THE BANYAN
The planters of The Banyan
Battered, bruised, brutally abused, both physically and sexually, ignored by everybody, eating out of garbage bins and with no place to call home. This was the situation of Chennai’s homeless women with mental illness even just a decade ago. They were an invisible minority, and would have stayed invisible had it not been for two young women who put them firmly back on Chennai’s social agenda.
Vandana Gopikumar, then still a Master’s student of Social Work, came across a half-naked, mentally ill homeless woman in absolute distress on the road in front of her college. Nobody else seemed even to notice her. With the help of a close friend, Vaishnavi Jayakumar, she tried to find shelter for the woman. Mental health institutions and NGOs were reluctant to admit the woman in desperate need of medical and psychiatric attention. Several more such encounters over the next few months left the idealistic duo disillusioned and the idea was born that they should do something about the problem themselves.
The girls started growing the seeds of The Banyan in 1993, after Vandana finished her Master’s in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work and Vaishnavi dropped out of her MBA to join her. They were 22 then. The Banyan started off as a shelter and transit home for homeless women for mental illness who had wandered from their homes across the country and ended up in the streets of Chennai. One of the duo’s core beliefs was that the women needed to receive timely treatment and to be rehabilitated in mainstream society. Twelve years later, after reaching out to over 1500 women, and successfully rehabilitating over 700, their beliefs have been vindicated.
Growing up
With little more than the firm belief that nothing is impossible and that every human being on this planet is entitled to a life of dignity, The Banyan was registered as a Trust in 1993. Adaikalam (Tamil for ‘home’), a rented three-bedroom building, became a care and rehabilitation centre. Eventually over 100 women would call Adaikalam home, finding it a safe, comforting place where their wounds would be healed. Days of no money and hungry mouths to feed were not uncommon. As desperate as was the struggle was the importance of the work. 1994 saw The Banyan’s first rehabilitation, the beginning of more happy reunions and fairy tale endings than anyone could ever imagine.
An Appeal
Since its inception, The Banyan has reached out to over 1500 women in need and rehabilitated over 850 wandering individuals struggling with mental illness. The road to success has not been plain sailing, challenged by constant financial struggle to cover the average monthly expenses of Rs. 15 lakhs to run the organisation. We are infinitely grateful to the countless warm-hearted people that have supported us throughout our journey and made our dream come true - making it possible for us to provide refuge to wandering mentally ill women and to advocate their legitimate right to exist in society. However, to be able to maintain an equally high quality service and special care for all our residents, we will continue to rely on the support from donors and dedicated individuals. With almost 400 women being housed at our shelter, the increasing need for mental health care is hitting our financial, spatial and manpower resources. We will need more help than ever in making a difference to the lives of women who until recently had less than nothing.
Please join us in our mission to generate wellbeing in one of the most marginalised sections of society.
Would you like to help?
There are several ways in which you can help The Banyan:
1) Make a donation in cash
2) Make a donation in kind
3) Volunteer with The Banyan
4) Visit The Banyan and spend some time with our residents
5) Organise some informal entertainment for our residents
6) Tell your friends, relatives and acquaintances about the work of The Banyan
7) Spread awareness on mental health issues at your school, college or workplace
8) Accept the mentally ill as individuals and as members of our society
“Volunteers are not paid; not because they are worthless but because they are priceless.”
~Sherry Anderson
Or simply donate some time - come and spend time with our residents or organise some informal entertainment for them.The possibilities are as endless as your creativity and generosity.
Get inspired by some of our current volunteers.
Local volunteers,
International or out of state volunteers,
Careers at The Banyan,
http://www.thebanyan.org/html/vacancies.html
http://www.thebanyan.org/html/volunteers.html
http://www.thebanyan.org/html/help.html
Adaikalam - a therapeutic community in a homely environment
Adaikalam became the new Transit Home in 2001, providing 24,000 square feet of fully equipped, comfortable living space for those who until recently had less than nothing to call their own. Designed in two blocks, residential and therapeutic, the new building has many useful facilities, such as:
10 airy dormitories
Consulting rooms
Sick bays
An auditorium
A vocational training unit
A dining hall
A recreational therapy unit
The Banyan currently houses over 380 residents at Adaikalam and The Long Stay Home in Otteri and employs around 90 members of staff, including trained social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, nursing aides, and other categories of staff that contribute to the smooth running at the centre.
Contact Details
THE BANYAN
6th Main Road, Mugappair Eri Scheme
Mugappair west, Chennai-600037
Phone Numbers: 044 – 26530504 / 45548350 / 51 / 52
Fax: 044 - 26530105
THE BANYAN CENTRE,
18/55 Vinobaji Street, opp Kamaraj 4th Street,
Gandhi Salai, Choolaimedu.
