Educating children of the Boom Boom Mattukaran community of Tamil Nadu

THE Boom Boom Mattukaran nomadic tribals of Tamil Nadu are a prominent part of Tamil culture and are found in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other states in southern India. The Boom Boom Mattukaran tribals are most known for going from door to door on the streets singing songs and speaking blessings upon people with a bull that is decorated with colorful cloth and ribbons and often trained to bow his head or even kneel. The offerings that people give them out of kindness is their livelihood and there are no other opportunities for them to take care of themselves and their families. In other instances, the children beg on the streets for a few coins or small notes and have no chances of improving their futures. 

 

Despite their presence in popular songs and movies, the people of the Boom Boom Mattukaran nomadic tribes face intense discrimination. Even though government schools are open to them, the children are shunned when entering the classroom by other students who subject them to ridicule while chasing them out of the school grounds. The children are hurt and insulted and lack the resolve to brave the insults hurled at them. The children then end up dropping out of school and are left with no choice but to beg on the streets for their survival or become victims of child marriage. Without education or employment, there are no prospects for the Boom Boom Mattukaran community and the crippling cycle of poverty persists.  

How the 2004 tsunami began a new story in Nagapattinam 

In December 2004, one of the worst natural disasters to strike the Earth this century affected 15 countries from Indonesia in the east to Tanzania in the west. The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami struck in the morning hours and left more than 228,000 dead and thousands more maimed and missing. The pain and devastation of “the tsunami”, as it is called, is still spoken about in Indian coastal communities. In Chennai, a filmmaker named Revathi Radhakrishnan was watching the disaster unfold and decided to drop everything to do relief work in Nagapattinam, one of the worst hit areas. When she witnessed the suffering of the Boom Boom Mattukaran tribals, she began a journey that kept her there to this day.

In almost all cases, it is the poor and marginalized that suffer the most during natural disasters. Revathi was in the middle of doing her relief work in Nagapattinam when she saw a girl carrying an infant in her arms. The infant looked as though she hadn’t eaten for days and she showed signs of malnutrition. Revathi told herself – if this baby could survive the tsunami, I will help her survive malnutrition. Revathi realized the connection between food and other tools to empower people’s lives such as education and employment. She started a school called Vanavil Trust and started cooking and serving fresh and nutritious meals to the children of the Boom Boom Mattukaran community to improve their health.

 

Food as a stepping stone to education 

Due to extreme poverty, families in the Boom Boom Mattukaran community eat only one meal a day and their meals consist of plain boiled rice with some salt. But once Vanavil Trust started feeding the children, the children’s health began to get better. Once that happened, Revathi started talking to the children and their parents about the importance of education and how an education can help lift them out of poverty. Revathi had – by this time – moved to Nagapattinam, lived and worked amongst the locals and had earned their trust. So, the children started attending the school, developing interests, dreaming dreams, achieving their goals, getting jobs and earning an income for the first time in their lives.  

The food and education provided by Vanavil Trust lead to something incredible. The children stopped begging for their next meal and once they graduated from school and college, the young graduates started working in safe and decent jobs that gave them a substantial income and treated them with respect. Bright and talented children who were once thought of as nothing more than “people who are cursed to beg” were now working in cities, speaking in English and ending generational begging. But there are still more children from the Boom Boom Mattukaran community who need access to education. Vanavil Trust needs more resources to bring in more children to the school and provide a wholesome education.   

 

Vanavil Trust’s school transforms children

Vanavil means rainbow in Tamil and this reflects the nature of the school, which currently educates more than 100 children. Each child is a unique and talented individual who is surpassing the expectations of society each day they learn in their classrooms. Vanavil Trust gives the children a safe and robust environment, activity-oriented learning, projects, arts and crafts, sports, theater, summer camps and all that a child needs to learn and grow in a healthy manner. The children also had a special visit from accomplished Tamil rapper Arivu who spoke to the children about focusing on their education and pursuing their dreams. But there are still more children from the Boom Boom Mattukaran community in need.

YOU can help educate and empower nomadic tribal children 

This is the ultimate goal that filled Revathi Radhakrishnan’s heart when she started Vanavil Trust in Nagapattinam. To empower a disadvantaged group of people, a more sustainable approach is required – and Vanavil Trust accomplishes this through education. Since 2005, Vanavil Trust has educated more than 500 children and, out of these, 200 are the first graduates in their families. But more children still need to be taken off the streets and placed in classrooms and taught livelihood skills. When you support Vanavil Trust, you can help children and entire families in the Boom Boom Mattukaran community improve their lives and change their futures in a permanent and long term manner.  

 

Support Vanavil Trust

 

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