To know that we reach out to this kid in a Government Hospital outside Chennai in Chengalpattu is totally worth all the effort we put in. Participate in SIFI’s Vision Ventilator today.
A visit to Chengalpattu Government Hospital.
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Category Archives: Field Visits
A Photo-walk for Raising funds
We conducted a photo-walk on 26th January, 2011 to raised funds for EKAM. Their inaugural photo-walk was a roaring success with 18 participants. Starting at the ‘Light-House’ MRTS station, the walk took the participants across a lot of color, crowd and children.
Set amidst a Republic day parade on Marina Beach & the slums of Triplicane, we were able to reach out to newer volunteers & donors. One of the participants, Mr.Santosh, came all the way from Bangalore to participate in the walk as he thought ‘he really wanted to do this’. Participants for the walk included students, working professionals & professional photographers. Mobile, point & shoot and high-end were the different kind of cameras seen at the walk. This diversity is unlikely to be seen in other photo-walks around the city. “Thanks to SIFI, this is the first time I attended a Republic day parade & walked through a slum-lane in my own city” said Anu, one of the participants.
The display of India’s military might & a walk with the children in the urban slums subtly jelled with SIFI’s goals. The proceeds raised from the walk where through registration & would go towards our project ‘Vision Ventilator’, which funds a ventilator for the Chengalpet Government Hospital. We started our journey in 2011 & currently fund small NGO’s in Healthcare and Education like EKAM.
To attend their next photo-walk, you can log on to: www.sifindia.com or Like them on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/social.investment.foundation.of.india
India Urban Conference
I was privileged to attend the India Urban Conference in the Infosys Campus at Mysore, Karnataka, India. The theme for the conference was ‘Evidence & Experience’. It was required that every anchor organization conducted sessions on their sector of expertise.
Let us begin with some facts here, by 2030, 60% of the World’s population is projected to be in Urban areas. In India, estimates suggest we would have over 40% of the population in urban areas. Find below a snap-shot taken from a McKinsey report on Urban settlement.
Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore & Pune will be economically bigger than countries like Malaysia, Portugal, Columbia etc. Read McK report here.
{Interesting fact: India will have 68 cities with a population of more than a million by 2030, 63 cities have been recommended in the “multi-brand” FDI retail Bill. Contrary to the government’s claim of ‘JUST’ 63 cities }
The anchors were Pratham (Education), Janaagraha (Governance), IIHS(settlements), PHFI (Health), Arghyam (Water), IFMR (Finance), Dronah (Culture), IUSF/SPA (Planning)
As the sessions happened in-parallel, i was able to attend Deep-Dives (as it was called) of Pratham & IFMR.
DAY 1 : Thursday Nov 17th, 2011 – Field Visit
Pratham kicked off with field-visit to one of the urban settlements in Mysore. We conducted a survey in Kurubarahalli, Siddhartha Layout. Door-to-Door through the help of mobile phones. It was great to interact with the kids when you don’t speak their native language.
Door to Door in Kurubarahalli layout
Learnings
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The smallest block in Urban India is no longer a ‘Ward’.
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‘Low-cost Private schools’ are no better
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Urban areas with income diversity are tough to work with
DAY 2 : Friday Nov 18th, 2011 – Pratham on Education
In a session moderated by Mr.Subir Shukla (blog), we discussed on ‘what the learning outcomes are’ in the context of RTE. 3R’s are the all to learning? In school days I never valued ‘Moral education’ classes because there was no focus on outcomes.Apart from measuring ‘Letter, Para, Division’, what other things should we measure?
Subir Shukla moderating the session by Pratham
The final session for the day was ‘Sharing Data: Strategies and platform for Data Access’. I was pleased to meet one of my seniors from NIT Calicut working on Accountability Initiative.
Have you ever wondered what CESS is? Read their Gov Budget spending on SSA here.