(Take road opposite Bata Showroom on Nelson Manickam Road, adjacent to Pantaloons.
5th right, 1st left, 1st right)
Phone Number: 42233666
BALM
Banyan Health Centre,
2/242, Pillayar Koil Street,
Kovalam Village,
Kancheepuram – 603112
AID INDIA - Association for India's Development
AID INDIA
AID INDIA is a voluntary movement that was started in Chennai in 1997.
Our Focus
Education, Health and Livelihood for the poor
Our Mission
Ensuring Every Child is Learning Well.
Improving the Health of Women and Children.
Enhancing Livelihood Opportunities for the poor in villages.
Our Approach
Organize, educate and empower the poor.
Deepen the understanding of issues and solutions.
Strengthen existing institutions, organizations and people.
Bring together new people and resources to add new dimensions.
We have started a number of AID Chapters within Chennai. The volunteers in each chapter meet every week and take up a number of education and health related projects. What our chapters are doing:
Adopt a local Balwadi (Government run pre-primary centers - there are about 1000 centers in Chennai.)
Collect and provide toys for the children.
Improve the infrastructure and sanitation of the center.
Paint the center - making it colorful.
Spend time with the children - doing educational activities.
Adopt a local corporation school
Set up a library in the school.
Organize science clubs in the school.
Volunteers also take children out on educational tours and organize fun activities for the children.
Mentor and Support a few Children from villages
Link with one or two children from our villages.
Provide a scholarship to the child and also mentor the child.
Adopt a tuition center/library
Work with an evening tuition center or a library.
Help collect books, organize events and make it active.
Take children out on tours.
Identify individual interests and talents of the children in these centers and help them build on it.
If you would like to volunteer or start a chapter in your area, please do send us an email at aidindia.news@gmail.com
AID TN has Field Presence in 25 districts and Chennai City.
10 Focus Districts = District Wide Activities
Volunteers and Programs in every village and school across
the district - working to bring about district wide improvements.
15 Project Districts = Work in Selected Blocks
Work with NGOs on field projects to bring about
improvement in selected villages.
10 Focus Districts
Kanchipuram
Tiruvannamalai
Krishnagiri
Vellore
Tiruvallur
Sivagangai
Trichy
Dindigul
Cuddalore
Coimbatore
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Chennai City Activities 15 Project Districts
Dharmapuri
Virudhunagar
Madurai
Tirunelveli
Thoothukudi
Pudukottai
Nagapattinam
Thiruvarur
Villupuram
Nilgiri
Salem
Namakkal
Kanyakumari
Theni
Pondicherry
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What is a Focus District?
AID TN is working in 10 districts (one-third of the state) to bring about large scale district wide change. These districts are called Focus Districts.
Focus District Goals:
Activities and Volunteers in EVERY village and school (about 1000-1500 in each district).
Measurable District Wide Improvement in Education and Health Status.
Focus District Strength:
District Core Team that coordinates all our activities.
Trained field execution team in every block.
District Network of NGOs which works in close coordination with our district team.
Regular contacts with the government at all levels.
Support network of donors, volunteers, teachers, writers, media contacts, govt officials, and domain experts.
Focus District Strategy: Action Research, Demonstration and Scaling up
Integrated Block Development in 1 Block in each Focus District: To develop a wider variety of ideas and demonstrate success.
Direct work by AID TN team in Several Blocks in the district: To demonstrate ideas across the district
Working with NGOs in the district to expand their/our programs: To scale up working ideas across the district.
Working with the Government: To bring about systemic changes on a district wide scale.
Creating support networks: To help implementation, deepen public understanding of issues, involve a larger section and pressurize for change.
Periodic Large Scale Campaigns: To create awareness and to identify, train and bring in new people and perspectives into the movement.
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What is a Project District ?
In 15 districts AID TN is working on specific projects with a number of NGOs. These projects are being implemented in selected blocks in clusters of villages.
Project District Goals:
To support and create a network of good NGOs and people's movements to
Help them build up their ideas, programs and people and to share it with others in the network.
To train their teams on our project modules to expand the scale of our programs.
To learn successful ideas from these NGOs and scale it up.
To create a larger resource group that can jointly work on issues of education, health and livelihood.
To demonstrate visible changes in selected blocks and villages.
To use the programs and base to influence and help the government bring about district wide systemic changes.
Project District Strength:
NEST (Network for Empowerment and Social Transformation): An independent group within AID TN created for State Level Coordination of NGO projects and networks.
Over 60 good field implementation NGOs - selected from several hundred NGOs.
A number of Resource Group NGOs - who not only implement programs but also develop new ideas, programs and materials.
