Children from beggars have little chances to become a proper education. In India, where there exist many of these children that usually dwell on the pavements and who do not have any real opportunities to break out of their situation.
In order to help these poor people the Suyam Foundation was set up, a voluntary organization managed by a highly educated couple who decided to dedicate their lives to helping their fellow country men and particularly children in need.
Three colleagues of Chemicals in Arnhem came in contact with the Suyam Foundation after having made many business trips to India. They came back each time with great enthusiasm about the amazing developments taking place there. At the same time they were shocked by the big contrast between poor and rich.
The work of the Suyam Foundation and the effect it has on these poor children impressed them so much that they decided to support them. They managed to convince many friends, relatives and others to join them and made the help structural by setting up their own foundation in the Netherlands. In 2003 the Suyam Foundation started the SIRAGU (feather) Montessori School in Chennai, the name symbolizing the feathers that make a bird fly and will ultimately form the wings for the children attending the school to fly into a more promising future.
Although in the beginning it was not easy to convince the parents to send their children to school, gradually the success of the first students persuaded others to follow. The school started in locally rented premises but the condition of the building was quite poor (eighty years old, poor upkeep, no roof, vermin infested). With the help of many volunteers the Suyam Foundation managed to make it habitable.
At present the Suyam Foundation has 10 primitive, temporary class rooms without any furniture. More then 200 children are studying at SIRAGU School (out of which more than 50 children are permanently hosted in the hostel). The available classrooms are also used as hostel facility where the children and their companions are sleeping on the floor. Also meals are provided for all 250 children and this number is gradually growing.
The school has adopted the Montessori education method and other innovative and practical oriented methods with an aim to provide World Class Education at local costs. The school has 13 teaching staff and 9 non-teaching staff.
To be able to fulfill the norms and conditions of the ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education), which is a pre-condition of the government to officially recognize the school and allow the children to do government certified exams, the school needed to acquire 0.9 acres of land and build modernized toilet facilities and lab facilities.
The Community Program in Arnhem was contacted by one of the Chemicals colleagues, but as projects need to take place in the direct working or living community, he could not apply for support. For this reason it was suggested to interest our colleagues in Bangalore for this very good cause and that is exactly what he did. The response of our colleagues from Marine & Protective, Powder and Coil was overwhelming.
They studied the plans, met up with the couple running the Suyam Foundation, and enthusiastically embraced the project. More than 10 employees from the Coatings BU’s as well as management volunteered to be directly involved.
As cultural conditions in India differ from those in the Western world concerning hands-on involvement the Akzo Nobel employees’ participation is focused on assisting in legal clearance of required documents and paying the seller when acquiring the land, the enlistment of contractors for the building projects and assisting in the selection process, managing the website, design of brochures and other presentation materials, installing computers and give computer training and the organization of school trips and sports events for the children.
Support from the Community Program was granted and with the purchase of the land a sustainable starting point was made to construct permanent school buildings and facilities which will allow official recognition by the government and allow the children to do governmental recognized exams. With this initiative more poor children will have a better outlook on their future, thanks to this transnational teamwork.