The touching note above was penned by Bharathikrishnan, one of Thulir’s very first students. Bharathi is now working as a medical lab technician at Apollo Hospital, Chennai.
20 years of Thulir
We can still remember the moment Thulir was born! A moment filled with anticipation and hope edged with diffidence and tentativeness. But that moment slowly flowed into another and another. With all your support these moments grew into fulfilling and enthusiastic hours, hours into days, days into months, months into years and Thulir is now 20 years old!
In that time, Thulir has touched the lives of at least 600 tribal students and their parents in this valley! Some of them are now teachers themselves, others are blossoming as farmers or engineers or lab technicians, electricians, masons, welders, plumbers, mothers, accountants, computer programmers, small entrepreneurs and even a pastor and a priest!. Not everything in this story has been positive: two of them are alcoholics resisting rehab and three have tragically passed away. The primary school has blossomed and our teachers conduct village classes in the Palakuttai and Nammankadu government schools.
Around 75 students in the age group 14-18 attended a full time Basic technology course between 2007 and 2016 . Some of these students have become building artisans and are creating ecologically sensitive buildings both in the valley and outside. Many volunteers from around the world have come here and many are now close friends and still in touch.
None of this would have been possible without all of you.
A huge thank you also to every single one of our friends at Asha for Education and Ein Zehntel Stiftung who have recognized the value and authenticity of our years of ground work and chosen to support its continued growth and blossoming into the future.
Thulir has also been largely funded by individuals who are personally touched and connected to what we are all doing together.
So this is also a moment to again thank so many of you whose individual generosity has kept us going through all these years, and upon whom we still rely.
Alumni get-together- Thulir’ s 20th birthday
A day of celebration, camaraderie, nostalgia, friendship, happiness and hope!
120 people came together to celebrate 20 years of Thulir! They all represented varying ages, occupations and places. The common thread bringing everyone together was that all of them have been learners at Thulir at some point in the last 20 years!. It was special to see Balaji from Coimbatore, Bharathi and Ragul from Chennai, Devaki from Vallimadurai, Theerthammal from Beemarapatti and Nikhil from Mumbai travel all the way in order to attend this.
Games were played, tasty food was relished, conversations were engaged in and old memories were recalled and shared! It was very moving to hear the alumni recount what they had learnt at Thulir or vividly describe experiences they had had here and how special Thulir was to them.
So many said, ” I would spend the whole day at school waiting for the evening to come, so that I could come to Thulir!” Many others said, ” I touched a story book/computer/art materials/millet farming/electric circuit for the first time at Thulir!” Yet others said, ” I would look forward to the millet snack there very much!”
It gave us hope to see how much this group of alumni treasured the essence and spirit of Thulir. They will surely support and take it forward in future!
Cultural Evening
For a whole week the school was filled with resounding beats of the Parai (drum) by the Kalai Nila Kali Kuzhu who turned the Cultural Evening into a festivity of music and movement much enjoyed by children and adults alike!
Folk dances like oyilaatam, saataikuchu aatam, tappaatam, kaliyal, karagam and plays in English and Tamil were performed by children while the adults watched in awe. Children who would not so much as move their feet on day one were euphoric by the end of the week.
The event was organized to showcase the children’s performances on one hand, but more importantly it was the coming together of communities which on a regular day have no chance to cross each other’s paths.
Participation in turtle walk
Could you imagine taking a group of 10 year old children to walk a total of 7 km on the beach for a whole night without sleeping, while remaining quite and only observing?
Can’t imagine? Appalled by the idea? Nervous??!
So were we initially! But the children and teachers were very eager to participate in the turtle walk organized by the Student Sea Turtle Conservation Network, Chennai, and so we signed up for it.
The children were quite amazing! They were completely engaged, alert and interested. We were very lucky and found two turtle nests! We watched the eggs being carefully unearthed and relocated to a safe hatchery. As dawn broke over the sea, we were in for a real treat! We got to see new hatchlings being released and watched as they took their first tentative steps towards the sea at 5:30 in the morning.
A train ride to Chennai and visits to the snake park and library and shows in the Birla planetarium were all also part of the trip. Everyone enjoyed and cherished every moment of it!
Election at Thulir
The nation-wide buzz surrounding the Lok Sabha Elections didn’t spare Thulir. There were a lot of questions from the children about how elections work, who would be the next prime-minister, how voting for candidates in Sittilingi would lead to a Prime Minister being chosen in Delhi and so on.
We thought this was a good opportunity to teach them all this through a mock-election! The classes were divided into three constituencies and four students were chosen in each constituency to be representatives for four different parties. There was one student who contested as an independent candidate as well!
The party members worked hard preparing posters and election promises. Although there was a sudden competitiveness there was also camaraderie. They were aware that they were competing against each other, but in times of need friendship prevailed.
The fairness of the election process in Thulir would have put the Election Commission to shame! During counting the little citizens cheered for every vote counted with no regard to which was their favourite party. The results were a hung parliament, with no majority, and so a coalition government was formed. The sentimental candidate who was devastated after having lost his seat was pacified by being made the Prime Minister on the condition that he has to win a by-election for his seat within six months!
Library construction
The new library-cum- resource center is slowly taking shape!
It is being built by Jayabal, Dhanabal, Lakshmanan, Mohan, Kumar – all artisans trained at Thulir are building it ! Mallesh.N, Krishna and Ravi are co-ordinating the construction.
Anadayana Run
It is always a joy to participate in Anandayana- an event that inspires positive change and bringing together children from varied disadvantaged backgrounds, skills and places. This year it was special as we were able to interact with Balaji, Neha and other friends from Asha Bangalore as well!
Wall painting
Pongal celebrations
Sports day
Sittilingi Run
We are supremely grateful that we have all of you ‘ friends of Thulir’ .. this community to whom we can always come back to, for guidance, positivity, immense goodwill and strength. Thank you.