Christmas should be a season of happiness and joy but for our poor Dalit mothers, struggling to survive, this is not the case. This year, we wanted to make Christmas extra special for them. In previous years we gave our mothers sarees but this year our group leaders suggested we give small gifts to celebrate Christmas and recognise our mothers achievements in the past year.
It certainly lifted their spirits! They sang and danced and were delighted with the presents they received. The spirit of Christmas and the joy of giving brought happiness to all during our celebrations.
Nandri CHild Resource Centres Changing the Lives of our Little Ones
Nandri has set up 10 child resource centres to cater for the overall support and development of our children. All of these centres are looked after by remedial teachers appointed from the local villages. Children come to these
centres after school and start their evenings with some traditional fun games in order to relax after their long days of learning at school. Their evening studies are supervised by the teachers, who help them with their homework, practice reading and writing skills, and also organise singing and dancing classes which the children thoroughly enjoy!In this wonderfully positive atmosphere, the children’s education, talents and overall well being is being nurtured. I
was privileged to visit one of these centres in January, and enjoyed seeing their school work and a wonderful display of singing and dancing from the most happy, smiling little people. It was a joy to see.As most of the parents of Nandri’s children are uneducated, they would be unable to help their sons and daughters with their school work. They are so grateful to Nandri Resource Centres for ensuring the very best for their children. They see the difference it makes in their school grades and how happy the children are to participate in the after school programmesNandri Resource Centres are helping the future generations of Nandri families fulfill their dreams and escape poverty through education.
Nandri Micro Loans Continue to Change Lives
In July, 52 Nandri mothers received life changing micro finance loans which would help them start their own business or give them the finance to send their children to third level education. This programme gives a lifeline to our impoverished mothers and their families. As the mothers pay back their loans each month, these repayments enable us to lend to more than 50 new mothers the following month. The cycle of success of our micro finance loans continues to grow and flourish bringing hope and a future to new families each month. NANDRI, changing lives.
The Nandri Centre 2 years on.
In February 2016 we opened our Nandri Centre. This is a training and administration centre for our mothers and children built on 2 acres of land in a rural part of southern India. Previously we had to move every 12 months as our mothers who are members of the Dalit so called low caste community are like travellers in Ireland. They are not welcome anywhere.They are proud to be members of Nandri. They proudly wear their Nandri saris. They even pay for membership which is helping to make the organisation self sustaining.We have one large training room with full audiovisual facilities and a computer room with a dozen computers. We run regular training courses. Our large reception area is used for regular cheque presentations for loans.A few weeks ago we had 200 mothers attend what is called an RPL (recognition of prior learning) course which is funded by the Indian government. This particular course was to teach the mothers how to pack and pick vegetables. The mothers are each paid to encourage them to attend the course and Nandri Foundation are compensated for running the course including providing food for the attendees. These mainly illiterate mothers are proud of the certification and it will be easier for them to get daily work and will also become an important part of our income following our major investment in the centre.
Every day almost 200 children attend English language courses in local villages. They learn spoken English through song. They get help with their homework and are provided with some nutrition before they play games. We now have a playground for them and a cricket training area in the centre and they will be invited there on a regular basis.We are pleased with the success of the centre which was funded by large donations by Irish donors and directors.
Nandri Success Stories
This month we are starting to share some of the stories of the people that have been helped start a new path in life with the help of Nandri's support. We want to share some of the amazing journeys and to let you see how effective our loans, sponsorships and training programmes have been and what they can achieve.A success Story of Jhansi made possible by Nandri.orgMy name is Jhansi. I belong to a poor family from Thalayampallam, Thiruvannamalai Dt. My mothers name is Arulayee. I am the eldest in the family. I have one sister and two brothers. My brothers are mentally challenged. My mother is member of a Mothers Group called Vasantham, which is one of the mother groups formed by Nandri. I received sponsorship from Nandri when I finished my schooling without any difficulties.