State Level Networks on different topics to share ideas, resources, training and problems.
Project District Strategy:
Select 2-5 good NGOs to work with in each project district. Support and work with them over a long period to bring about measurable visible differences in selected villages.
Identify and work closely with "Resource Group NGOs" across the state - to help them expand their programs, to learn from them and to enable them to participate in and shape our programs.
Develop and implement link and base building programs - like the Village Library Program and Eureka Books Program - with all the NGOs in the network.
Networks: Forming multiple networks with independent focus issues, regular sharing meetings and training workshops, issue based campaigns led by these networks.
Linkages with the Government at the state and district levels to help expand the NGO programs to the entire district.
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Integrated Block Development
In each Focus District, AID TN plans to have one Block where we demonstrate a variety of successful models for education, health and livelihood. These blocks are our action-research nurseries. In these blocks we try out a variety of programs, field test ideas before we begin to expand successful ideas to other villages. In each of these blocks, our team is much bigger and a wide variety of programs are implemented.
We currently work in the following Integrated Blocks:
Vembakkam Block in Tiruvanamalai District
Latur (Koovathur) Block in Kanchipuram District
Sulagiri Block in Krishnagiri District
Kaveripakkam Block in Vellore District
Sivagangai Block in Sivagangai District
Minjur Block in Tiruvallur District
Chennai Block in Chennai City
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A lot of people have volunteered or interned with AID TN. We will be soon listing the kinds of things they have been doing or did.
We need a large number of volunteers - from people who can spend 2 hours a week for several months to people who can spend the whole day but only for 15-20 days. We have a need for a wuide range of volunteers.
If you would like to volunteer with any of our activities and programs, just send us an email and we will get back to you with how you can volunteer.
Contact information
Balaji Sampath aidindia.news@gmail.com 94440-61033
We need your help...
AID INDIA projects are run on donations and grants from individuals and organizations. You can choose to support a specific project or a specific district where we are working. You can also make donations towards our general projects fund. Every donation - however small - is very valuable.
To donate, please make a cheque payable to AID INDIA and post it to:
AID INDIA
New No 34, Rathenam Street
Gopalapuram, Chennai - 600 086
Phone: +91-44-42106493, 28350403
Email: aidindia.news@gmail.com
Please add a note giving us your name, address, email and phone number so that we can send you a tax-deduction receipt and also keep you informed on how we are using your donation.
AID INDIA is a registered tax-deductible organization and can receive foreign contributions as well. We are registered with the IT department under section 80-G and 12AA.
If you would us to collect your donation in Chennai or would like to email/talk to us before making a donation, please contact:
Balaji Sampath 94440-61033 aidindia.news@gmail.com
AID INDIA is a registered tax-deductible organization and can receive foreign contributions as well. We are registered with the IT department under section 80-G and 12AA.
For more information, for volunteering, for interning, for donating or for working together on projects, please contact the appropriate person below:
Purpose Name Email Phone Number
To volunteer or intern with our projects Balaji Sampath aidindia.news@gmail.com +91-94440-61033
To donate to AID TN Projects Bharathi aidindia.news@gmail.com +91-44-42106493
To buy our educational materials or products from our village enterprises Lokesh folk_lokesh@yahoo.co.in +91-98406-72018
NGO wants to work with us/submit proposals Prabha prabhabalaraman@gmail.com +91-98403-51132
Administrative information Bharathi aid.info@gmail.com +91-44-42106493
AID INDIA work in other states Saroja sarok1010@yahoo.com +91-98412-08885
To discuss a new program plan or proposal Balaji Sampath balajisampath@gmail.com +91-94440-61033
Chandra Anil chanvish@yahoo.com +91-93823-30752
Information on Various Programs and Projects
What's happening in different districts/blocks Ravishankar
ravia@alumni.cmu.edu +91-94440-84910
Damu damu_science@yahoo.co.in +91-98656-47937
Educational Materials being produced
Chandra chanvish@yahoo.com +91-93823-30752
NEST, TASNET, NGOs Prabha prabhabalaraman@gmail.com +91-98403-51132
Read India, Padippum Inikkum Damu damu_science@yahoo.co.in +91-98656-47937
Science Program - Ariviyal Anandam Ravishankar ravia@alumni.cmu.edu +91-94440-84910
Village Library Program Srinivasan +91-98401-73823
Eureka Schools and Learning Centers S. Gomathi gomathi_smile@yahoo.co.in +91-98656-20696
Health and Women Chandrika vchandrikar@yahoo.com +91-98844-82670
Scholarship Program Hari +91-98400-37582
Field Programs in Chennai C. Gomathi +91-99410-68212
Thank You.
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