Call for solidarity
Together against collateral damage from coronavirus
Update April 23rd
We have so far collected 2709€
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Paypal : 1988€
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OFI website : 721€
We are all grateful for your generosity.
We encourage you to keep going and talk about our project around you so we can reach our goal of 5000€ !
Because we adapt to circumstances, Gramium , in collaboration with Objectif France-Inde , is today entirely dedicated to collateral victims of Coronavirus: these men, women and children who were already living in great precariousness and who can no longer afford what previously allowed them to survive.
This page is dedicated to a project to finance food kits for populations in need. You will find an example of our actions and will have the opportunity to make a donation.
A food basket worth 18 € feeds a 5 members family for 30 days
Who are we and what do we do?
Defend the most vulnerable populations
Gramium was founded in 1991 and has worked since then to improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable populations. Established in Karur District, Tamil Nadu State, Southern India, Gramium is involved in education, agriculture, Self-Help Groups, many environmental programs and support for people living with HIV.
The NGO, awarded by the Indian government, helps more than 27,000 women, 40,000 villagers and 300 children.
Gramium works in close collaboration with Objectif France-Inde (OFI), a French association based in Bangalore. OFI supports many local NGOs, including Gramium, in the realization of their projects. Thanks to its professionalism, the organization provides essential expertise, financial support and regularly sends French volunteers in Civic Service.
Fighting Covid19 locally
On Tuesday March 24, 2020, when Chief Ministers were announcing federal containment measures one by one, Prime Minister Narendra Modi generalized the lockdown to the whole country. 1.3 billion people are called to stay at home for 3 weeks, despite all the difficulties that such a measure imposes: millions of homeless people, migrants seeking to return home, remote villages without access to a convenience store, soaring prices of basic necessities and other constraints.
First, we carried out very localized actions in the village of Kanakkapillaiyur.
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Communication with residents
In anticipation of the containment measures, we have translated, printed and laminated two infographics available on the WHO website as well as a pictorial document explaining how to wash hands properly. We have placed them in strategic places such as the village shop but especially at the well, the only access to water for the vast majority of the inhabitants.
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Provision of soaps
At the water point, place of strong affluence in the morning, we had soaps in free access. Coupled with infographics, we want to encourage people to wash their hands and make this gesture a reflex.
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Encourage children to stay at home
Unlike in our Western countries, children do not have a room full of toys or screens of computers, smartphones or tablets to pass the time. Their house is more like a single living room where the whole family cooks, eats and sleeps. It is almost complicated, if not impossible, to enforce confinement measures for children in the village. In order to encourage them to stay at home as much as possible, we organized the distribution and rotation of books and board games from the library of Kanakkapillaiyur Center as well as a drawing competition on the theme "How to fight the virus? "
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Barrier gestures awareness
When distributing books and board games, we made sure that children understood the importance of barrier gestures.
- Social distance: circles have been drawn on the ground, each child having to wait their turn inside.
- Hand washing: before picking up books and games, each child had to wash his hands.
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Distribution of masks
We also took advantage of this moment to distribute 150 masks. First children, then adults.
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Fighting Covid19 at regional level
Collateral victims of coronavirus
As mentioned before, the government declared a sudden confinement of 21 days from March 24 and then extended for two weeks until May 3. As a result, tens of millions of Indians from the unorganized sector found themselves destitute. Many people live from day to day, in shantytowns or makeshift houses, subsisting on rupees collected by reselling waste, cookies or water bottles, by begging or, when they can, small day jobs without contract. Without savings, these people can no longer afford buy food.
The government has released 1,600 billion rupees (€ 20 billion) to help the poorest families, which corresponds to a small kilo of lentils per family for a month. Too few.
With the extension of the confinement by two weeks, the situation became critical. Knowing that families will have to count a few weeks after the lifting of the measures to find enough to eat, it is urgent to bring our help to the most needy.
Gramium has identified 300 families in great precariousness in its area of action who urgently need humanitarian support. We would like to provide these families, with the resources at our disposal, with a food basket* that meets their needs for a30 days period. This kit, worth 1,500 rupees (around € 18) , consists of:
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15 kilograms of rice
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3 kilograms of flour
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2 kilograms of lentils
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1 liter of groundnut oil
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2 packets of salt
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2 kilograms of onions
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2 kilograms of potatoes
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4 soaps
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1 kilogram of washing powder
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A 2 kilograms assortment of vegetables
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15 masks produced by Gramium stitching center for people infected with HIV
* The mentioned food basket is an ideal kit. In the reality, it is to be modified for different reasons :
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Price fluctuation
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Availability of the products
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Constitution of a kit with the best nutritional value for money
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Logistic issues of our beneficiaries : because public transportation is not working anymore, some people are coming to the meeting point on foot. It is complicated for vulnerable people like elderly or people living with HIV, to carry a 25-30kg bag back home. In that case, we provide a twice as cheap, so twice as light food basket.
This is why today, we appeal to international solidarity to finance our project. The LDSG foundation (Let's Do Some Good) having provided financial support for 30 kits, we are still looking for 400,000 rupees, or 5,000 €. We are appealing for donations and hope to put something to eat in the hands of each family as soon as possible.
I, Robin Lino, employee in Civic Service at Gramium, vouch for the integrity of the project. Each euro will be converted into rupees at the current exchange rate and rigorously spent for the sole purpose of bringing a kit of food, but also hope, to the precarious population of our region.
We need your support
We need € 5,000 to provide 270 food kits to as many families living in extreme poverty. Don't hesitate to share the link of our dedicated page around you.
The whole Gramium team thanks you.
Do you want to get a tax exemption? Access the page of Objectif France-Inde (OFI), a French association based in Bangalore which works in close collaboration with Gramium. OFI is empowered to issue a tax receipt which you will receive by email at the beginning of the year 2021.
In "Projet soutenu" section, specify: " URGENT: Paniers alimentaires"
In "Message optionnel" section, mention " Gramium "
All payments allow a tax reduction of 66% of the amount paid
(for French citizens only)
Our other actions
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Contact us
+33 6 69 03 09 50 (Whatsapp)
Watershed construction and renovation
Help for farmers
Twenty years ago, rural families in Tamil Nadu in India were still able to grow food on their land. Even though the land has always been arid, as the monsoons were good, they made a decent income through agricultural production to lead a modest life. Two thirds of the cultivated land in India being only by the monsoon, the recent droughts have considerably reduced the incomes of millions of families. Through the construction of reservoirs, rainwater is collected and supplies the groundwater on which farmers depend for irrigation. At the same time, farmers are trained in sustainable water management and are encouraged to use organic farming.
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) creation
Help for women
SHGs are support groups created for women from villages living below the poverty line. The objective is to support them in creating a viable economic activity by providing them the keys to borrow and repay a microcredit. At the same time, they gain autonomy and assert their role within the community in which they live. To do so, they participate in training on the development of an economic activity but not only. Many workshops are organized around themes such as hygiene, literacy, civic education and personal development.
Promotion of education
Help for children
Facing the failure of the Indian government, which is struggling to offer a free and quality education system, 40% of the wealthiest families offer their children a place in a private school.
Within the NGO, we intend to erase the educational differences and offer free daily evening classes, English and computer classes, time allocated to the library and coaching class for 200 children and adolescents spread across two reception centers.
Support for people infected with HIV
Help for vulnerable populations
Gramium supports all PLHIV (People Living with HIV) in Karur district. We organize many awareness events, we opened a stitching center at the beginning of year 2020 to train men and women affected by the disease. We are also working to find funds to provide food for the 220 affected children in the district who require higher than normal calorie intake.