I wanted to go for higher studies at college. But my parents could not afford to send me to college. Instead they asked me to find a job and help the family. I was determined to go for higher studies. I was able to meet the field staff of mothers group. I told them about my goals and the difficulties I was facing at that time. She took me to meet the Managing Trustee of Nandri. I narrated my actual aim and ambition to him.The managing Trustee heard my plea's fervently. He then decided to put me in a college. He got me an admission in Sacred Heart College of Nursing at Velledu. He took all the responsibilities to himself and saw to that I was taken care of well at the college and the hostel. He paid all the college and hostel fees until I finished my Nursing course successfully. Now I am doing my six months intern course at Delhi. I hope I will get a job as a nurse soon. My dreams of finishing a college course were made possible only by Nandri and Mothers Group.While I was studying in the college Nandri gave a loan to my mother to buy a cow. My mother bought a cow and from the milk she sold in the market she was able to run the family with ease. In both ways Nandri and Mothers Group helped me attain my goal and at the same time for my mother to run the family without difficulty.I will be forever grateful to Nandri and Mothers Group, also I promise to help poor children like me to pursue their studies in whatever way it is possible.
International Women's Day
Nandri.org is very proud to join women all over the globe who come together today to celebrate International Women's Day with a voice of unity. Acknowledging this special day and the women who lead the charge when it comes to giving the not so fortunate voices of the world a chance to be heard to be one.The Nandri ethos has always been simple, empowering women. How we achieve this is also simple, we support and encourage our members to be self sufficient. Through our self help groups, loan scheme's, education and training programs. Nandri has been providing, nurturing and supporting the women of rural, Southern India to strive for a better life for themselves and then in turn they support their families and the wider communities in Tamil Nadu.
Our Mothers Self-Help group is fundamental to our success. Nandri works with mothers groups at village level to administer loans. The income generated helps the mother keep children in education and provide for healthcare.The earliest Women's Day observance, called "National Woman's Day," was held on February 28, 1909 in New York. It was organised by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of Theresa Malkiel who was an American labor activist, suffragist and educator. She was the first woman to rise from factory work to leadership in the Socialist party. Her 1910 novel, The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker, is credited with helping to reform New York State labor laws.In 2012 the UN theme for International Women's Day was Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty. In 2013 - time for action to end violence against women. In 2014 - Equality for women & it was declared that this would be progress for all!.In 2016 The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukheriee, in his message issued on the eve of International Women's Day said: "On the occasion of International Women’s Day, I extend warm greetings and good wishes to the women of India and thank them for their contributions over the years in the building of our nation." The ministry of women and child development announced the setting up of four more one-stop crisis centre's on March 8, in addition to the eight already functioning across the country. Ahead of Women's Day, the national carrier Air India operated what it claimed to be the world's longest non-stop flight where the entire flight operations were handled by women, as part of International Women's Day celebrations. The flight, from Delhi to San Francisco, covered a distance of around 14,500 kilometres in around 17 hours.This year the United Nations call for action is this "Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time, and the greatest human rights challenge in our world."— UN Secretary-General, António GuterresThe Nandri message remains simple today and every day, give women the tools to empower themselves. Women of the world we salute you!
Successful Microfinance Implementation
In 2012 we started our micro-finance program. We provide 90% of the cost of purchasing a cow or sewing machine to impoverished mainly #Dalit mothers. These women live in rural communities, generally without access to clean water or sanitation or power.Mothers self-help groups are the important crux of these communities. We have over 3,000 mothers in our programs and each mother belongs to a mother's self-help group. Each group consists of 15 to 20 members. The group meets each month. Each mother/member pays a small monthly subscription and an annual subscription. They each save Rs.100 (approx. $1.50) per month. For many of them, this is a days' wages.All the members' savings are re-lent each month to members of their own group. All loan decisions are made collectively by the group and all decisions are carefully minuted and careful records are kept of subscriptions, loans borrowings, etc. Each member has a passbook, which shows her subscriptions loans and borrowings.Our mothers proudly show off their passbooks and their record, particularly of savings. Each group manages its own savings and loans but Nandri manages the income generation micro finance program. A mother who wants a micro-finance loan has to apply through her group. Her group will decide if they think she is capable of repaying the loan. The group will guarantee her loan. This peer pressure has insured 99% repayment rate on over 1,500 loans to date. This is a key factor in the success of our program.Our impoverished Dalit mothers would not be normally be allowed inside a bank never mind get a loan. Loan interest rates in India could be 2% to 3% per month from a bank and treble that from money lenders. We charge 1% interest per month on the reducing