Permanent Housing

CHILDREN

The need to open a home for the elderly is the consequence of a recent social phenomenon. Indeed, the usual insurance for the people was the family, the "joint family", where all members, including the elders, had their place. Now the family is increasingly fragmented, too often indifferent to the members in need of care. It appears that sometimes, people do not hesitate even to abandon their parents. An old man or woman without family, pension or other resources is helpless and can easily become homeless. If the person is a former leprosy patient, there is further rejection by society.

Old age home : Amaidi illam and Thendral Illam

The need to open a home for the elderly is the consequence of a recent social phenomenon. Indeed, the usual insurance for the people was the family, the "joint family", where all members, including the elders, had their place. Now the family is increasingly fragmented, too often indifferent to the members in need of care. It appears that sometimes, people do not hesitate even to abandon their parents. An old man or woman without family, pension or other resources is helpless and can easily become homeless. If the person is a former leprosy patient, there is further rejection by society.

Care for the aged is located in Volontariat, but in two different places in the city:

Amaidi Illam, the “House of Peace” is included in the centre Selvanilayam at Uppalam and receives, since the year 2000, lonely and disabled aged people, mostly coming from the streets and pavements of the city.

Thendral Illam, the “Sea breeze”, set up in 2002, opposite Atelier Shanti at Dubraypeth, receives former workers, mostly retired weavers of Atelier Shanti (rehabilitated after leprosy), who are too disabled to live alone.

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The youngest : Souriya and Nila Illam

The teenagers : Souriya

The centre Souriya offers hostel accommodation to number of teenagers with problems. Some of them are working, some study at school and others are apprentices at Liege carpentry, Uyarvu or outside.

Souriya enables them:

to find a minimum of amenities (shelter, washing, laundry, food, a place to sleep, healthy group activities) in summary, to structure their time and mind.
to get out of bad habits and undesirable behaviour learned in the street.
to plan for the future, with the help of social workers.
to learn a skill at Volontariat (Uyarvu, carpentry, ..) or outside.
and most important, to be seen and treated as human beings, not as criminals.

Now, the idea of a home for street children has expanded to other categories of children at risk: boys without a home and living on the street, orphans or semi- orphans, boys with behavioral problems, boys without resources coming from very poor families, boys who experienced serious family problems (separation or divorce, abandonment, violence, etc), boys in danger of sexual abuse in the family, boys with physical handicap, homeless boys,

Nila Illam

In 2003, Volontariat decided to place at the centre Nila Illam, in TTK farm, in order to avoid the risk of the promiscuity, at Souriya, specially during the night, between the elder teenagers with a bad experience on the streets, with the younger children. Another reason was that the younger children risked being taken back onto the streets on their way home from school. Volontariat already had a centre for abandoned and orphaned children, specially girls.