Reaching The Unreached G. Kallupatti, Near Batlagundu, Theni Dt. 625203

Happenings of June 2018

Dear Well-wishers,

Greetings from RTU.

We started the new academic year in our schools this month. It gave us immense pleasure to

welcome all the pupils back.

We bid farewell to Fr Bosco and Br Peter as they are moved by their respective communities.

This usually happens every three years, but we have been lucky to have had Fr Bosco with us

for four. It was not easy for us to say goodbye, though our relationship started with a simple

hello! They have touched many hearts, taught many minds and transformed many lives. They

have served at RTU with dedication and we thank them for their committed service to our

children and other beneficiaries during their time with us. In their place, Fr Maria Antony has

joined us to head our education department and Br Vinoth will be in charge of purchasing. We

welcome both to RTU.

RTU Alumni arranged a blood donation campaign at RTU on Br James’s Months Mind on 5

November 2017. It has been recognized by Madurai Medical College and Mr Ganesha and

Mrs Vijitha accepted the award presented by the District Collector on behalf of the Alumni.

We feel very happy and proud to share with you our achievements over the last 12 months with

the statistical information below. Before that, we have some news of recent weddings of some

of our children who were in our care.

Child Care at our Children’s Villages

On 3rd June, Geetha married Mr. Nandhakumar in her village temple. Geetha came to RTU in

2010 and, with our support, she studied General Nursing and Midwifery at the Claudine School

of Nursing in Batalagundu. She was working in Leonard Hospital and, when our beloved

Br James became ill, she accepted our request to come to RTU to nurse him. She took care of

Brother very well until he died and since then, she has worked in RTU’s Pushparani Medical

Clinic. The bridegroom’s family arranged the wedding in a very grand manner in their village.

Many staff attended the betrothal ceremony and wedding too and wished them a happy married

life.

On 17th June one of our former students,

Mahalakshmi, married Mr Selvamani in

a village temple. The bridegroom’s

family arranged the marriage ceremony

as both the bride’s parents had died.

Mahalakshmi and her younger brother,

Manikandan, came to RTU in 2005.

Mahalakshmi completed her Diploma in

Electronics & Communication in

Kammavar Sangam Polytechnic College,

Theni and she now works for a private

company in Chennai.

On 4th June, Rajalakshmi married Mr Vengatesh. Rajalakshmi

came to RTU in 1998 with her mother and younger sister. Her

mother joined RTU as a foster mother until she left to arrange

both her daughters’ marriages. Rajalakshmi finished her Diploma

in Special Education and now works as a Special Educator in a

private school in Madurai.

Sivaranjani and Saranya have successfully completed their 12th standard exams in our school

and both have got places to study for a BA in Tamil and a BA in History respectively in Jeyaraj

Annapackiam Women’s College in Periyakulam. They will live in Jeevan Jyothi Hospice.

Sivaranjani is studying Tamil and Saranya, History.

Six of our students - Manimekalai, Sathiya, Muniammal, Sivaranjini, Mariyamercy and

Pandidevi - have successfully completed their 2-year Diploma in Special Education in the

Spastics Society of Tiruchirappalli and have found good jobs in various schools as Special

Educators. We wish them a bright future.

In the last year from July 2017 to June 2018, 119 new children (58 boys and 61 girls) came to

live in our care in the Children’s Villages. Among them, two were HIV+. 43 girls aged 13 and

31 boys aged 11 moved from the small family houses to our hostels. While they were happy to

join their peers, they were little sad to be away from their foster mothers and brothers and sisters

in the Children’s Villages. In total, we have cared for 909 children in our Children’s Villages

since June 2017.

Centres Poor

Semi

Orphan Orphan

HIV

Affected HIV+ Total

Fam

ilie

s

B G B G B G B G B G B G Total

AnbuIllam 7 16 26 27 4 8 3 5 40 56 96 16

Sirumalar CV 10 24 24 38 7 3 5 3 6 40 80 120 15

Miriam CV 16 18 21 22 1 6 1 2 39 48 87 11

Nirmala CV 13 16 22 22 2 3 1 5 38 46 84 12

David Hostel 3 7 3 2 19 34 34

Velanganni Hostel 13 17 4 6 40 40

Josephine Hostel 9 12 6 2 29 29

Hermann Hostel 15 22 4 2 43 43

Pushparani Hostel 8 12 3 5 28 28

Miriam Dean Hostel 8 17 10 3 8 46 46

Henry Hostel 5 19 10 4 8 46 46

Michael Hostel 7 19 10 4 40 40

Residential School* 6 13 5 2 13 6 40 5 45

Professional Studies* 5 12 11 27 3 8 13 27 8 32 82 114

Total 77 134 172 211 42 52 45 61 25 33 361 491 852 54

Grand Total 211 383 94 106 58 852

Percentage (%) 25% 45% 11% 12% 9% 42% 58%

(B = boys; G = girls)

*The centres, where we send our children for special training and education. The rest are

directly run by RTU.

The above table could also be summarised as following table.

