Category Archives: Projects

Returns of investment

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SIFI, officially established in June 2011, is less than two years old. Since its inception, it has focused on the sole objective of creating impact and changing lives. What sets SIFI apart is its core principle that lays emphasis on not just donating funds, but investing them in order to reap return. Our investment is not confined by monetary boundaries, but extends to take various forms that are instilled in our values such as due diligence and transparency, sustainable guidance etc. Guided by our core values, we have taken proactive efforts to evolve and reinvent ourselves. In such an attempt, we reached out to Picture 018Ms Vardhini, Founder, Littles Trust in Madurai. Here are excerpts from the interview.

1)      What is your philosophy behind partnering with SIFI? How would you describe our due-diligence process of meeting with you, surveying your activities, appraising teachers, and checking feasibility of the project before going ahead?

Our partnership with SIFI started with the introduction of Littles to Mr.Venkatesh and Mr.Sriram through a common friend Mr.Srinivasan from AID India, Chennai. In September 2011, Sriram called me, introduced himself and enquired about our future plans. On 2nd October, the 9th annual day function of Littles was celebrated where Mr.Sriram was the special guest. Chinnammal one of our Little Star was running around with bright smile and I introduced her to Sriram. We talked about her and the quality of education these children get in their schools. This triggered our thoughts to concentrate more into Learning Disabilities project. In April, we identified the children, screened the IQ level of children with the psychologist and since then we have started our work with children with learning Difficulties.

Looking back, I found the entire process quite interesting, meaningful and with lots of learning from the field at the grass root level.

2)      What do you have to say about the process of structuring the role of SIFI (75% of total cost will be covered by SIFI, and the rest by you and the parents), the timeline of contribution, our promptness in paying the amount etc?

Our toughest challenge is collecting the money from parents who think their children are ‘good for nothing’. But this has helped us to sensitize the community on the potential of such children, along with the kind of opportunities available. The payment from SIFI has been very prompt and systematic.

3)      Do you think we have exhibited professionalism in our methods?

Yes, of course. We came up with an MOU for the project, undertook discussion for negotiation and made a few changes before signing it on a stamp paper. The visits made by two interns over the summer and regular visits by other representatives of SIFI have not just been professional, but extremely cordial too.

4)      Could you give some insight into our method of reviewing progress?

To be frank, Littles Trust is new to this kind of intervention- focusing special attention on children with learning difficulties. The quarter-wise review, the interim evaluation, teachers’ progress report are helping us to assess not only the child but also the quality of our project.

5)      Has SIFI gone out of the way in helping your organisation/community apart from this project? Are there instances of raising funds for a specific child or creating awareness among parents etc?

DSC_5012 Recently, Chinnammal had Dengue fever, followed by brain fever and is still hospitalized (almost one month). The kind of support SIFI team extended is wonderful. We could support costs of her MRI, CT and overall treatment to some extent. The team has also taken the initative to interact with parents and teachers and provide necessary encouragement. The friendly phone calls from Aarthi to enquire about the status of the project are appreciable.

6)      Do you have any specific expectations from SIFI in the near future?

I believe that SIFI’s support has to continue for a few more years to strengthen our initiatives in a sustainable way. This is because we need more time for the project to yield some concrete results. It would be great if SIFI could also take up a community project to sensitize the people on these issues.

Rockstars in the making!

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Hope and faith are so powerful that they can make impossible seem possible. That is the kind of impact that Project Little Stars has been creating in the past few weeks. With proactive enthusiasm and effort invested by the special educator and the teaching assistants, the children have shown tremendous impact in not just their understanding of concepts but also the eagerness to get creative and learn more.

The initial assessment of children was carried out with the help of a clinical psychologist during the months of April and May 2012. In this process, the children’s levels of knowledge, understanding and level of learning difficulty was analysed and established. This report will serve as reference to measure the growth of each child at the end of the project in 2013.

The classes began on the 2nd of June 2012. There are three girls and six boys who attend weekend classes of the project, while being enrolled in regular school during weekdays. Two other children, with higher levels of learning difficulties attend evening classes on all days of the week except Sunday.

The classes include sessions on reciting, writing, team games and group activity. Each class is designed in such a way that it not only helps the kids cope with others in school, but also instills self confidence and empowers them to be independent. The combined efforts of the teachers, parents and children, the results have been phenomenal.