balance and this has become an important part of the revenue of Nandri to allow the program to continue indefinitely and to ensure the program is properly managed and maintained. We have developed our own lending application within #Salesforce, which is a corporate level CRM system.Most of the mothers purchase a cow with their loan and the immediate income from the sale of milk from the cow means they can repay the loan, while also having sufficient money left over for other family purchases and also milk for much-needed family nutrition. They will sell the male calves as Indians don't generally eat beef. Female calves will go on to become a valuable mother.Today we have a fund of Rs. 12 million or about $150,000. $50,000 of this was provided in the form of a grant by #LCIF. Repayments enable us to issue between 30 and 40 loans every month. The income, in the form of interest and subscriptions, from our mothers, ensures the long-term viability of this program.Fred Crowe
Nandri Mothers’ Convention 2017 my experience
By Tony Shaku
What a wonderful sight to see 3500 mothers, plus a few hundred children converging on the Nandri Centre in their purple Nandri saris. They arrived in buses on foot, on motorbikes. in trucks and tuk tuks (called 3 wheelers here).I had been told about this event prior to heading out to India and that I should definitely make it in time to participate. It’s the biggest day of the year for the Nandri Foundation as thousands of empowered women who are receiving support from Nandri come together to celebrate and raise awareness of this movement.However, I should start by mentioning the hard work gone in to produce a successful event. It no doubt had started much earlier than when I arrived, led by Joe- the driving force of the organisation in India. And the preparations went into the early hours of Sunday morning as staff, other volunteers and I finished making banners, signs, decorations and organising the raffle among other duties before the big day! It provided a glimpse of the sense of community as local kids and elders alike pitched in during the day to ensure things ran smoothly.
After a few hours of sleep, I awoke and put on my veshti or dhoti, the traditional garment tied around the waist worn mainly in South India, normally in white for special occasions. It was time to attend the street rally/parade organised in the nearest town with hundreds of women coming from many villages. In true Indian fashion, the rally only began when it should have finished!The rally helps raise awareness and the profile of the organisation in its goals relating to support for agriculture, rural life, children’s education and the empowerment of families.This year it was also held in conjunction with CanKids, a non-profit working to improve the treatment and support for children with cancer in India. It was great to see our signs and banners used in full with leaflets given out to the public with info on issues that both foundations tackle. It was my first rally and I feel people took notice with the surge of women in matching purple saris walking through town. Also with the press and some local politicians attending it should reach a wider audience around the state.Then we headed back to the newly constructed Nandri Centre where thousands more women, children and locals joined for the convention. The land around the centre had been transformed with a stage and two large marquees set up to protect from the searing heat. To begin Joe spoke about the values that underpin the work that the organisation and other senior staff gave a summary of the annual report in which Nandri has continued to expand its support to the women and children of the Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu.
There was also a prayer held in remembrance of the movement’s founder, Tony Barron, who passed away recently. The major events of the day were the opening of the computer and language teaching room which will undoubtedly be crucial to improving the prospects of a better life for numerous children in the area. Concurrently the solar power generation room was inaugurated with the centre now running on power generated from the newly installed solar panels which shows the commitment of Nandri to being environmentally sustainable which was pleasing to see.Back on stage there were speeches from the invited dignitaries ranging from people involved in higher education, pro-agriculture and feminist groups as well as politics. Admittedly I didn’t understand quite a bit from the speeches but they were certainly impassioned and seemed to resonate well the mothers. There were also cheques and certificates given to continue the work of Nandri with a new education fund set up in honour of Tony Barron.Then I got a big surprise Joe unexpectedly called me on to the stage as a representative of Nandri from Ireland and I received a ponnada- a ceremonial shawl usually given to acknowledge dignitaries or important people.So, in a moment I went from a volunteer to the chief guest from Ireland. It will most likely be the first and last time in my life!The generosity extended to the local folk as the elderly gentleman sitting beside me in the crowd insisted on buying me ice cream, which was very welcome given the heat. As I savoured my ice cream there were plenty of energetic dances and singing performances to be enjoyed from children in their various village groups (including a memorable freestyle from Fr. Joe) Although most enjoyed their day, I’m sure some left a bit happier as they took home the prizes they won from the raffle.Overall it was a unique experience, one which I’ll remember for a long time. The strong turnout of women who came from far and wide in the district highlighted the reach of Nandri and the community spirit it can foster which was particularly nice to see. Among other work I look forward to volunteering in the new solar powered computer and language lab which also shows the progress the foundation is making just a year since the centre opened. However, that might take a while as I re-adjust from being a VIP back to an eager volunteer!Tony Shaju
Healthy mother happy kids.