It is really interesting to see government data being projected in a ‘BETTER’ form as compared to the DISE data which is horrendous.
Learnings
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Data is never ready. Present the data you have
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Keep it simple.
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Story should go along with the data. Easy to understand.
BUT, there is plenty of data to show that the situation is bad. So, a lot of implementers do not fancy ‘Data’ folks especially in development.
DAY 3 : Saturday Nov 19th, 2011 – IFMR on Finance
IFMR sessions were REALLY interesting. In one of the sessions by Mr.Harvey Koh,who specializes on Impact measurement, I learnt how the Monitor Group is working on disbursing loans to people with salaries of Rs.10,000-15,000.
The final session which I attended, was by Mr.Vikram Kapur an IAS officer from Tamil Nadu, India. He spoke about financing local/municipal government through a Municipal bond market. He presented a concept of moving away from grant by Central to State or State to Local government to ‘Public Funds’.
Ensures
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Completion of the project on tim
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Governments need not wait for ‘Grants’ for every project.
Look through this entire presentation here The default rate has been ‘NIL’ in his experience. NIL!!
What are you trying to say?
Rural development planning in India is extremely strong compared to Urban development. In my visits, I have found staying in villages more comfortable. Though the quality of education & health should improve, I find governance largely better in villages than it is in cities.
The lowest percentage of voting from any ward in the last Tamil Nadu State Assembly Elections was from T.Nagar, Chennai at 63%. Chennai polled at a measly 66% compared to Karur at over 85%. Most of us treat cities like villages and adopt a wrong model for development. NGO’s & government alike.
SIFI is an organization based out of Chennai. It is important for us to understand the approach NGO’s take in their respective area of work. Increasingly, we would try short-listing NGO’s that specialize in Urban Development especially working with Citizens & communities as Tamil Nadu & India become more urbanized than ever.
The story of a little girl called ‘Chinnamma’
I met Chinnamma when I had gone to visit activities of an NGO in Madurai (TN) called 
Littles Trust. Littles were celebrating their 9th anniversary and had assembled kids from all their centers across 16 villages around Madurai. There were about 265 children and 20 volunteers and management members present, but there was this one little girl with a wonderful smile expressing a real ‘free bird’ feeling who attracted me most and in the end even inspired a bit. Curious to know more about her, I went to Mrs. Vardhini (Founder – Littles Trust) and started speaking about Chinnamma. What started as a funny conversation with Mrs. Vardhini and Chinnamma turned out to be something extremely poignant and thought provoking for me.
Chinnamma was (and is) an extremely sharp and smart kid – with good skills in Mathematics. Ask her what is the balance when you have spent 2 rupees out of 10 rupees, she points out to you and laughs saying ‘idu kuda teriyada ungalukku??’ (Don’t you know even this?) J Not only could she answer the question but she could also make good fun of you, sensibly. But only later did I learn that Chinnamma was ‘disgraphic’ – she cannot write her own name on a piece of paper. We definitely have heard of dyslexia (thanks to Tare Zameen Par!) but how many of us have heard about disgraphia?
Chinnamma has been studying in class II for probably 3 consecutive years now. Chinnama does not care about all these, and all she wants to do is to enjoy and have a good life – be smiling as always as in this photograph. Mrs. Vardhini has very encouragingly agreed to coach Chinnamma in the coming academic year and make her appear in Class V examinations independently, given that schools have lost hope on Chinnamma.
Thinking about the larger picture, few thought-provoking aspects:
- Every problem has a solution and until you figure that one out, it is ok, don’t freak out and freak the rest of the World out. Thinking of the larger picture, your problem was probably nothing!
- ‘Thank god’ Chinnamma. There are still ‘real people’ like Mrs. Vardhini on earth to help you, unconditionally.
- Kudos to the spirit of Chinnamma – the ever smiling and I don’t care attitude is something I and a lot of people today in cities need to learn. Just imagine what would you have done, had you flunked in a single paper in your school examinations?? (leave flunking a year or worse 2 years).