Category HIV Infected HIV Affected Others Total %

B G T B G T B G T B G T

Orphan 13 15 28 12 18 30 42 52 94 67 85 152 18%

Semi-Orphan1 12 17 29 28 33 61 172 211 383 212 261 473 55%

Poor2 - 1 1 5 10 15 77 134 211 82 145 227 27%

Total 25 33 58 45 61 106 291 397 688 361 491 852

Percentage 7% 12% 81%

(B = boys; G = girls; T = total) 1Single parent 2Children from separated or abandoned parents, handicapped, blind, chronically sick parents etc.

As always, we have more girls (58%) this year. We currently have 114 of our children who are

away at college and are studying the following courses:

Course Duration 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year Total

01 GNM (General Nursing) 3½ Yrs 11 19 16 8 54

02 ANM (Auxiliary Nursing) 2 Yrs 4 4

03 DMLT (Lab Technician) 2 Yrs. 1 1

04 ITI (Industrial Training) 1-3 Yrs 2 4 6

05 Polytechnic 2-3 Yrs 9 12 2 23

06 Engineering 4 Yrs 1 2 3

07 MPHW (Multi-Purpose

Health Worker)

2 Yrs 1 1

08 B Com. (CA) 3 Yrs 2 1 3

09 BA English 3 Yrs. 1 1

10 BA History 3 Yrs. 1 1 2

11 BA Tamil 3 Yrs. 1 1

12 Teacher Training 2 Yrs. 4 2 6

13 Bachelor of Social Work

(BSW)

3 Yrs 1 1

14 Bachelor of Psychology 3 Yrs. 1 1

15 Diploma in Psychology 1 Yr. 1 1

16 Religious studies 1 1

17 Waiting * 2-4 Yrs 5 5

Total 35 49 20 10 114

*Admissions in the Government-run paramedical institutions begin later in the academic year;

therefore, we have a few who are waiting for their courses to start.

In the last academic year from July 2017 to June 2018, 41 students completed their professional

courses. (GNM-16, ANM-1, Polytechnic-10, ITI-2, Special Education–6, BA History–1,

Technical course (Dressmaking) –5).

Case Study:

Mrs Gayathri, a 26-year old

orphan was brought up in

Gandhigram Children’s

Home. With their help, she

got married and has two girl

children. Her husband died

due to cardiac problems in

2017. After that, she found it

difficult to cope with the

children without an income.

To get support for her

children’s education, she

went back to Gandhigram

Home. Seeing the poor

condition of the mother and

children, they referred them to RTU to become a foster mother with the children. We happily

admitted them in our Miriam Children’s Village. Now Gayathri feels very safe and secure. Her

children, Mahalakshmi and Divya, are also enjoying their childhood with their new friends. Our

Senior Mothers and our Child Care Manager trained her up and gave her the confidence to move

forward following her trauma. Now Gayathri is taking care of another five children in a separate

house like our other mothers and is leading a settled life.

Schools and Education

On 1st June all our balwadies (pre-schools) and schools opened for the new academic year. Our

teachers joyfully welcomed all the children with the eyes of hope and a brighter future, and new

textbooks, uniforms and writing materials were distributed to all the children.

All the class teachers visited their children’s homes to know more about their family

circumstances and to get a better understanding of the children.

On 12th June, we celebrated the Holy Ramalan festival. 15 muslim leaders from Genguvarpatti

village mosque organized a prayer service for our children. They spoke about self-control, faith,

prayer, charity and the pilgrimage and the occasion was very inspirational. These types of

celebrations help to give our children experience of different faiths and inculcate values of

tolerance and peace in their young minds and hearts.

The Smt Savithri K Oza Memorial Prize was awarded to the school toppers in memory of the

mother of Dr Oza, RTU’s President and Chair of the Board. The Alumni of RTU also gave

Rs 1,000 for 7 toppers in class 10 and 12. We wish them all the best.

Fr Sahayaraj gave a weeklong ‘Healing the Inner Child’ training for class 11 students. Our

students enjoyed the classes and found them very useful.

To create a greater awareness of democratic

beliefs, RTU’s schools organized the

‘Balarshaba’ Student Parliament along the lines

of the Indian General Election. The contesting

candidates went around canvasing votes by

promising effective performance of their duties.

After the election, all the schools had swearing-

in ceremonies where the responsibilities were

conferred on those elected to represent their

classmates.

On 21st June, International Yoga Day

was celebrated in our Nirmala Middle

School in Bodi with great enthusiasm.

Our students were taught yoga by a

specialist from Jeeva Jothi Yoga Centre

in Theni. All our students demonstrated

various asana followed by omkar

chanting. The teacher encouraged

students to practice regular yoga to

remain fit and improve concentration.

Apart from the students in our full-time care who go to our schools, we currently teach 784 local

children from the poorest families and we reach out to around 8,279 children in total to give

them good educational opportunities and raise the level of attainment in rural Government

schools.