Yesterday a mother of one of our sponsored children died of anaemia. She was 35 and may she rest in peace. Her husband died a few years ago from alcoholism.We have recently arranged with a local hospital in conjunction with the local Arni Silk Lions Club to visit one of our villages every month to check out the health of our mothers and children. Hopefully such conditions as anaemia and heart problems can be spotted and treated before they become more serious.Our biggest problem will be to convince the mothers to attend a doctor for the checkup as they believe they should only go to a doctor if they have a problem.Our Nandri Centre which opened in February 2016 has given us local credibility. Previously this hospital would just have regarded Nandri as another one of the tens of thousands of charities in India, some legit and some not so legit just like Ireland :-(The healthy mother featured here was a sponsored child. Last year while I was in India she handed me a cheque for Rs.1000 in gratitude for her education
We are half way there
I arrived in Chennai and immediately made my way to the site where our rural development centre is under construction. 
We expect to complete the building and have the official launch and opening on 14th February 2016. If you would like to visit India and see the real India you are invited to attend the opening. We are going to organise a number of days visits to some of our different programmes and villages and mothers groups. None of this would be possible without the very generous donations of a number of individuals. This building will enable us to better serve the 2000 families which we currently help and would hope to double this within two years.
Fr Joseph returns to sunshine
Fr Joseph, who is the CEO of our partner organisation in India has been in Ireland for the last few weeks. He has been very busy every day meeting sponsors in Dublin and Cork.Joe has been in charge in India for about 10 years and during that time he has implemented many unique changes. We are the only charity in the world where every one of our sponsored children has their own bank account. The child's mother manages this account. This gives her a great sense of status and pride. Dalit women do not normally own a bank account. He has successfully implemented a micro-finance programme where since 2012, 850 mothers have benefited and are now the proud owners of a cow or a sewing machine or some other assets which they use to earn an income. He also implemented third level education loan program. Already 250 children are benefiting from that.None of this would be possible without the support of our hundreds of sponsors who pay by standing order or direct debit every month. Remember €1 is a days wages for the mothers we serve. We have also had some very kind and generous donors whose donations have enabled us to build a rural development centre which will ensure that our partner in India, Child Aid Trust.Father Joseph received many donations while he was here and all of that money will be invested in our various programmes in India.Fred Crowe
Fundraiser in Arklow
Today the 31st May 2015 the On your Bike" in Arklow, enjoyed a sunny day and over 150 participated. 
Rural Development Centre - first sod is turned
Yesterday Friday the 13th May 2015 the ceremony was held for the starting of the building and the laying of the foundation stone. This foundation stone was blessed by Nandri President and Director Fr Michael Murtagh in Ireland and personally delivered to India.Before the building constructio commences a Bhoomi Pujan ceremony is carried out. According to Hindu culture, the earth is considered to be a mother. Bhoomi is the Hindu goddess Mother Earth. Before the start of construction, usually a Bhoomi Pooja is performed. This is to ask permission from Bhoomi Deva, and to get her good will and assistance. It also is to ask forgiveness for the disruption of the many living beings already on and in the land. This building will provide administration and training and support facilities for our 2000 mainly dalit families. Once the building is completed in January 2016 we would hope to expand and grow the number of mainly families to double that number. 
Nandri ensures a student nurse completes her education
Antoni (not her real name) has been living in an orphanage since she was four years of age. Her uncle paid her fees to go to nursing college for the first year. Three months after the start of the second year it transpired that he was not interested or not in a position to pay for the second year's fees so she was evicted from the college.
In February 2014 we met her and agreed to give her Rs.25,000 (€350) for her 2nd years fees and the orphanage agreed to pay her accommodation fees. We thought she could get some kind of bank loan but evidently the banks will only give a loan if the student applies in the first year. Sounds a bit silly but that's the way it is.
We have have to repeat the loan for the third year and we will have to give her a loan for the fourth year as well.
Most of our third level education micro finance loans will be partially repaid from the date the child starts college. In fact the repayments are generally currently enough to cover a full years years loans.
