Ten years ago the playground at Aalam Vizhuthugal Preschool was new and bare. Needing shade and food, the staff turned it into a climate-resilient garden with carefully tended banana palms, mango, coconut, and pomegranate trees.
Three Steps to Climate Resiliency:
Meeting Local Needs With Local Knowhow
Climate change is reshaping life in rural India. It is felt vividly by preschool families, whose safety and security are tenuous in t he best of times.
Worldwide, the Asia Pacific area is the most prone to natural disasters, yet 20% of the world’s population lives there. In preschool villages, with agriculture-based economy,
families face extreme weather. It’s hotter. Temperatures in May hover around 100oF. Weather is erratic, from torrential rains to drought. The toll on farming is acute; water is scarce. As sea levels rise, salt is seeping into what groundwater there is. Crop failure is routine.
Not owning land, many parents are tenant farmers. A failed crop may lead to loans they cannot repay. Fathers are forced to seek employment in the cities, tearing families apart. Once there, lacking education or skills, their lot is seldom improved. The emotional toll is tremendous; mental illness and suicide are not uncommon.
Preschool families face daily climate challenges. This family’s home was damaged in the last cyclone.
Lacking funds for repairs, many roofs are covered with blue tarps in the villages.
Our partner, the Betsy Elizabeth Trust, promotes the well-being of the preschools’ communities in the face of climate change.
The preschool farms are models of climate-smart agriculture. Working with state agencies, they employ organic farming techniques to improve soil health and conserve water. The newest plot will feature agroforestry, promoting adaptive crop varieties. While providing employment for many, the farms are also teaching villagers better farming practices, furthering climate resiliency.
Managing water supply, whether too much or too little, is part of the farm’s work.
A little pond retains water for when it’s needed.
Along the Coromandel Coast, home to Aalam Vizhuthugal and Helping Preschools, people are used to warm temperatures but they are steadily rising. Both physical and mental health problems are rising with the thermometer.
While monitoring the children’s growth and health, nurses also care for villagers with a host of needs, including prenatal care and rehydration.
An ambitious project to meet a big need, the new health center near Aalam Vizhuthugal awaits funds for equipment and staff. Started by a German mission and aided significantly by Help Kids India board members, this clinic will provide routine and emergency care, with both out- and in-patient care.
The preschools provide children from the poorest families with a strong start in their education. Tutoring support is available for the preschools arrange scholarships at local secondary schools for older children. Children live up to the expectation that they will work hard in school.
The preschools also educate parents through their monthly meetings. With a broad range of topics, parents are kept abreast of current issues, including dealing with the changing climate.
(L) Many Kodai area preschool children get scholarships to study at St. Theresa’s Secondary School where they are prepared for college admission.
(R) Skits and dances become teaching tools at parent meetings. Here, a fly (Head Teacher Sujitha) spreads dengue in the village. Thanks to indigenous knowledge, a local plant with medicinal qualities is found to revive them.
“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it.”
Barrack Obama, Former US President
The preschools do the work but YOU power the preschools.
To our wonderful donors, the best in the world,
WE SEND OUR MOST SINCERE THANKS
for your gifts of resiliency and strength.
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