Kurukkuchalai, Duraisamipuram and Valangaiman Tamil Nadu/India
The children of the coolies
Three boarding schools will provide Indian boys with education and care
Yesu writes poems. The fact that he is able to do so and does not have to spend his
life in impoverished surroundings is down to the Sirumalar Boys Home in Kurukkuchalai,
India. 30 boys have found a new home here that provides them with the opportunity to
learn, and to make something of themselves.
Their parents find it difficult to keep the family together, live below the poverty line
and often scrape a living as coolies to feed their children and themselves. Coolies are
porters, day labourers and unskilled workers. Their children also have little chance of
escaping this life. Very few learn to read and write. Their priority is their very survival.
And this means working as poorly-paid heavy labourers, from childhood.
The foundation therefore supports three boarding schools in the Indian state of Tamil
Nadu that will provide such boys with prospects for the future: the Sirumalar Boys
Home for 30 boys in Kurukkuchalai (Thoothukudi district), the St. Theresa's Boys Home
for 20 children in Valangaiman (Tiruvarur district) and the Carmel Boys Home, which
is currently home to 15 boys in Duraisamipuram (Theni district).
The food, clothing, books, school fees and medical care of the 30 boys in Kurukkuchalai
cost around 15,000 euros per year. Since the year in which it was founded, the Karmel
Missionsstiftung - Dr. Fernando has supported the boarding school with 8,000 euros per
year. With the active support of donors, this figure should be increased and in future
the whole annual requirement should be covered.
Yesu Arul Selva Mani is one of the boys in Kurukkuchalai. Like all of his fellow pupils,
he has passed his school exams with flying colours. Yesu's teachers speak very highly of
him, calling him "very disciplined and persevering". Yesu is particularly good at writing
essays and sometimes writes poems as well. Yesu will find his path in life. It is a path
that will lead him away from a life with no tomorrow towards a better future and turn him
into someone who will give hope, to himself, to his family and to many others.