The present strength of the beneficiaries is as follows:

Schools/Centres Teaching

Staff

Non-

Teaching

Staff

RTU’s

Children Day-scholars Total

B G Total B G Total B G Total

Arulmalar PS 12 02 28 16 44 79 108 187 107 124 231

St. Peter’s PS 13 02 61 51 112 60 74 134 121 125 246

Nirmala MS 12 04 79 49 128 25 14 39 104 63 167

St. Peter’s HSS 33 05 128 285 413 53 121 174 181 406 587

Pre-schools x 8 09 08 05 04 09 95 95 190 100 99 199

Day Care Centres x 2 0 4 23 37 60 23 37 60

Supplementary Sx13 14 10 185 225 410 185 225 410

J.K. Scholarship1 5 19 24 5 19 24

Scholarship to Staff’s

Children

8 6 14 8 6 14

Mobile School

Science Lab x 32 6 3331 3010 6341 3331 3010 6341

Total 99 35 301 405 706 3864 3709 7573 4165 4114 8279

PS = Primary School; HSS = Higher Secondary School; MS = Middle School; S = School 1200 students have completed their studies under this scheme. 2 Our Mobile Science Lab reaches out to 97 schools in 78 villages.

Case study

My name is Sonia Mary and I live in the Manjalar Dam area in

Theni District. My husband is a fish seller and earns Rs 300 daily.

We have two sons and they are studying in the Government

school in Devethanapatti. As my husband’s income is not

sufficient to run my family, I struggled to provide a quality

education and healthy food to my children. Therefore, I wanted to

go for any coolie work. During this time, I heard RTU was

running a tailoring centre for rural women in our village. I joined

the tailoring centre in January and attended the tailoring course

for 6 months. Our tailoring instructor taught me to use the sewing

machine, and how to sew handkerchiefs, blouses and shirts,

chudithars as well as handicrafts. After completing the course,

I made more handicrafts and sold them for reasonable prices.

I now get Rs 1000 per month. Seeing my talents, my husband managed to save and bought me a

sewing machine and now I sew blouses for the women in our area, shirts, and pants for children.

I have earned respect in the area and have been an inspiration to other women. I am very happy

that RTU helped me to get this tailoring training and become a successful entrepreneur.

Medical and Healthcare

Our health clinic has served 19,200 visits by

patients over the last year. 65 elderly and

destitute people from 23 villages receive

support for their daily sustenance.

Medical check-ups were carried out for all

our school children by our Pushparani Clinic

team from 10th to 30th June. In total, 1,424

school children underwent medical check-

ups. The children who had chest problems

and other common illnesses were referred

for immediate treatment.

Home Support Programme (HSP)

100 children from 89 families living in 51

surrounding villages receive assistance for

their education. Among them, 6 children are

HIV+ and 52 families are affected by HIV.

40 children from the Home Support

Programme in rural villages passed their 12th

standard Government exams and among them

7 students (Engineering BE - 1, Diploma in

Mechanical Enginnering - 1, ITI - 2 and

Teacher Training - 3) are now being

supported through the JK Scholarship Fund for their technical and professional training courses.

Community Development

A training day on watershed management was organized on 21st June in Ranganathapuram

village by Tamil Manila Pengal Iyakkam (TMPI). 36 Self Help Group members from surrounding

villages participated in this training and received awareness on the deepening and protection of

local ponds. Mr Annamalai from the climate change awareness movement was the resource

person for this training.

A training day on dairy cows was organized on 29th June in Sathakoilpatti village by Tamil

Manila Pengal Iyakkam. 40 women Self Help Group members received training on Azolla

cultivation, prevention of foot and mouth disease, Anthrax, timely vaccination, low-cost value-

added dairy products and direct marketing. Since Azolla feeding improves the health of cows

and boosts milk yields, our members were encouraged to use Azolla to get extra income from

improved milk yields.

There are 127 Self Help Groups in 30 villages with 2,308 women members. The groups also run

11 evening study centres or supplementary schools for the poorest children in their villages and

410 children attend these. We provide the children notebooks and food.

Housing and Water

In the last year, 46 houses have been constructed in 11 villages (Palapatti - 4,

G Meenakshipuram - 1, Genguvarpatti - 12, Batlagundu -7, J. K Nagar-6, Periyakulam Town -

1 , Palapatti - 4, Endapulli - 5, Old Batlagundu - 1, G Kallupatti – 6,Virallipatti - 2,

V. Kurumbapatti - 1, Sengulathupatti - 1). This increases the total number of houses that RTU

has built for the poorest families to 8,799.

“Thousands have lived without love but no one without water”. In the last year, 11 water

facilities (bore-wells with motor pumps) were drilled and the total number of water facilities that

have been provided in our target villages is 2,465. We are grateful to all the supporters who

have sent funds to build whole houses and wells.

The above-mentioned statistical details show that all your generous contributions and sacrifices,

which have borne fruit in sixty and a hundred-fold. We would like to take this opportunity to

thank you for your support for the academic excellence in our schools and achievements in our

programmes. Your valuable gift is helping us to provide long-term support for children under

our care. It is your generosity and belief in our service that enables us to perform this work, and we are deeply grateful for your partnership.

My heart is as always filled with profound gratitude for you.

May God bless you all!

Yours fraternally

Fr. J. Antony Paulsamy, OFM Cap.

Secretary.