Do Unto Others

Udavum Karangal (helping hands) is an impressive initiative that provides succour to destitutes in Tamil Nadu. Over the last 25 years, it has rescued, nurtured and educated over 25000 disadvantaged people, an achievement that is all the more remarkable as it accepts no funds from the government or any religious organisation.

Udavum Karangal and Vidyaakar have won several accolades and awards over the years. Vidyaakar though prefers to measure success with achievements such as those by two students winning gold medals in the fields of social work and hotel management.

Contact

460, NSK Nagar

Chennai - 600 106

+91 44 2621 6321

or 2621 6421

or 262 22161

udavum@vsnl.com

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Udavum Karangal

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Udavam Karangal Chennai

Joyous peals of children’s laughter ring out in the gardens of Ramakrishna Vidya Niketan, the residential school run by Udavum Karangal in Thiruverkadu. Carefree kids take turns on swings and recite rhymes. The only factor that sets them apart from children anywhere else is that they all bear the same surname ‘Vidyaakar’. It is quite appropriate, for ‘Pappa’ Vidyaakar has personally rescued them, investigated their cases and provided them with shelter, medical care, schooling and often, even their names. This is just one of several establishments set up by Udavum Karangal in Chennai and Coimbatore.

The story of Udavum Karangal’s origin reads like a fable. A young boy from a poor family from the small-town of Kollegal (in the neighbouring state of Karnataka) wound up in Chennai where he was raised and schooled by a philanthropist, Ramakrishnan. Guided by his benefactor’s advice to “help others”, Vidyaakar started a guidance centre in 1983 in Chennai’s NSK Nagar. A rickshaw puller walked in one day with a tiny abandoned baby. “It needed care and I felt a sudden urge to take care of the baby,” says Vidyaakar. Over the years, he has managed to provide 15 shelters for people from all age groups – new born babies to the elderly, from spastic children to people suffering from AIDS and mental illnesses and hospices for the dying.

Volunteers hold out a new lease of life for the young and the helpless

With separate facilities for children, men and women, Udavum Karangal manages to sustain itself with the sheer dedication and compassion of its 35 member staff and 75 volunteers.

Providing Vocational Training

Vidyaakar’s ‘helping hands’ embrace hundreds with fatherly concern

Right from the start, Udavum Karangal has resisted seeking government funds or grants from any religious bodies, local or foreign. It seeks contributions from individuals and corporates – 80 percent of its funds come from individual donors. Says Vidyaakar, “We work with individuals until they are independent and self-aware. Every individual deserves dignity, and independence is vital in the improvement of self perception.”

Patients are trained in a variety of skills from horticulture and landscaping to tailoring and craftsmanship, depending on their interests. The latest programme includes Jeevan, a vocational training school for the poor which also conducts health camps. The organisation also offers short stay facilities, ambulance services, disaster management and counselling in its branches in Chennai and Coimbatore. It provided ambulance services in the tsunami-hit areas of Tamil Nadu in 2004, provided food, shelter and counseling, and adopted the village of Kanathurkuppum; the latter act earned it a citation from Denver Sister Cities in 2005.

Individual Donations can go a Long Way

Approximately, 89 percent of all the funds received by Udavum Karangal go directly to the projects and around 11 percent is used to meet administration costs. Donors can choose to contribute to specific causes; for example, they can pay for the purchase of a child’s school books or a pair of shoes, sponsor a school picnic or a teacher’s salary; they can sponsor a baby’s food for a month or vegetables and groceries for a day’s meal. They can pay for medicines or clothes. Donations begin at just Rs 160 (US $4) for a school bag and can go all the way to Rs 250000 (US $6250) for an ambulance.

With love and care, volunteers hold out a new lease of life for the young and the helpless. For the motivated team who stretch out their helping hands, joy is measured in the number of children who have been reunited with their families – 6700, and their ability to involve the community in the process of healing broken bodies and hearts.Treatments for illnesses cover the gamut of medication, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, yoga and meditation. The organisation focuses on vocational training as an important tool in the revival of self-confidence.

GVP

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