Situation

Calcutta (Kolkata) is the capital of the state of West Bengal in the north-eastern part of India. Measuring a relatively small area of 104 square km, it numbers about 16 million inhabitants, amongst them an estimated 100,000 street children. Being mainly built by the English, until the mid fifties Calcutta was an important industrial centre (a.o. car industry) with the highest income level of the country. In the second half of the twentieth century its importance dropped rapidly. Delhi became the political centre and Calcutta was flooded by two million Hindu refugees leaving neighbouring Bangladesh during its independence war.

India is a rich country with a fast growing economy. But the gap between poor and rich is growing too. 21% of the population is suffering from malnutrition, 16% of the population do not have access to safe drinking water, 39% are illiterate (source: Human Development Report 2004.

History

Ruud Bakhuizen of FEMI and Peter Aalders of Van Ede & Partners both were members of the Kiwanis club (comparable to the Rotary club). The consultants of Van Ede & Partners used to invest part of their profit in charity. One of their projects was YMWS (Young Men's Welfare Society), an educational project initiated by Shourabh Mukerji, an Indian regularly visiting Europe to collect money. In 1994 Peter Aalders introduced Shourabh Mukerji to Ruud Bakhuizen. Shourabh told Ruud about his ideas, but repeatedly said: "Come to India, see it with your own eyes." That happened after a couple of years: January 26, 1999 Ruud & Annelies Bakhuizen, accompanied by Marjorie Schreuder as expert in Indian matters, arrived in Calcutta for a working visit. In 2000 FEMI and Shourabh came to an agreement: now FEMI is donating to YMWS and YHS (Young Horizon School, secondary education) for several years. In 2004 a new working visit was paid. FEMI participated in a conference about sustainable education and attended the opening ceremony of two schools.

Allies

Shourabh Mukerji

College-taught Shourabh Mukerji was born in 1954 in a higher cast. In 1967 he volunteered to become a teacher in one of the schools of mother Theresa. Shourabh is a teacher to the backbone, respecting mother Theresa deeply. The respect was mutual: On his wedding day her gift to him was a car, which he is maintaining thoroughly until this day with great pride. Shourabh has his own ideas concerning education (See "goals"). To realise these ideas he asked his father to obtain an advance on his heritage to build his first school. Thus happened: 700 children are receiving education, their parents paying tuition. Thanks to this tuition Shourabh could afford to give free education to an equal number of children being unable to pay. In the meantime he put up a number of primary schools and a secondary school, the state-certified Young Horizon School with 550 pupils. Shourabh maintains good contact with people at home and abroad, a.o. United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Apart from FEMI he is receiving donations from a.o. ICCO, Van Eden & Partners (The Netherlands) and the Rudolf Steiner Stiftung (Germany).

Vineeta Hoon

Dr. Vineeta Hoon has a PhD in geography and is a Post Doctoral fellow from the EWC, Hawaii, USA. She is not just a paper researcher and worker but has spent much time in the field working and living with indigenous groups of people in Scandinavia, Botswana, India and Nepal. A person of many interests she has worked as a school teacher, tourist resort manager and project director and consultant for rural development projects located in India and Africa.. Vineeta is one of the founder trustees of the Centre for Action Research on Environment, Science and Society (CARESS). The NGO focuses on environmental awareness and social upliftment of women and indigenous communities through self reliance and micro financial Initiatives. Vineeta monitors the Calcutta project for FEMI.

Goals

Young Men's Welfare Society/Young Horizons School

2000 children in the age group 3-10 years will have access to education, drinking water, sanitation and medical care. Vocational training is included. Drinking water is provided by building pumps.

The education is not limited to literacy and arithmetic, the creative consciousness being stimulated by drama, dance and mime and so on. Apart from that the social consciousness is stimulated: what is the context I am living in? How will I create my own liveable future? Thanks to the education of the children, the parents, especially the mothers, will be aware of their situation too.

To reach these goals three new schools will be built in the South 24 Parganas district, in the rural area of the Ganges Delta, south of Calcutta.

Cataract

150 elderly people suffering from cataract will be operated including medical after-care.

FEMI is donating € 50,000 on an annual base.

Just a drop in the ocean

Ruud Bakhuizen: "Of course it is just a drop in the ocean what we do in Calcutta. What is a little education for 2000 children in a city of millions? You just have to start somewhere. But look at the emanation: through the children the parents are reached, who maybe will say: I do not want to be illiterate, I want to reach beyond this hopeless situation. Shourabh says women are the core of the society. If their self-consciousness can be empowered, 60% of the developmental work in the slums and the rural area will be settled."