Village
As you are aware, we responded to a request from the surrounding community and initiated a
Special School for children with disabilities. As of now, 10 children from nearby villages are
enrolled and receiving special education and training at the school. Requests continue to pour
in from families from remote villages who wish to admit their children into the program. It is
our earnest desire to meet this need and to offer admission to all interested students with
disabilities.
An obstacle to meeting this need is that Sristi Foundation has no vehicle to help the students
get to school. Some prospective students come from remote villages that have no public
transportation. Others live in villages that are connected by local bus, but the children with
severe disabilities cannot walk the five or six kilometers to the bus stop. In order to
accommodate these students from remote villages, Sristi Village would like to acquire a mini
school van. Any assistance towards purchasing this van would be highly appreciated.
Solar water pump
We have a small pond that is a good source for water, but we are still in need of a pump to
bring the water to the fields for irrigation. The village does not have electricity, and in any
case we hope to use sustainable energy sources, so we wish to acquire and install a solar
water pump. Can you help us with this?
A Word about our Team
A year ago I, Karthik, was the only one passionately pursuing the Sristi Village dream. Today
I share the dream with a wonderful, dedicated, team, working directly from our village.
Mr. Vaikunthan, special educator and speech therapist, is fully responsible for Sristi Special
School and the vocational training centre, where he has one trained teacher working under
him. Our gardener, Mr. Malaiyuran, is 65 years old and brings deep knowledge and experience
in local agriculture to our farming activities. Ms. Kumari, an organic farmer, has also joined
our team. She is helping design the farming curriculum and train Sristi Village community
members in organic farming techniques.
And of course we have an amazing team of supporters around the world who are helping us
raise funds, connect with potential partners, and spread the word about Sristi Village. We
hope that someday each of you can visit and spend time in the community that you are helping
create.
We are grateful to each and every one of our team members – here at Sristi Village, and
around the globe. We could not realize the dream without you.
Page | 8
As always, we welcome any thoughts or support that you can offer. Every contribution will be
received with thankfulness.
Please send your contributions to:
If you need more information please do not hesitate to call or write us.
Thank you.
With warm regards
Yours gratefully,
G Karthikeyan
Director
Sristi Foundation
Contact Number: +91 90 477 87 887
sristivillage@gmail.com
www.sristivillage.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sristifoundation
Newsletter edited by: Anna Reid, USA
For Indian Donors
Name of the Account: Sristi Foundation
Account Number : 33435575197
Name of the Bank : State Bank of India
Branch : Ariyankuppam,
Puducherry
IFS Number : SBIN0016563
For Foreign Donors
Verein Kinderlachen
Kontonummer 190041
Sparkasse Murnau
BLZ 703 510 30
IBAN: DE61 7035 1030 0000 1900 41
Swift-Bic: BYLADEM1WHM