Reaching the Unreached of India

objectives

Provide better living environment for the rural household for the betterment of rural poor children.

Background This programme was introduced by Brother in 1976 as a one time solution to the pathetic living condition of rural households. Houses are normally a thatched roof with mud wall or even thatched wall. This type of shelters needs change every year which cost not less than Rs.1500/-. Normally these rural household get this money from private money lenders at a high interest rate around 60% or more. Which they cannot settle before the next renovation due and make them to drown in loans, most of the household loan continues life time, may be next generation use to continue to repay. We construct a decent 17' X 17' (feet) size house with a kitchen, living room and a sit-out (design attachment I). Recent addition is a partition in living hall which give privacy to ladies and adolescent girls. A 5' X 5' bath cum toilet is addition to the above. The roof is made-up of steel trusses on top cement tiles. We place few glass tiles which gives good lighting in the house.
	I was living in a hut made of sticks and woven coconut leaves in the south street of Genguvarpatti village. All of a sudden the hut caught fire and gutted it within a few minutes. This happened during daytime and nobody was inside the house. When we returned home for rest after toiling the whole day we found a heap of ashes only in the place of our hut. We came to understand that the crackers fired during a funeral procession that passed through the street caused the mishap. After setting down the fire I went to Arul Malar School to bring my son. through the
teachers RTU came to know about the fire accident and volunteered their help by supplying bed sheets, dress materials, cooking vessels, monitory assistance for living and advised RTU Rural Housing Department to construct a house for me. He also gave us food, cloth, mats, pillows and blankets and offered us a place to live until a new house is constructed. On the next day morning a survey team came to the spot to asses the possibility of the construction. They found that the land we possessed was inadequate for minimum needs. They asked us to acquire sufficient land for the house.
A house site in 2 ¾ cents was ready for sale in our same street. We arranged for a loan from a local financier and purchased this land within a week time. On hearing about the acquisition of the land the RTU friends came and briefed us about the proposed construction. Hearing our opinion about the facilities we wish to have, they designed the house plan. On the same day ie on 3rd November 2005 they started the work. As my husband was a sickly man the responsibility for the supervision and management of the construction was given to me. I too worked along with
the other labourers. The house was constructed in 10 days. This is a 314 sq. feet fire proof, water proof and termite proof. The house warming ceremony of this house was held on 15th November 2005. We are now living happily in this house. It is very convenient also. It has facilities like sit out, bedroom, kitchen, and attached toilet and bathroom. We are saving a small amount every month to bring electricity to our house. We feel proud of living in this house. We are ever grateful to RTU for this help.

Ferro Cement Products (Since 1989)

We make hollow block (sizes 4", 6" and 8") for walls, doors, windows, tiles, glass tiles, etc. These are economic models with local available materials, only cement and steel bought; we use granite dust instead of river sand, an eco friendly way to ensure the smooth flow of river. The cross section of the house is available in the attachment. These houses are timber free houses, repair is a rare.

Kitchen size will be 9" X 6" with a mud stove erected on a platform at 3.5" height, convenient to ladies to cook while standing. Normally these ladies use country wood for cooking, smoke is evident, and each house will have two smoke tiles, to avoid smoke spreading inside house.

Roof has Steel Trusses made by local black smiths, on top cement tiles fixed. Pan, Ridge, Glass and Smoke tiles are increasing their comforts.

Identification of beneficiaries

We do Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in most of the villages and identify the poorer of the poorest. Further we screen them through our survey team and identify the beneficiary. Most of our beneficiaries of this programme are poor land (1 or less cent) owners. In Tamil Nadu, government public land to poor household at free of cost, our beneficiaries are the owners of such land or bought against payment to third party. We ensure their stay at this site for minimum past 3 years. Household should assure that they will not lease or sell the house or land for next minimum 5 years through a legal stamp document. Their land ownership document will be with us for further 5 years to avoid any sale or lease. These are needed to avoid any misuse of our support.

Few villages were developed on RTU purchased land and given to poor households.

We encourage the household to save minimum Rs.50 or 100/- in secured schemes of Postal or Bank for future enhancement of their lifestyle. This is possible as they are free from their yearly house renovation expenses. Most of the households added electricity or expansion within few years, we encourage them.

Construction details

Our regular masons measure the size and mark for foundation. Foundation is made-up of rubbles, red soil and granite powder. Normally the household dig the foundation and fill it with the support of our mason. If a household do not have adequate skilled person we provide labour.

We complete a house within 15 days from the day of measurement.

Our total cost per house is Rs.36,000/- including white wash.