• Home for Children in difficult circumstances
• Support to Government Schools
• Co-Managing the Government Observation Homes for Boys
• Community Centers
• Free Medical Camp

Home for Children in difficult circumstances

“KRUSHI HOME” is a home for children in difficult circumstances, who are housed, educated and integrated with the main stream of the society (At Krushi, usage of the term "Street Children" is consciously avoided). Every effort is made to counsel and restore the children to their parents/relatives. Those children who cannot be restored to their parents / relatives, for various reasons, are retained in Krushi Home and educated, with the ultimate objective of making them self sufficient and responsible citizens. The effort has been fairly successful with almost all the boys in schools / colleges or undergoing vocational training etc.

The Beginning...

A small home was started in rented premises in Begumpet in Hyderabad during 1994 with 7 children. The strength went up to 35 over the years. The rented premise was too small and more children could not be accommodated and even the existing children could not be comfortably accommodated.

Present Premise

Since such a place could not be found at a reasonable price, the only way out was to move to the outskirts of the city. Ultimately a 2.5acre piece of land Located at Gowdavelly village, in Medchal on the out skirts of Hyderabad was identified and purchased. The building was constructed with considerable financial assistance from “Friends Indeed”, a Dutch organization. This new home which is commissioned from June, 2006 can accommodate 100 children on a regular basis and another 25 in transit.

The new Home at Gowdavelly village started functioning from June 2006 but was completed and formally inaugurated on 24th February, 2007 by the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Shri. Rameshwar Thakur.

A few Salient features of the facility

The Building

• The total area of the land -3688 Sq. Mts
• Total built up area – 1780 Sq. Mts.
• Two dormitories with separate toilet blocks to house 50 children in each dormitory
• One transit dormitory with toilet block to house 25 children(mostly new arrivals)
• A large dining hall with a modern kitchen and store attached
• A 25 workstation computer centre
• An indoor sports facility
• Study rooms with furniture
• A two bedroom apartment for the stay of the House Master/ Co-ordinator
• Conference room
• Full fledged office
• A self contained guest house block
• A residence block for staff

The outdoor facilities

• A foot ball court
• A basket ball court
• A volley ball court
• An open air auditorium
• Lawns, hedges, plants
• Kitchen garden to provide a whole range of vegetables

A Green Home

• A waste water re-cycling plant has been installed at a cost of Rs.1.3mil to completely recycle the toilet, bath, kitchen waste. The water so recycled is used for gardening and other cleaning purposes
• A solar water heating system has been installed to provide hot water both for bathing and also for kitchen use.
• A steam based cooking system has been installed but is yet to be commissioned.

Project Upadhi

With a view to equip the rural youth with employment oriented skills this project has been envisaged and include courses like Welding, Industrial stitching, Motor winding, Computer awareness etc.

Home Management

The day to day activities of the Home are managed by Mr. Koshy George, the Coordinator assisted by his wife Mrs. Grace Koshy, the House Master. They are assisted by a dedicated team of volunteers.

Present status of Children with Krushi Home

Support to Government Schools

In the year 1997, Project Krushi started seven schools in Hyderabad slums, in association with Balajyothi, a Central Government Programme, working for eradication of child labour. Besides providing basic education to children in the slums, who otherwise had no access to schools, Project Krushi concentrated on the all round development of the children. The success story of these schools is evident from the fact that the State Government has taken over these schools in the year 2001.

Exposure to the Krushi-Balajyothi Schools, has given Project Krushi an insight into the shortcomings in the Government Schools and it was felt that support to the Government schools would help in taking quality education to a large number of children living in urban slums. Towards this end, support to six Government Primary schools was extended in the year 2002-03, by providing them with teaching / learning material, arranging for better accommodation, providing para teachers, ayahs etc., based on the need of each school.

Pardhi Basthi School – A Pilot Study

During the year 2002, Project Krushi came across a locality, generally known as Pardhi Basti, in Balanagar area of Hyderabad. This slum is exclusively inhabited by the Pardhi community, whose traditional occupation is illicit brewing, selling flowers, petty crimes etc., with no exposure to any education. When the community elders were approached, they showed keen interest in educating their children, but were helpless due to their own ignorance as well as poverty. With their concurrence an existing dilapidated building was renovated, at a cost of about Rs. 0.200 mil., with the financial assistance from another voluntary Organization from The Netherlands, Friends Indeed and converted it into a Primary school, which now has strength of 110.

Based on the response of the teachers and the children of the six schools supported, Project Krushi adopted 23 Government schools located in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy Districts for the academic year 2003-04. An MOU was entered into with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Department of Education deputed two of its senior teacher to Project Krushi for coordination of its efforts.