Case Study:

Sivaraj (13) is the son of Raman who is employed as support staff in Madurai University and Veerammal who is a daily wage earner. He is often compared to his little sister Swetha who gets better grades as she does not suffer from any learning difficulty. Prior to the start of the project, Sivaraj was a dull boy, who was upset by the mocking resulting from being compared with his sister. But just few weeks into the project, he has evolved as a more cheerful, confident and creative person. He grasped the concept of multiplication as soon as it was taught innovatively by rearranging pairs of footwear. On knowing that the following class would teach him to read the clock, he made a clock using paper and thin stainless steel rods all by himself!

Kalaivanan (9) is the son of Dhanam, a single mother who is supported by her father. Last year, Kalaivanan and his brother underwent tongue tie release surgery. Prior to the program, he was not even able to identify alphabets in Tamil or English. He could write numbers only until 10. But at two months since the start of the program, he is able to not only write numbers until 50, but also do addition. He is able to write small words and convey his thoughts with much more clarity. With constant encouragement from his mother, he is happier and more optimistic about everyday life.

Thus, Project Little Stars is changing the lives of children, by giving them the opportunity to seek a better future, despite their differences from a majority of other children their own age.

Spreading Smiles, Saving Lives – SIFI’s fund raising photo walk

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SIFI is happy to launch its maiden fund raising event: ‘Spreading Smiles, Saving Lives’, a photo-walk for a social cause. All photo enthusiasts are invited to be a part of the walk that will focus on the nuances of photography for causes. The proceeds from this walk will go towards the cause of Vision Ventilator – donating a ventilator to the Chengelpet Government Hospital.

On event day:
• Participants interact with photographers from across the city and click photos during the walk
• Participants are encouraged to bring photos based on the theme ‘a journey called life’. An open discussion on such photos will be undertaken to offer comments and suggestions.
• Talk by Sriram Sabhapathy on social photography. He is an avid photographer whose photos may be viewed at http://www.sriramphotography.com/

After the event:
Each participant may send 2 photos (with caption) shot during the walk. The top 12 photos, adjudged by a professional photographer will go into making a calendar for 2012. All due photo credits will be mentioned.

The event is divided into 2 sessions :
Session 1 : 26th January 2012 around Triplicane
Session 2 : 5th February 2012 around Mount Road/Parrys

A fee of Rs 100/- will be collected from all participants and will go towards the cause of Vision Ventilator. Participants are encouraged to donate over and above the fee on the event day.

Interested persons are requested to register at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGZqcGdMaVZtTElUeEs4dl8xTUVveGc6MQ

The story of a little girl called ‘Chinnamma’

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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:

  1. 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!
  2. ‘Thank god’ Chinnamma. There are still ‘real people’ like Mrs. Vardhini on earth to help you, unconditionally.
  3. 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).
  4. 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.

Vision Ventilator

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Value of life is often undermined as we are overwhelmed by the routine of everyday activities. We often take life for granted, just carrying out mundane roles day after day. But if we took a moment to reflect on the meaning, purpose and value of life, we begin an insightful journey to the true essence of life itself. There is no doubt that few days to a dying person are more valuable and memorable than the same few days to a robust youth. He tries to live every moment to the fullest, understanding that his end is near.  But not everyone has to have a sad ending. Miracles that rewrite destiny do happen. What if you want to be one such miracle; invested with the power to change lives of many who live to see their dreams accomplished? What if your investment made all the difference between life and death?

You can be all of this by investing with SIFI’s first fund raising campaign - VisionVentilator. Through this campaign, SIFI seeks to raise INR 2.5 Lakhs to purchase and donate a ventilator to the Government hospital in Chengelpet district (Tamil Nadu).


What is a ventilator?

A ventilator is a medical instrument that supports the life of a patient, typically infants by providing sufficient oxygen for proper functioning of lungs. Generally used on seriously ill patients, it reduces the risk of death to a great extent.

Why donate money for a ventilator?

Most government hospitals lack necessary funds to buy a ventilator and resort to renting old, dilapidated ones. The daily rent charges vary from Rs 750/- to Rs 1,500/-. Due to its high cost, many patients are denied their right to imperative healthcare and right to life. These ventilators are used in the Neo-natal ICUs, and without them, the mothers have to use manual bagging machines, which means that if they are not very careful, the pressure exerted may be a little more or less that may prove to be fatal to the newborn.

We believe that funding a ventilator will save many lives and will make sustainable impact. Come, join us to breathe lives into people! Please contact us for any further details. You can transfer funds electronically, mail a cheque or donate in cash.