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Since 2004 IMADR has worked with its South Indian Tamil Nadu partner, the Society for Rural Education and Development (SRED) for the establishment of “Dalit Children’s Day Care Centers.” These efforts are born out of joint activities between Dalit and Buraku people in their efforts to exchange experiences and learn of each other’s situations. SRED, in cooperation with the Buraku Liberation League, became involved with the movement to set up preschools, liberation centers, and community centers, and holding to that image, expanded the project in an effort to establish a center in a large number of villages that could serve as a focal point for community activities. This is a project born of the interaction of domestic and international organizations such as the Buraku Liberation League, which organizes around similar experiences. This program is not mere ‘assistance’ but rather gives fuller meaning to the idea of a ‘network’ that transcends national boundaries.
This project aims to establish community centers in 17 villages throughout Tamil Nadu for children who, due to poverty or discrimination, have been unable to attend school and for Dalit and Irular indigenous peoples who face severe discrimination and oppression. The primary objective is to provide peace of mind and confidence to children, provide them with a place for basic education, as well as to foster the courage and strength to organize against the discrimination they do and will face. Young women leaders from the area will provide for the care of children at the center, and residents of the village will provide for the centers’ functioning and management.
Furthermore, these centers are not solely for the education and care of children, they are also intended to function as community centers for the strengthening of a Dalit liberation movement led primarily by children and women.
As a result of donations and support, we have so far been able to establish centers in seven villages. Starting with the children who come to these centers, and including the instructors, the parents, and village members, large changes are already in progress. Parents, who now have a safe place to send their children while they work, have large hopes for the impact the centers will have on their children and strongly support the continued operation of these facilities. However, SRED is very much aware that it takes time and effort to raise and maintain the funds and skills necessary to keep the centers in operation, particularly in a situation where the users and administrators of the facilities live in an environment of severe social discrimination. Present issues include securing the financial support necessary for the continuation of the centers and developing an economic environment in which villagers can self-sufficiently run the centers. We ask for whatever assistance you might be able to provide to help develop this transnational, person to person network.
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