Activity of Infrastructure Support to Government Schools

Pragathi Nagar, Kukatpally
Constructed one Government Primary school building with 4 class rooms at Pragathinagar, Kukatpally at a cost of Rs0.800 mil with financial assistance from Friends Indeed, The Netherlands and the State Government which contributed the cost of one room.

Yellammabanda, Kukatpally
Constructed a new building block at Government Upper Primary School, Yellammabanda, Kukatpally at a cost of Rs. 3.000 mil, with the financial assistance from Navionics Technologies Private Limited, Hyderabad and Navionics Spa, Italy. 8 class rooms with a kitchen shed and boundary wall, toilets have been built.

Indira Nagar, Banjara Hills
Consturcted new school building consisting of nine rooms at Government Primary School, Indira nagar, Banjara Hills at a cost of Rs. 2.000 mils., with 50% financial assistance from the Government of Andhra Pradesh and balance from Friends Indeed, The Netherlands.

Babbuguda
Constructed a new school building at Government Upper Primary School, Babbuguda, with financial aid of Rs. 2.000 mil from Friends Indeed, Netherlands and Rs. 0.250 mil from the State Government. A total of 10 class rooms have been built. The old structure has been completely demolished.

Rikshaw Pullers Colony
Constructed a new school building block consisting of 5 class rooms and toilets costing 0.900 mil. at Rikshaw Pullers colony with the financial support of Friends Indeed .The State Government built another 4 class rooms.

Shamshiguda
Constructed New Building block consisting of 4 rooms and toilets costing R.Ss 0.900 millionat shamshiguda with thesupport fromInfotech Entirprises Limited.

Ameerpet
Constructed an additional class room costing 0.200mil at Government Primary School, Ameerpet with financial support from Friends Indeed

Gowdavelly
An amount of Rs. 0.100 mil, has been spent on minor repairs and renovation of the dilapidated structures of Government Schools.

Other Activities carried out to Support Government Schools – June 2003 to April 2006

Other Activities carried out to Support Government Schools – 2007-08

After the Home was shifted to Gowdavelly village, it was thought fit to focus attention on the rural areas especially in the villages nearer to Krushi Home. Over the years it was found that in spite of providing adequate infra-structure and other facilities in Government schools, good academic progress was not forthcoming.

It was therefore decided to concentrate only on a few schools with special focus on all round academic development by appointing qualified and experienced teachers. The following schools are being actively supported for comprehensive academic development.

Community Centers

Working in the slums has made Project Krushi realize the importance of education, vocational training, medical help and counseling, to the residents. With these in view, the concept of "Community Centers" has been developed and implemented in slums.

B. K. Guda
The concept of "Community Centers" was first introduced in the B. K. Guda slum in March 2002. This is one of the largest slums in the Twin Cities, located in an inaccessible area, sandwiched between the Hyderabad Airport and the Railway Line. With financial support from Friends Indeed, the centre provides vocational training - presently in the field of embroidery, crochet/tatting and tailoring for girls to supplement their family income. Five batches of girls, comprising 90 girls have been successfully trained.

Vocational Trainees were issued with certificates of proficiency by Association Saikorian

An amount of Rs. 20,000/- was provided as seed capital for purchase of fabrics and other materials to commercially market the products. Some of the trained girls are working outside, earning Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 1,500 per month while others are stitching at home and supporting their families. The Air Force Wives Welfare Society, Begumpet Air Force Station, Hyderabad, have come forward to give regular orders for the products made in the Community Centre, to be marketed in their Thrift Shop.

Pardhi Basthi
The second community centre was taken up in the Pardhi Basthi slum, in Fatehnagar, and has become operational from January, 2003. It is located in one of the rooms of the renovated school building. The enthusiasm with which the community has joined in the efforts of Project Krushi is heartening and vocational courses on similar lines as in B. K. Guda slum are being introduced in this Centre.

Borabanda - H.F. Nagar
This centre was started in 2004 October. 40 women have been trained and another 30 are going to finish their training by the end of January. Here there is more potential for development, people are more receptive and the teacher is more open to the ideas, people of this area are relatively more literates and willing for the changes. Recently a sale / exhibition was held, with the help of the girls from the centre, where some of the material was sold, getting some publicity for the effort and the products. It is hoped that orders for school uniforms would be received by the next academic year.

These community centers were closed down after the new Home was started. A community centre UPADHI was constructed within the Krushi Home Premises and Welding and stitching equipment have been installed. The centre is expected to start functioning soon.

The 25 station computer centre has started functioning. Basic computer awareness programmes are conducted at this centre for the benefit of Krushi children and also the youth of the surrounding villages.

Free Medical Camps

A free medical camp is being conducted at the Gowdavelly and Gnanapuram Villages, on every third Sunday of the month by A. V. Memorial Trust of Alladi family with active participation by Saikorian and Non-Saikorian Doctors from the year 1999.