APARA

The schooling and after-school support set up in 5 villages aims to ensure that children have access to quality schools and to support them in their studies.
The school sponsorship allows about a hundred children to access semi-private or private schools by paying for school fees, uniforms and school materials. In order to ensure that schooling runs smoothly, children from the supported villages can go to the tuition centers administered by APARA. These centers allow the children to do their homework in good conditions and to benefit from professional supervision.
This model of tutoring has enabled children from the supported villages to access better professional opportunities. It has indeed been observed that a large proportion of the people who have benefited from tutoring and extracurricular support have a better professional, social and financial situation.

Cheyyambakkam Association supports the sponsorship of hundreds of children in the region and has financed the construction and maintenance of five supervised lesson centers. More information on sponsorship.

The vocational training center, opened in 2002, is intended for adolescents who have prematurely interrupted their schooling. Every year, it offers these young people the opportunity to upgrade their knowledge and provides pre-training in sewing and typing with a view to professional integration.

Cheyyambakkam Association supports the project by financing the maintenance of the center as well as the salary of the sewing teacher.

A center welcomes elderly people in great need and provides comprehensive care for the residents (accommodation, meals, medical care, etc.). The goal is also for some elderly people to be able to reintegrate their families, with the help of a social worker.
The center welcomes about twenty permanent residents and about thirty beneficiaries from seven surrounding villages. The objective is to offer people decent living conditions and medical care. Recreational activities, designed to help them maintain a sense of belonging and commitment to the community, are also organized.

Cheyyambakkam Association occasionally finances certain important expenses such as the drilling of a well or the purchase of storage equipment for the elderly. A protective enclosure financed by our Association is currently under construction.

In India, the coronavirus health situation has worsened since the beginning of 2020. The social and economic impact is difficult to assess, but we already know that it will be serious, even dramatic.
Since May 2020, APARA has been providing humanitarian aid to enable more than 570 families in the Kilacheri region to feed themselves properly. The families have received the necessary household and food products for one month. 25 kg of rice, a few kilos of vegetables, spices and soap were the main supplies, essential for the beneficiaries to continue to live with dignity.

Association Cheyyambakkam has financed this emergency aid project.

APARA has existed for many years and some of the projects have come to an end. Here an insight on some of them:

- Roads: the road to Cheyyambakkam village has been made accessible throughout the years from the neighbouring villages. Work to consolidate the slopes and build small bridges, which are essential for travel during the monsoon season, has been undertaken. These works have enabled some children to go to school and to the study center under supervision throughout the year. Most of the roads in the region are now paved.

- Water: the construction of a well and the installation of a pump has facilitated access to drinking water for all the inhabitants of Cheyyambakkam, even during the dry season. A few years later, this first step was improved by the construction of a water tower. A water network extended to the entire village thus brings drinking water to every household. Gradually, similar systems were implemented in other supported villages.

- Nursery: A nursery, managed by APARA, welcomed around 20 children every day whose parents were busy working. This structure provided young children and their families with valuable daily assistance. The young children received a pre-school education, a balanced daily meal and basic medical care. The government then set up a state-run nursery, which led to the closure of the APARA-run nursery.

- Women Self Help Groups: Women from the region organized themselves in groups of 10 to 20 to set up a savings fund, take out and manage bank loans, in order to improve their living conditions and those of their families. Several activities were carried out within these groups, such as: access to government aid and bank loans; the implementation of an AIDS awareness program; and the development of embroidery work carried out by village women.