People Web International

CHENNAI - An article, ‘Exploring city life on foot’’ captured my attention in our local newspaper.

From then on one thing led to another and I finally arrived at the office of Human trip India which is a part of a non-governmental organisation SPEED Trust.

Mr. Albert Selvakumar, Manager-Operations of Human Trip India, enlightened me on the humanitarian work SPEED Trust does for the upliftment of the slum dwellers.

SPEED - SLUM PEOPLE EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT was founded in the year 1999 and registered as SPEED Trust in 2004 by Mr. Philip Malet of French origin and his Indian wife Denise. This organisation aims at supporting both, the economically and socially deprived women and children from the slum area of Gandhi Nagar-Sathyavani Muthu Nagar in Chennai, comprising of more than 2,600 families. The priority of SPEED Trust is to inculcate a sense of confidence and responsibility in order to understand the dignity of Labour. Mr. Philip, the founder, emphasised that the sole responsibility of SPEED Trust lies in educating the women, who are either widows or deserted. These women are not financially independent and are most often ill-treated by their husbands. The income they earn working as house maids is hardly anything to take care of their families or to even educate their children.

As the saying goes, when you educate a woman, you educate a family. With this mantra in mind, SPEED Trust today has provided fantastic opportunities for these women and their children. In a city where the auto rickshaw drivers are traditionally men, this organisation today has shown these women that they too can earn a living, educate their children and live in dignity. These women benefit from the auto training which is given for a period of 3 to 6 months and once they pass the driving test, SPEED not only helps them to procure a license, but also buys them a vehicle provided they are responsible enough to pay back a monthly sum until they have the full ownership of the vehicle.

The children of these working women have a crèche, established by SPEED Trust. The children of these families are also encouraged to join schools of certain standard, so the crèche prepares the little ones in order to be admitted in proper English medium schools. The older children have an evening tuition centre, computer classes, library and various extracurricular activities. The education of these children is sponsored by SPEED Trust and the Trust also provides educational loans up to professional courses. The schooling rate is 80% as against an average of 50% in the other slums of Chennai. The school drop outs are provided with vocational training. SPEED Trust has a family follow-up programme to ensure the children attend school regularly. The families are also provided with a Universal health insurance plan.

SPEED Trust also has a home for the Orphan and Abandoned children.

VARNAJALAM, yet another venture of SPEED Trust is a slum showroom that markets the old traditional wire baskets, recycled bags made of rexine and jewellery made from recycled newspaper. All this is made by around 50 disadvantaged and physically challenged women who work for a daily wage and for which the raw materials are provided by the organisation. These products apart from having a market in India are also exported to all over the world through BALADARSHAN, a fair trade export company which is a part of SPEED Trust and is a member of the World Fair trade organisation. Mr.K.S. Prasad is the Products Development Manager for VARNAJALAM and has been associated with SPEED Trust since the year2007.

Behind all these various programs, in charge is Mr.Philip Malet, a humble and dedicated soul who made Chennai his home 12 yrs ago not knowing that he would be one among the many chosen to serve these slum dwellers here in Chennai and to help them live a more meaningful and fulfilling life. However, he hopes that our country will soon become less dependent on foreign contributions both physically and financially and looks forward to more Indians contributing towards a child’s education.

Today, SPEED Trust in partnership with fair tourism agency HUMAN TRIP INDIA has 15 Auto rickshaws with lady drivers, 11 of which are used by Human Trip India that provide an opportunity for tourists from world over to discover Chennai in a unique way.

With the support and help from NGO’s such as SECOURS POPULAIRE and INDE EDUC ‘ACTIONS from France, HAPPY KIDS, an NGO from Switzerland and BNPPARIBAS bank from Chennai, SPEED Trust moves on to educate and empower many  more helpless and deserving women and children who are the future of our country.

For more details log on to www.humantripindia.blogspot.com or http://baladarshan.blogspot.com.

To contact SPEED Trust: speedtrustindia@gmail.com

-- by Anita Mathew Perumal - PWI Reporter Tamil Nadu - tamil.nadu@peoplewebinternational.com