Most of our loans are for Rs.10,000 per annum. The loans to the student nurse are unique but makes the difference between her finishing her nursing education and not doing so. And eventually when she repays us the money can be used to finance another nurse or engineer or whatever
Fred Crowe
CEO
Fund Raiser in Perth Australia
Well done to Caoilfhionn Crowe and her friends who held a fundraiser with an Indian theme for the night. Caoilfhionn had brought back from India a dozen saris, one for each of her friends.They raised enough money to provide a family income generation loan to 5 families. The families will be presented with a cheque by Caoilfhionn in India on Sunday, 25 January.They will probably use the money to buy a cow which will provide the family with nutrition and milk and enough money to repay the loan over 20 months. At that point a second family will benefit from the money which was raised.Well done to all concerned
Happy Christmas from 2000 families
Just before Christmas we received a box of over 1000 Christmas cards from India. it's a huge logistical job for our partner in India because the children attend over 200 different schools as far apart as Dundalk to Cork (200 miles). And it takes twice as long in India to travel the same distance.
Our field workers (Staff members who attend all of our mothers meetings) had to find each child either in school or at home, ask the child to write a short note to their sponsor or ask the very young children to make a little drawing.
The cards were then taken back to our office in India and because 90% of the children don't speak English their note had to be translated from Tamil.
Once the cards were completed they were scanned and then added to our computerized child sponsorship management system. Each of our sponsors can now see their Christmas card and other information about their child including photograph or school exam record.
The online access we give our sponsors to information about their sponsored children is quite unique either among Irish or international charities. It is also very cost-effective for us. But we do know that many sponsors don't have regular or any access to computers and we all know it's nice to receive something personal in the post. All cards were mailed before Christmas.
In the meantime you can access the card online if you are a sponsor .
Another part of our child sponsorship system is unique internationally. Each child has their own bank account and the sponsorship money is transferred into that account. The mother has the passbook and each mother feels a great sense of pride going to the bank to take out money which has been lodged into the account. These low caste Dalit women would not normally be allowed into a bank. We are also encouraging them to save and this is happening.
Over 700 of our mothers now have their own "business" which is changing their family's lives forever. Through our micro finance income generation program we have given them a loan to buy a cow or a sewing machine. Within a few years they will be earning so much money they won't need the child sponsorship and this will be passed on to another family to start the cycle again.
So thank you to our dedicated staff in India who worked very hard to get the thousand Christmas cards.
More than anything thank you to our many sponsors and donors without whom we wouldn't be able to change the lives of what is now almost 2000 impoverished families in India.
Fred Crowe
CEO
Mother benefits from micro-finance
Mrs Thilagavathi is one of our 1500 mothers, who meet every month in our 100+ self-help groups. She has a son who is being educated thorough the child sponsorship programme. Two years ago it was very difficult for her to maintain her family and to keep her son in education.Now things are changed with the help of NANDRI. What was NANDRI’S role?In 2013, she joined a mothers self group. Although she was in dire situation, she had the talent to stitch and sew . From the mothers group she received Rs. 5,000/- (€75) as group loan and bought two tailing machines “second hand”. she started her business to earn money.Later she got a micro finance loan from NANDRI, Rs. 20,000/- (€250) and bought two more machines to sustain her life. Now it was a great success after her hard work. Per month she is able to generate easily Rs. 4500/- to 5500/- through her work.She is able to pay rent for the shop Rs. 2000/- and repaying the loan Rs. 1000/- and also managing to get provision for her food and lastly sustaining the child in education.
Also she is teaching 10 poor children and through which she gets around Rs. 1000/- which is also useful to her savings. Above all she has the interest and determination to teach tailoring to poor children freely. Hence she has asked the field workers to bring the children so that the children will be taught. She is really proud to be part of the NANDRI family and grateful to her sponsors.A
Nandri farm is making money
Nandri.org is an Irish charity also called a not for profit organisation. All of the funds we raise are distributed through an Indian registered trust near Vellore in Tamil Nadu. We mainly work with Dalit and Dhobi communities. Although the local motto is "need not creed".Our objective is the education of children and the improvement of the living standards of our client mothers. We use micro-finance for income generation projects and various other programmes including child sponsorship, mothers’ self-help groups, training and health.In December 2013 we seized an opportunity to rent 10 acres of land. This land had reasonable water supply, but had not been utilised to its full due to lack of capital. We reckoned that with a small amount of investment in infrastructure and stock, this could turn into a profitable farm. We were right. We are well on the way to covering the operating costs of our partner in India, ensuring that more of our money is use on our projects. 
