Sewa has always been in the forefront in trying to meet the requirements of the deprived and the underprivileged. One such project which came up for our scrutiny and support was the financial assistance required for Sradha a school for children with special needs started way back in the 1990 s.
Ernakulam Women’s Association (EWA) has been in the service and upliftment of women and children for over 103 years. Sradha, a school catering to a strength of about 40 children with special needs, is one of their prime projects . Apart from basic education and training, children are also given physiotherapy and psychiatric treatments as a part of their noble work . Children are trained to make handcrafted items like greeting cards, embroidery , toys, jam, wood work, flower arrangements and so on as a part of vocational training. The hand made products are displayed and sold during various exhibitions held in the city from time to time generating revenue for the school. However Covid brought a halt to all social events, affecting the sale of the handcrafted items and in turn revenue for Sradha
RECCA SEWA SOCIETY was approached by EWA for financial assistance to help them in installing Solar power system, modernization of tailoring and physiotherapy rooms, help in painting and so on . However, as these projects were not only costly but also did not meet the objectives of SEWA , which is primarily a charitable institution, they were not taken up.
EWA then then put forward their proposal of a Kiosk where the items hand made by the children could be displayed permanently and sold to visitors. Such a facility did not exist with them. They requested for financial support to set up this Kiosk at their site, which would not only motivate the children to make more items, but would also generate revenue for the school which had taken a dip after Covid. The Kiosk will have provision of racks for display of items in two places and will have a sales desk at one place. It was anticipated that there will be more revenue generation with proper publicity.
SEWA team visited EWA office in December 2021 and saw working of the School. The team found out that revenue they earned was very low especially during Covid and any help from SEWA for upkeep of the school was heartily welcomed. On analyzing the financial constraints faced by EWA, and the end objectives of the school in providing a source of income to self sustain themselves as well as aid in the education , entertainment and motivation of these children with special needs, it was decided to take up this project after deliberating in the EC meeting held on 20-01-2022. SEWA decided to accept this proposal since the Kiosk will be a permanent feature, which will not only enhance the salability of their products, but also to encourage such noble work, knowing fully well that EWA not only took care of such special children but also kept them motivated and engaged during the day.
Recca Sewa Society offered to provide financial assistance to the tune of maximum Rs50,000, in the form of equipment or materials for education, therapy needs or source the cost of materials for the implementation of the project to fund a part of their financial requirements.
EWA President wrote a formal request for construction of Kiosk in July 2022. A work contract was issued by EWA to the contractor . RECCA SEWA transmitted , Rs 25,000 to EWA ie. half the committed amount, after the start of the work. Job was partially executed at the contractor’s site and balance completed at EWA premises in a span of two weeks. Balance payment of Rs 25,000 was made to EWA after job completion of.
The Kiosk was put to use as a vending facility from 03-AUG-2022. A few Photographs when this was inaugurated on 3rd Aug. See the smiles of satisfaction on the faces of the Women behind the scene .
We hope that this Kiosk will help the children in marketing their handmade products and becoming self-sufficient and will also enable EWA to scale up this noble venture in future too.
