There is nothing permanent, except change. Change is a wonderful concept and is the only line of hope that NGOs like Kaingarya cling to. And there are no regrets. "We work among the slums. Change is slow here. But it is happening. It is happening slowly and steadily," says Mrs. Kaveri Natrajan, director and project holder of Kaingarya, Chennai.

Started in 1991, Kaingarya has been concentrating on child labourers, school dropouts, women working as domestic servants among others in the areas of Saidapet, Jafferkhanpet, Ashok Nagar, and West Mambalam in Chennai. It also works with 10 corporation schools in Zone 9.

Kaingarya works with slums and Tamilnadu Slum Clearance Board flats. These tenants live in crowded, unhygienic environment. They work as coolies, peons, and on daily wages and contract jobs. Women in most of the household are the breadwinners, as the male members in the family are alcoholics and do not contribute anything to their families.

Children's education is not a matter of priority as both the parents are illiterate and do not know the value of education. Children who are school dropouts become child workers, as there are many small industrial units which offer jobs to these children.

The objectives of Kaingarya are directed at prevention of school dropouts, defaulters and child labour, strengthening school activities and Career Guidance programmes for women and high school children.

CRY - Child Relief and You an NGO that has been working for the underprivileged children for the last 23 years has been supporting Kaingarya since 1998. It acts as a link between organizations like Kaingarya and those who want to support them. Started in 1979, today the CRY family has grown to over 100,000 people and organizations.

CRY extends both financial and non-financial aid to NGOs working on projects related to children and women. CRY supports 169 child development initiatives across the country. It has been four years since CRY started supporting Kaingarya. "Today Kaingarya has succeeded in attaining a 100% retention rate in all the 10 schools it has been working with," says Rajkumar from CRY, who has been closely working with the NGO.

"Children might drop out for so many reasons - fear of corporal punishment might be one, pressure from parents to bring money home - might be another," says Kaveri. Kaingarya works to put them back on track. For this, they have sessions with the schools and the parents.

Kaingarya organizes supportive education classes, career guidance programs for high school children, transit schools for dropouts and vocational training programs for women.

For children who had failed in X std, Kaingarya takes them through a fresh preparation for the next sitting and a vocational training course. So that the girl has a career laid in front of her after X std.

Today Kaingarya has extended its work to 14 government schools targeting children from 40 nearby slums. It focuses on Health Education and AIDS awareness programs in the slums and value education to girls working in Export Garment factories.

"We also work with women and train them on entrepreneur development skills, so that they can stand on their own. This gives them not only money but also confidence," says Kaveri. "Our tailoring units have been a great success," she adds.

Kaingarya functions at:
# 32,11th Avenue, 
Ashok Nagar, Chennai - 600 083.
Phone: 489 0398
E-mail: kaingkarya@eth.net.

If you are interested to know more about CRY and its various initiatives, please do call us at 4671828/ 4672472 or e-mail: cryinfo.mds@crymail.org