Sri Selliah Memorial School for Mentally Retarded Children

Baseline survey indicated that the parents of mentally challenged children were not willing to send their children to school. These children were left at home without proper care, food and clothes. After a great struggle we were able to bring 10 to 15 children to school for rehabilitation. Another problem faced by us was that the parents of these children were daily wage earners and had to go to work daily and they found it difficult to send their children to school by public transport as they are not accustomed to travelling in buses. So we have taken up the responsibility of transporting these children from home to school and back home free of cost.

At the outset, we found it difficult to give rehabilitation and therapyto these children, as they were not used to going anywhere and mingling with others. Our special educators and the support team interacted with the children for months to make them feel comfortable at school. Now there are 27 children in our school. They are taught daily living skills, motor skills, speech skills, emotional skills, thinking skills, yoga, games, dance, singing, crafts, gardening etc.,

Natural Farming

SSM Trust is creating awareness among the rural farmers about farming in Natural method instead of using chemical farming. SSM trust is cultivating crops in natural farming method in 1 acre which stands as demo field for the villages. The fertilizer used in natural farming are urine and cow dung of local cow. When the local cow dung and urine are utilized on the soil of farm all soil biota including local earthworms will come up and will start to work of digging the deep soil, rich in nutrients and bring it on the top of the soil in the form of its excreta i.e. Vermicast to supply all those nutrients to the roots of the crops, which are essential for the growth and production of that crops. Natural farming provides us with healthy, nutritious crops and also prevents global warming.

Environment

Clean and Green villages

Awareness was created among the rural women about global warming, drinking clean and pure water, Usage of washrooms,Kitchen garden, Planting of trees, disposing the garbage in proper manner etc.

Rain Water Harvesting

According to the period surveys the rainfall is very low in Thuraiyur, Manachanallur and Musiri blocks. There is water scarcity for agriculture and domestic use. The Trust is promoting water shed development and rainwater harvesting in each household to increase the ground water level. The Trust is working through SHGs to provide wide publicity and propaganda to improve rain water harvesting in houses, public buildings and school premises.

Women Empowerment

Joint Liability groups Supported by NABARD Bank, Formation of women self help groups.

Women Self Help Groups/Joint Liability Groups

As the trust believes that women empowerment is very important especially in the rural areas it provides a common platform for forming Self Help Groups / Joint Liability Groups to share their experiences and to find ways to become self reliant. The Trust is mainly collaborating with Government Agencies such as DRDA, Block development Office, other line departments and NABARD Bank to empower the women through providing financial support for economic development activities.

Tribal Development Programme

In the Tribal Development Programme, the organization works with Malayali Tribes of Pachaimalai Hills in Trichy District. It covers 30 tribal villages compromising 14,000 tribal population. The Trust concentrates on development programmes like Health and Hygiene, Education, formation of Self Help groups, Paddy field terracing, Agroforestry, Organic cultivation, etc.,

Health Services

The Trust is conducting awareness programme on basic health needs, immunization, Self hygiene, reproductive healthcare, child health etc., The Trust is conducting regular eye camps for the people in remote areas and for school children.

Vocational Training Centre

The Programme implementing office functions at Nagalapuram, Thuraiyur Taluk, Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu. The premises at Nagalapuram is equipped to impart vocational training / skill development of the rural women. The trust conducts tailoring courses for the drop out children and women self help group members. The trust also gives training in Foot mat weaving.