Sponsorship
The education and the care given at a tender age of a child, in the crèche and then at the nursery, form an integral part of their basic education and, in many ways, determine their education throughout the rest of their lives. This kind of structure exists also in Puducherry as well, but always expensive, so only the high and the affluent class can afford it. So Volontariat opened and runs crèches and nurseries for the poor.
Crèche and Nursery at Shakti Vihar, crèche at Souriya
At Sakthi Vihar, Volontariat accommodates, on its large space, yearly, 140 children from almost 0 to 5. The crèche is divided into two classes depending on the age level, low and high, each section having about thirty children. Then, they are sent to the nursery which, again, is divided into two groups: LKG (the 1st year) and the second group UKG (the 2nd year). Each group has about 40 children. Every year around 30 to 35 children enter into the first year of the crèche, at the same time the children from the UKG leave for the primary school (1st standard).
Aware that the problem of misery is not only confined to the outskirts of the town, but also within it, Volontariat managed to use a piece of land, in the heart of the town, to start a home (Souriya Home) to welcome street boys (see it on the website). Therein a crèche began in 2001 and welcomed 25 to 30 kids whose parents reside mostly on the pavements and the platforms of the streets. The children receive the same care as those of the children at Shakti Vihar.
The parents have to fill up a form which is supplied by Volontariat for their children to be accepted into the crèche. Among these children, those who fulfill all the criteria established by Volontariat, are initially selected and a detailed enquiry is made for each child. The family is visited, the living conditions are taken into consideration and an enquiry is made even with the neighbors of the family. This is done so as to avoid even the least error in identifying the proper child to be admitted into the crèche.
The children receive a balanced diet daily, they are also given tofu (a kind of cheese, made with the extracts of Soya beans) and spirulina, produced at the farm since 2009, both very nutritious.
At the crèches, after a bath and the breakfast, the activities begin in the form of little games. They are conducted to help them to communicate with others and to acquire self –confidence. “Lego” construction games are regularly collected at Emmaüs Toulouse and brought in the crèches to develop the imagination of the children. After lunch, they are going to rest for a while.
- KG class at the Libraray
The children of KG are more formal: they learn Tamil and English alphabets, have initiation in calculation, development of their memory by learning songs and stories.
The Volontariat has always and still encourages a formation based on infant care for the “teachers” and “attenders”, so that they don’t work on a routine and leave them on their own, but to train them to discover joy in gaining knowledge.
Each week, an outing to the farm of Tuttipakkam is organized for the nursery classes, by rotation. The children enjoy the calm of the nature (at that time, the children of Nila Illam are away at school), its greenery, the animals at the farm and they can even have a bath in the little swimming pool, if weather permits.
- Crèche at Souriya
Meetings with the parents (we encourage the educative role of the father, too often absent) are regularly organized on different subjects to make them aware of their responsibilities, their problems and the ways how to solve them together. We try that an harmonious relation can be established between the child, the parents and Volontariat who share a coresponsibility in regard to the child for a best development of his personality.
The small ones of the crèches are not proposed to the Volontariat committees to be sponsored, but most of the children of the KG are sponsored from LKG. The crèches represent the normal but not only source of the sponsorship programme.
For the crèche and KG of OM Shanti and the recent crèche of Sandesh Illam, please refer to the concerned chapters on this website.