- Everything serious need not be showcased in an emotional manner – I refer to my interaction with Mrs. Vardhini and her introduction of Chinnamma. It was just said as a matter of fact, with no desperate attempt to evoke any kind of emotion or sympathy/empathy in me.
- Sriram Sabhapathy; Visited on November 12, 2011
Here is what Madurai Messenger – Times of Madurai, had to say about Littles Trust.
EKAM foundation – A visit to Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital, Nungambakkam
The ‘visiting hour’ at the Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hopsital (KKCTH) is between 4 & 6 in the evening. Mr.Krishnamoorthy of EKAM foundation was kind enough to arrange a visit. The hospital is situated in Nungambakkam, Chennai. Being quite close to my house, I was able to reach the place 15 minutes in advance. I sat down with a cup of coffee in the waiting hall only to see anxious faces staring at me.
After a few minutes, Krishnamoorthy arrived and took me to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Before entering the unit, I washed my hands diligently, dusted myself off and removed my footwear. As I stepped inside the unit, I was greeted with a distinct hum of the machines. I saw two babies ‘Baby of Gomathi’ & ‘Baby of Saritha’. Neo-natal care refers to treatment of new-born babies. These babies were the size of my hand and were not even named. Both of them have been battling for their lives since they were born. 15 days or so. While one of them sleeping, the other was being administered an injection on her leg. The baby was screaming with extreme pain on her face. I had to look away.
The ventilator support on which the babies were on is rented at Rs.1000 per day. I was also informed the government hospitals are always under-equipped when it comes to ventilators. KKCTH is paid 50% of the costs incurred by EKAM Foundation. These costs would include medicines, transportation, equipment, consultation, doctor charges etc.
Trying to understand the situation
After discussing with the committed nurses at the NICU, I wanted to talk to the parents. I first met Mrs.Gomathi & Mr.Suresh who are from Kumaravadi village near Chengalpattu district. They told me that the baby was born in Chengalpattu Government Hospital (G.H.) where she had developed ‘Muchu thenaral’ or acute-breathing problem. Dr.Satya from the Chengalpattu Government Hospital tied them up with EKAM Foundation. I learnt from the mother that this her 4th baby and earlier three had died. The first at Chengalpattu G.H., the second in Egmore G.H. and the third in SRM hospital, Chennai. Each time the child was first admitted to the Chengalpattu G.H. I was ashamed that our society has made them go through an outrageously costly learning curve. The entire operation would cost 3 Lakhs excluding hidden costs such as travel, food & accommodation. Mr. Suresh earns around Rs. 3000 per month as a driver, giving very little scope for insurance or savings.
Mrs.Saritha breaking down while talking
I also met Mrs.Saritha, another mother. Saritha & Dhandapani come from Pernamet village of Gudiyatham block, Vellore District. Dhandapani works as a coolie & makes Rs.120 per day. They had to sell off their TVS bike for paying the expenses incurred on food & travel. They have 3 other children who are studying in Pernamet government school. Mrs.Saritha did break down while talking to me wondering how she would manage the food & travel.
At the end of it, I was quite disturbed. Firstly, that the value that we attach for life is very less. 3 babies of Mrs.Gomathy had died before she found a way to keep one of her child alive. I am terribly ashamed if a mother cannot give birth to a healthy child in a government hospital. Secondly, our Healthcare system is not even remotely inclusive. I would indeed term it as being ‘merciless’ on the poor. Most of them are afraid to talk to doctors and have little idea about the medication or the illness.
Just after finishing the last paragraph, I called Mr.Krishnamoorthy to enquire about the babies. Mrs.Gomathy has gone back home with her baby & Mrs.Saritha has started breast-feeding her baby. It brings a wide smile to my face. I am indeed happy that SIFI is supporting an organization like EKAM Foundation to deliver quality healthcare to the poorest.
