One of the greatest tamils to govern Tamilnadu was K. Kamaraj. His years of governance is described as the "Golden Age" of Tamilnadu. He was a great leader with high moral standards setting examples for everyone. The Kamaraj Memorial Scholarship Fund was established forthwith at the same time honoring three more great tamils; an inter-collegiate debate named after Mr. C.N. Annadurai, an essay writing competition named after Mr. Adhithnar and a poetry contest named after poet Bharathidasan.
These inter-collegiate debates, essay and poetry contect is the responsibility of the TNF chapter in Tamilnadu. We will challenge the Tamil Students with provocative topics to kindle their imagination and develop problem-solving abilities.
The estimated annual cost of conducting the contest including the prize money is around $5000. Special recognition will be given to any individual TNF member who wnats to sponsor all or any one of the three competitions.
For U.S. $20, you can ensure life long subscription to one of the best science magazines in Tamil, published from Madras. The school students, particularly the rural school children will greatly benefit from the excellent articles published by experts in lucid tamil. It is a bi-monthly issue. U.S.$20 will be held in fixed deposit and the interest will be used for paying the annual subscription in the name of the donor to the school of his or her choice.
For U.S.$35, you can be a patron of one of the government schools. The school which receives this donation will hold the amount in fixed deposit which will be managed by the Parent-Teacher Association. The interest alone, accruing out of this fixed deposit will be used by the schools in arrangements for a spare teacher, building a classroom and creating other essential facilties for the school.
For a donation of U.S.$150, you could provide a "Chemistry Laboratory" to a rural school which may even lack essential school buildings. TNF-MIT Chemkit is a miniaturized laboratory kit with fifty chemicals, sixteen regents and acids, host of miniaturized glass wares like, burettes, pipettes, conical flasks, beakers, separation funnel, test tubes, mini Kipps apparatus, etc.
It consists of one storage unit which accomodates the chemicals, acids, glass wares and one portable unit. This portable unit could be carried to the classroom itself. The teacher could easily demonstrate the chemistry experiments using very little quantity of chemicals.
The school between 6th and 10th standard normally do not have the opportunity of using lab facilties, if at all, the school has a lab. They will have the benefit of seeing various experiments and learning the subject with understanding and keen interest.
The Kits will carry the name of the donor or his nominee. The donation of U.S.$150 will be matched by the equal amount of contribution from the PTA funds. Anna University and TNF's Tamilnadu chapter will provide the institutional support needed for the continued and efficient use of these for the years to come.
With U.S. $500 donated by the TNF, nearly fifteen orphaned children are helped with uniforms, books, notebooks and other study aids, so they could pursue their studies. There are lot more deserving students, for paucity of funds, they could not be helped.
A donation of U.S.$500 could help another batch of 15 orphaned children. This program is being run successfully with the help of a devoted organization called "Women Voluntary Service" at Chetpet, Madras.
You and your friends with a donation of U.S.$1500 could play a catalytic role in providing computer training to one rural school and also establishing a Computer center which will be named after the donor ot his nominee. The school will contribute an equal amount or more from the local donations and donations from the PTA funds. TNF's Tamilnadu chapter and Anna University will provide the institutional support for this program also.
Free medical services/ benefits are nothing new to India or Tamil Nadu. There are not many countries in the world which provide the yomen service of free medical consultancy as well as hospital facilities through government agency like in India. This effort is really laudable because the intent of the government hospitals and primary health care centers is loud and clear that it is meant for the poor.
Considering the volume of patients suffering from several chronic diseases, the Tamil Nadu Foundation believes that there is still lot of room for any additional services for providing medical consultancy for the poor. Many of these people are in not in a position that they can either afford to travel to goverment hospitals or receive quality advice.
During my recent visit to Tamil Nadu, my wife Kasthuri and I had an opportunity to discuss with some of my young friends and relatives most of whom are practicing doctors in Tirunelveli and Madurai Districts. Some of these doctors are already spending a portion of their time in providing free medical services to certain desrving patients who cannot afford to go to doctors. With this outlook in mind and with the enthusiasm and vigor of these doctors as an outstanding resource, I was able to decipher that my doctor friends are more than willing to participate in a camp that will provide free medical consultancy for extremely poor and chronic patients. The purpose of this article is to spur some interest within the Tamil community and receive their comments to effciently organize such an onerous task. The question may be asked: what does Tamil Nadu Foundation have to do with this? The TNF has always associated itself with several such noble tasks and has set the role model position in Tamil Nadu. The subject ( one or two days) camp can be so scheduled that our doctor friends in the USA can travel to India and provide their expertise during theses camps. Certain medicines that may not be available in India may be provided by the help of our doctor friends and the Tamil community as a whole. The idea is that a project of this type and magnititude can be run with outstanding humanitarian services at minimal economic requirements. These are only a few ideas that came to my mind while I was drafting this letter. There may be several more.
The first camp is being contemplated to be held in either in Tirunelveli or Coutallam in Tirunelveli District during the summer/ fall 1996. The local rotary club was contacted and they are extremely interested in associting themselves, providing assistance in building the infrastructure, and helping to conduct the camp sucessfully. I hope that TNF will agree with me in naming this project after the great feedom fighter and the great Tamil Poet of the century.
As mentioned previously, the camp will provide the necessary medical services for the extremely poor suffering from chronic ailments. Preference will be given to poor children, orphans and destitute women. Approximately ten or more doctors will be participating in this camp that will be conducted for one or two days (preferably Saturday/ Sunday). The doctors will bring their assistants/nurses to the camp sites.
