In 2005, FOCI began supporting the work of TL Reddy in serving the needs of the poor in Hyderabad. FOCI first met TL in responding to the tsunami crisis in December 2004. FOCI received substantial donations specifically to aid those in India devastated by the tsunami.

In reaching out to our Indian partners to determine how to respond, we were introduced to TL, a former teacher at the Astrid Rowe Memorial High School. With approval from the Indian government, FOCI and TL provided fishing boats and equipment to all of the residents of the costal village of Ramulapalem and food for 300 people for two weeks in the village of Pallepalem. TL worked closely with our principal,K. Vidya Sagar, in organizing our tsunami relief.

FOCI now supports TL in the operation of mobile schools serving the children of migrant laborers and in the teaching of income producing skills through community sewing centers in poor neighborhoods of Hyderabad.

CLAP - Mobile Schools

The mobile schools project is intended to bring formal, day school education to children who live in temporary dwellings at the side of roads within the city of Hyderabad. These are children of families who have migrated from rural areas seeking jobs in the city. Uneducated, the only work they find is as day laborers, moving periodically to follow construction projects around the city. Children generally add to the family income by begging, working as domestics in neighboring houses or as rag-pickers (rummaging through garbage to find items to use or sell for recycling).

A CLAP School (background) among tents.

TL named the mobile school project CLAP = Creative Learning At Pavement for children. It is so named because it takes two hands to clap – one hand for FOCI and the other is children on streets. Clap also means to encourage: we clap when we are happy or to give moral support to a person.

The mobile school projects began in 2005 and FOCI board members visited these communities for the first time in January 2006. The idea behind the mobile schools is that the school can follow the community as they pick up and move from construction site to construction site. Our hope is that both students and parents (who have to give up income to send their kids to the school) will become believers in education, and that the students can go on to government schools for further education and a much brighter future. In addition to the 2 existing mobile schools, a third will be opened in 2006.

Community Sewing Centers

Also in 2005, TL Reddy started the first FOCI-funded community center in Hyderabad to train women in tailoring. This is an eight-month program of training which enables women to have sufficient skill at use of sewing machines and various sewing techniques to qualify for employment at established tailoring shops, or to qualify for government-financed sewing machines to start their own business.

The community center program was a big success in 2005 with 50 women graduating from the program. With continued FOCI funding, the program will now move to another community for 2006 and a second community center will be established in yet another community within Hyderabad.