Presentation
Very quickly, Volontariat had to consider its responsibilities and the set up at the Souriya centre as it was appropriate to have older teenagers who had had bad experiences on the streets, living with 8-14 year old. Furthermore, the younger children risked being taken back onto the streets on their way home from school. It was, therefore, decided that the younger children should be placed on the farm where Volontariat already had a centre for abandoned and orphaned children. The centre was originally planned for girls, hence the name Nila Illam (Nila meaning “moon”), but given the responsibilities of the organization, the plan was changed, and boys now outnumber girls!
In 2003 the farm at Touttipakkam welcomed:
Around 10 abandoned or orphaned boys and girls.
Some 20 boys aged between 8-14 years from Souriya.
About 20 gypsy children, boys and girls, from the Narikuruvas tribe.
[The Narikuruvas are a semi-nomadic tribe, living in extreme poverty and deplorable hygienic conditions. Thanks to the tenacity and persistence, Volontariat was able to obtain from the regional government an independent plot for permanent housing, with a water point and public solar lighting. However, their living conditions and existence remained uncertain, so some asked their children to be placed on the farm and to provide for their education and instruction, all the children attend local schools.]
Some fifty children lived in small groups, cared for by foster mothers (and 1 foster father). These women, with their own children, were essentially people in difficulty, widowed, abandoned or maltreated and, as often found in such cases, without a viable existence. As a result, Volontariat set about creating a stable and steady routine, giving them new responsibilities, structured by and centred on domestic tasks and caring for the children.
The children must also have points of reference, achieved by a structured daily routine:
wake up, wash, have breakfast, go to school, do their homework, have dinner and go to bed at a set time. They are divided into groups or ‘families’, each cared for by one mother and accommodated in small, separate houses situated in the four corners of the farm, meeting up after school and at weekends. Visits and meetings between the children and their families are regularly organized, so as not to lose contact or break invaluable family ties.
Several years have passed since the beginning of the project and about twenty of the elder children now go to boarding schools in the outskirts of Pondicherry and the neighbouring areas, allowing for new children to arrive.
Since October 2006, thirty-five children, split into six families, are living at the farm, with the boarding school children returning only during their school holidays.
We think that there is a chance for these children who have lost their parents or whose parents are marginalized by society to be able to socialize and acquire a rhythm of life, allowing them to integrate in society.
Of course, there are also failures and problems every year, mainly with some gypsy children who cannot handle being separated from their parents or their parents take them back for the nomadic or festival seasons where they are able to earn a bit of money and in the case of girls, where it is possible to prostitute them during festivals.
