India

  1. 1. Our organization – mission and principles

The “Kether Educational Project”, before “Plato Studies Center”, is an association registered on the Charitable Trust of the Kerala State, India, which work for the fostering of the economic, social and cultural conditions of disadvantaged populations, with greater attention for the children and the people suffering from chronic diseases.

The initiative of international solidarity, managed by Kether – Kerala Theosophical Educational Research Project (“School of Peace”) is promoted and sustained by the Centro Studi Platone Onlus. They are both associations inspired by multiethnic and multi-religious principles which operate with no discrimination of cast or belief and the cohexistence among different cultures and religions.

  1. The area of the project

Vizhinjam is a fishermen village in the district of Trivandrum. The population of the village is about 19.000 inhabitants who live within an area of few square meters. The environment is not healthy and the inhabitants don’t have the basic services. The economy of the families relies completely on seasonal fishing and the literacy rate is very low. The children are the ones who suffer the most from this situation. Children are often absent from during the fishing season and this makes their education more challenging because they are not able to keep up with the teaching.

  1. The school in Vizhinjam

In 2000, in Kerala, in the fishermen village of Vizhinjam, “Kether Educational Project”  funded a school which offers all kind of educational activities and one meal per day to almost 200 children, among the poorest of the village. The school welcomes children of all ethnicity and religion (Chatolic, Hindu, Muslim), mixing different experiences and social backgrounds, in a village where some time ago cohabitation among people of different faith was impossible. The main aim of the school is to foster the human growth of the children,  intervening with various actions of different nature and intensity, within the logic and tradition of the international cooperation, harmonizing the child’s psychophysical development with the surroundings. The school, sustained by the Centro Studi Platone Onlus and managed locally by “Kether Educational Project”, has a staff group of about 13 people, including local teachers for different subjects. In order not to create any “dependency structure”, children and their families do not manage directly the money for them, but they receive benefits through the participation and the programs of the profect.

  1. The building of the New Port

The village of Vizhinjam will host the new port of Kerala, which is meant to be the biggest of the country and one of the biggest of the world because of the natural deep seabed of about 24 meters in the ocean upfront. The economical advantages  for the State will be a lot as in the maritime trade the biggest the cargo the lowest the cost, and petrol is the highest cost for the Indian government. Moreover Vizhinjam is located in a strategic position  – on the international route in fron of Colombo (Sri Lanka) and then it will be an important port of call for the oil tankers and the large cargo ships coming from the Gulf countries. (To have more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizhinjam).

The cost of the project is around 750 million euros and it will involve an area of more than 1000 hectares. The building of the port implies expropriation of land which will force about 4000 families to move to place more far from the sea, with huge social, working and economic problems. The land where the school stands is on the piece of land where Government planned to build the new train line which will connect the State capital, Trivandrum, with the new port. The Centro Studi Platone Onlus, supporting “Kether Educational Project”, whish to keep helping the local people and mantain the commitment taken 13 years ago, working as a cultural center and a center of hope for the children and the parents of Vizhinjam. Because all this, we start thinking about finding a new land for the project and widen it with the building of a “foster home” where students can live and study in an happy context, where they can discover their talents and learn new skills through the many activities that “Kether Educational Project” is planning to develop.

  1. The new project – The “Foster Home”

The aim in this case, for the true discomfort of displaced families, is to give, at least at some children of the school, a confortable home. On the short term, we plan to buy the land, build the houses and the school, playing and working rooms, including the furnishings of all of them. On the long term, we plan to cultivate an organic vegetable garden, the installation of renewable energy systems and the creation of arts and professional laboratories. On the long run, our aim is to build a self-sustaning center where children can study and not forget their traditions and their cultural identity. The initial project is supposed to involve 30/35 children.

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