Sevalaya - A Gandhian dream come true!

(meaning to write this for a long time, and finally here it goes...)

It all started more than 30 years ago; Murali was then an undergrad student in Chennai. Since there was hardly anything to read (!), he spent most of his time in various social service activities, and writing poetry etc.

And this continued when he moved to Bangalore, doing his engineering under graduate course in Indian Institute of Science. I was one of the fortunate few who were co-volunteers in several activities that followed in the next 3 to 4 years - ranging from yearly red cross blood donation camps in the campus to recording studies and other books in audio cassettes for a blind school, to teaching English to a bunch of orphanage kids in Hebbal, to teaching both math/science and social studies/hygiene to a nearby slum kids.

After graduation, Murali was again involved in serving/supporting another orphanage while working full time as a software engineer.

It was summer of 1988, when several good things happened - Murali got married to another social worker and Sevalaya was born in a village near Thiruninravur (on the rail road between Chennai and Arakonam) - in a rented house - with five children and one full time social worker and a couple of employees to help run it.

Today Sevalaya is in a campus of its own in a 1.5 acre land, housing more than 150 orphanage children, more than 50 elders in a old age home, a few cows in a gosala, playgrounds, school buildings (from elementary to high school), a library and a resident nurse and other employees, social workers/volunteers. There is also a facility for providing a certificate course in tailoring to nearby village women so as to enable them to become self supporting (or help their families financially). The school provides (absolutely) free education to all children for the nearby villages and currently provides education to more than 800 students from elementary to high school.

All this has happened largely with public support - from people who have known/felt the dedication of the organization/people behind the organization over several years, from people who have seen the marked change in the entire landscape around Sevalaya, and not only out of large grants or other solicitations. That is the most commendable thing to say of any non-profit organization.

Mahatma's ideals of rural upliftment and religious harmony, Swami Vivekananda's selfless service to humanity, and the great Tamil Poet Bharathi's works on social equality and women's rights (as well as patriotism) are the ideals and motivation behind Sevalaya as an organization.

Sevalya has already achieved quite a few things in its 20 years of existence. To name a few things:

Self reliance/sustainable development efforts: Sevalaya has a gobar gas plant for its old age home needs while the cows also give enough fertilizer to the vegetable garden. Sevalaya produces enough vegetables for its own orphanage/old age home needs and produces enough surplus to sell to outsiders at a nominal price. The inmates of orphanage are supported for their college education or vocation training too.

Rural upliftment: Sevalaya trains and gives certificate course to the local village women (mostly uneducated) after a six month free course in tailoring. The graduates get a job very easily in the nearby cotton/clothing industries (within 30 miles from Kasuva). The economic climate around Sevalaya has improved over the years mainly because of such efforts by Sevalaya and this has also resulted in more emphasis on education in the local surrounding villages.

Education to the under-privileged: The results speak for themselves - Sevalaya has been achieving 100% results in the district for the past few years, and Sevalaya students score big and some are rank holders in the district. At Sevalaya, education is not just memorizing the course work and scoring marks in the final examination, but overall shaping of intellect and body, an all round growth of personality of students.

There is more to be done. Murali and rest of the people at Sevalya are looking forward to building a Gandhian university with special emphasis on eco-friendly/self sustaining technology.


Now all we need is one Sevalaya per district!

Please visit http://www.sevalaya.org for more information.