Almost a year later, we have built the infrastructure, including a building for cows who, unlike Irish cows don’t like the rain. It doesn't rain very much, but when it rains, it comes down very heavy. We have a number of units to house chicks which will later become free range organic chickens for the tables of Chennai. We have 3 acres in rice paddy and the rest in groundnuts or peanuts and feed for our cattle.Our 21 cows are now producing regular income from the sale of milk. All our feed is organic so we ultimately hope to get a premium price and milk prices are increasing anyway in India. We will sell our male calves normally at six months to a year old. Very little beef is consumed in India as cows are regarded as sacred. Our female calves will become mothers so we can increase our herd and our income. 
We built some units to house three day-old chicks which need to be kept in a constant temperature. Electricity is not a guarantee in India, so we have invested in solar panels to ensure a constant temperature. The solar panels are also used to provide electricity for lighting and for water pumps. Once the chicks are three weeks to a month old they are then allowed to run round in a fenced area, but free to eat the plants and insects. We have entered into a partnership with the company in Chennai to market our organic free range chickens or country chickens as they are called in India. We intend to set up a number of our 1500 mothers with small chicken units. We will provide them with feed, housing, fencing and 100 three week old chicks which we will then buy back at four months old. This will provide these mothers with an income. We intend to operate the same system with a number of local orphanages, which will also provide them with an income.We also created a large fish pond and stocked it with 2000 fish. We have 250 ducks and through the miracles of nature the residue from the ducks is eaten by the fish who in turn produce residue which ends up as food for the ducks. I am an accountant, so I don’t really understand these things, but it works and we have income from duck eggs and soon fish, without much costs.We currently have about 3000 chicks and once we have mastered the production of organic free range chicken we will increase our numbers. Shortly we will be running training programs for our mothers in how best to look after their cows and chickens. We are in the process of acquiring land close to the Nandri farm where we hope to build a rural development centre. This will have training rooms, sufficient space for a constant stream of visiting mothers. Accommodation for volunteers and of course, office accommodation for our staff.Overall, this is turning out to be a successful programme. We are making a profit for us and others. We are providing products for our client mothers to sell. We are also providing training. We will be pleased when the profit we make will cover the operating costs so that we can focus on diverting all of our money to our programmes.
"I need to sell one of my 18 month old twins"
Six months ago I wrote that a mother who had just joined a mother's self-help group announced that she needed to sell one of her twins as she could not afford to feed them and her other two children. Through our help and support we managed to convince her not to do so.Today I met her with the twins and everybody is very happy.We went to school in a slum area in the local city. During a visit the children were eating their lunch. I saw one child of about five walking from the school with her dinner plate partly eaten. She was evidently bringing the food home for her mother.We visited a small village this evening with a local mayor. He had arranged for solar based electricity lighting in this small village where they're often without electricity for three or four hours in the evening. This good man also supports the education of 60 children. We passed by one home where one teenager said she could not do her homework as her bottle of ink had run dry. The cost is about €.15.We take for granted being able to keep our children, having enough food and having electricity and biros. Many of our client families don't have this luxury.Thank you to our sponsors because without you I would not be here and experiencing some of the good stories and the way we are able to change peoples lives forever.
Down on our farm
For those of you who don't know, in December 2013 we leased a 10 acre farm. Well it was just 10 acres of bare ground which we have now turned into a farm.We built an accommodation unit for the people who work there. We have just completed a cow shed for 30 cows and calves.We built a number of chicken units to accommodate the organic free range chickens we are producing.We have installed three solar panels to ensure constant temperature for the chicks and electricity to pump water for irrigation.Our organic free range chickens will have a much higher value and of course the chickens will have had a much better life as they are free to run around in a large enclosure. Today I believe we have 3000 chicks.We also have 300 ducks, a fish pond a rice paddy, peanut fields and we are growing feed for the cows.We have a few goats and our next plan is for sheep.Using our micro finance income generation program we are going to roll out small chicken producing units for our mothers.We have two new trustees in Chennai who are setting up a website to market our free range organic chickens.Our plan is well underway to make almost enough profit to cover the costs of local salaries and overheads. We are also going to start training some of our mothers in better ways of looking after their cows.It's amazing how much you can do with 10 acres of land. A number of our local people are working very hard.
