FCBARCELONA.CAT

Location:

Beneficiaries: ‘Dalit’ or ‘untouchable’ boys and girls in Anantapur.

In India, society is organised by a strict caste and subcaste system, whereby everybody occupies a certain position in the social structure. The aim of the XICS-India project is to help boys and girls with no caste, what are known as ‘dalits’ or ‘untouchables’, who in India have historically been condemned to doing very poorly paid work, the kind of jobs that nobody else in the country wants to do, and which means they have no hope of ever having a dignified life.

In rural India, ‘dalits’ form a marginalised community that is characterised by a lack of awareness of their fundamental rights. ‘Dalit’ children, for example, find it very difficult to get places in state schools, and even if they do, they find they are segregated from the other pupils and even the teachers, who feel there is no point wasting their time teaching children from the lower castes in society. In addition to this, they suffer from serious economic difficulties, and ‘Dalit’ families need their children to work in order to survive.

Main activities of the XICS–India project for 2008:

Integral support for 100 vulnerable children in the first year. This includes:

Support through extra classes and computing lessons.

Dietary supplementation.

Educational workshops on health and hygiene.

Psychosocial care.

Promotion of sports activities, combining modern sports like football and hockey with local sports like cricket ‘Kho-kho’ and ‘Kabhadi’.

Promotion of integration and coexistence with other boys and girls of other conditions and castes.

Collaborating organisations:

• Fundación Vicente Ferrer
• Rural Development Trust (Indian organisation).