Liverpool YMCA

Introduction

Liverpool YMCA has helped to support YMCA Mullankina Vilai for approx. 18 years, offering financial support over the years to help fund their numerous projects addressing poverty and underdevelopment in the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu in South India.

Kanyakumari District is the smallest of the 32 districts of the Tamil Nadu state, and takes its name from the tourist town of Kanyakumari, which is at the tip of the Indian peninsula and faces the Indian Ocean.

 The Work of YMCA Mullankinavilia

Technical Training

For those young people within a 15km radius of Mullankina Vilai who have failed to complete their education or haven't got the financial resources to complete their education, the YMCA  staff visit the villages and talk to the young people offering them the opportunity to go through secondary education or attend vocational training. The YMCA assists them in paying school fees and travel expenses.

School Program

Nearly 25% of rural families have no opportunity to send their young children to school because the fees are too high or the village is too far from the nearest school.

The YMCA have teachers who visit the villages holding classes outdoors under the shade of trees or under the shelter of a porch should it be raining, under this scheme there are presently 23 villages who have daily afternoon classes for two hours catering for approx. 255 pupils.

For the older children there are teachers who work voluntarily within the community who organise schools for 10 - 20 children with each group receiving two hours schooling either in the morning or afternoon. There no formal classes at these times as quite often teenagers and adults will sit in to improve their own education. A total of 200 educational centres have emerged in the recent years with the teachers giving the YMCA monthly reports on progress and in turn receiving food subsidies and travel expenses.

Support for Women

Self help groups for women are run in parallel to the YMCA enabling women to retrain themselves including travelling to larger towns to take part in specialist training programs such as medical care and counseling.

Widows in India have very little chance of survival if they have no male relatives to support them, as such the YMCA offers support specifically for this group, younger widows can go through vocational training whilst the more mature widows receive financial support, food distribution and clothing donations.

Environment, Housing and Health Program

"Water is Liquid Gold" in the hot region of southern India and the YMCA's environmental education project has been strengthened over the past year highlighting the need for water conservation and suitable sanitation, specifically the relationship between open latrines, mosquitos and the diseases that result from poor sanitation.

The YMCA has been able to ensure that nearly 80% of the families within a 15km radius now have a seperate toilet.