The rotary club will screen the patients earlier for eligibility based on a simple evaluation forms. My doctor friends indicated that there are several pharmaceutical companies that will be thrilled to participate in such camps because the camp will serve as an outstanding source of advertisement for them. Industialists and banks will be contacted for sponsoring the food and stay for the doctors and their assistants. One of the doctors indicated to spare his hospital facilities for the subject camp days. Given that a high volume of population is expected to show up, that may not be a good idea. The rotary club will help identifying the camp location. As indicated doctors/ specialists from the US will be encouraged to coordinate their travel to accommodate one or two days of their time during their trip to India. Some of the doctors/ dentists from the US have agreed to do their best.
This is a TNF project meant for a noble cause. Please provide your input. You are more than welcome to contact me (Dr. Gomes Ganapathi, Vice President, TNF) or my wife Kasthuri any time. Our home phone number is (423)481-0440. My office number is (423)241-5232 and my wife's office number is (423)220-2296.
The contact persons in Tamil Nadu for Tirunelveli / Madurai Districts are Dr. K. Shunmuganathan (04637-20777) and Mr. S. K. Subramanian , President-elect- Rotary Club (04637-20216).
I WAS HAPPY TO SPONSOR A NOBLE PROJECT CALLED "UDAVUM KARANGAL" OR "HELPING HANDS" AT THE RECENTLY HELD T.N.F. BOARD MEETING. SOME OF YOU MIGHT BE AWARE OF THIS ORGANIZATION. THIS IS AN INSTITUTION RUN BY MR. VIDYAKAR, WHO HIMSELF IS AN ORPHAN, WHO GOT INSPIRED BY MOTHER TERESA WHILE HE WAS SERVING UNDER HER. HIS MAIN AIM IS RENDERING SELFLESS, DEDICATED SERVICES FOR ABANDONED BABIES LEFT IN DUST BINS, ORPHAN CHILDREN, DESTITUTE WOMEN, HELPLESS ELDERLY PEOPLE, MENTALLY RETARDED PERSONS, AND TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS.
IT NOT ONLY PROVIDES FOOD AND SHELTER TO THE DOWNTRODDEN PEOPLE, BUT GIVES GOOD EDUCATION TO ALL THE CHILDREN IN THEIR OWN SCHOOL. RAMAKRISHNA VIDYALAYA, TEACHES THEM GOOD HABITS AND MANNERS, MAKES WORK ALL THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED PERSONS AND GIVES VOCATIONAL TRAINING TO HANDICAPPED PERSONS. IT'S MAIN AIM IS TO UPBRING THEM TO BE NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS, TRAINING THEM INTO JOB-ORIENTED INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE STAND ON THEIR OWN FEET, ULTIMATELY TO MAKE THEM BECOME USEFUL CITIZENS OF SOCIETY. THIS ORGANIZATION DOES NOT BELONG TO ANY POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP. THIS IS MAINTAINED BY FULLTIME VOLUNTEERS WHO OFFER ROUND THE CLOCK SERVICE.
DURING MY RECENT VISIT TO INDIA, I VISITED THIS PLACE AND WAS REALLY IMPRESSED BY THE DEDICATED SERVICE OF THE VOLUNTEERS AND THEIR DEVOTION TOWARDS THESE POOR PITIFUL SOULS.
HENCE, I THOUGHT WE, WHO LIVE FAR AWAY FROM OUR MOTHERLAND SHOULD AT LEAST HELP THEM IN ALL THE WAYS WE CAN, IE. BY DONATING TO THEM WHATEVER WE CAN AFFORD SINCE WE CANNOT PHYSICALLY BE WITH THEM. THOSE WHOEVER GO TO MADRAS, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO SPEND A FEW HOURS OF YOUR VALUABLE TIME TO VISIT THIS PLACE. YOU WOULD REALIZE THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO LIVE NOT FOR THEMSELVES, BUT TO SERVE OTHERS. THE ADDRESS IS: 460, N.S.K. NAGAR, ARUMBAKKAM, MADRAS 600106. PHONE NO: 6216321.
I LOOK FORWARD TO ALL OF YOUR COOPERATION AND GENEROSITY TO GIVE FOR THIS NOBLE CAUSE. YOU ARE MOST WELCOME TO GIVE ME A CALL AT YOUR CONVENIENCE AND I WILL BE GLAD TO ANSWER ANY OF YOUR QUESTIONS. PLEASE SEND YOUR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS TO MY HOME ADDRESS. OF COURSE THEY ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE TOO!
PLEASE MAKE THE CHECKS PAYABLE TO "T.N.F. PROJECT" WITH A NOTE FOR "UDAVUM KARANGAL" OR "HELPING HANDS PROJECT" IN THE MEMO. THE CHECKS WILL BE FORWARDED TO THE TREASURER OF T.N.F. WHO WOULD THEN DIRECT THEM TO THE HELPING HANDS IN MADRAS. I ASSURE THAT YOUR MONEY WOULD DEFINITELY REACH THE DESTINATION.
LET ME FINISH THIS APPEAL WITH A QUOTE FROM THE THIRUKURAL: "A KINDNESS DONE IN THE HOUR OF NEED MAY LOOK SMALL, BUT IT OUT WEIGHETH THE WHOLE WORLD."
YOURS TRULY,
GANTHIMATHI KANNAPIRAN
PHONE: (419) 756-7843