TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Sneha Fathima, Sreeji M A, Amruta and their friends organised something grand under a giant rain tree inside the lush campus of Government College for Women, this International Women’s Day. Instead of lofty talks, the group of 18 from the History Department are making history of sorts by helping bring a social change in the tribal belts. As the first step, they have started collecting storybooks for distribution in the tribal hamlets. They named the tree, ‘Ezhuthani’ tree and have kept a small box for collecting books. They have urged other students to donate books for the cause. The week that followed was a life-changing experience for the students who were mostly limited to their academic pursuits so far.
“We have planned to collect around 2,500 storybooks. But the responses have been overwhelming,” said Sneha. The group now has a collection of over 3,000 books. Words of encouragement lauding the noble initiative have been pasted on the tree by the donors.The books will now go to the underprivileged colonies identified by the charitable organisation, Kanal, in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. But the student volunteers have no plans to limit their activities to a mere collection.
They said they got the motivation for social work from Kanal, which conducted a programme on women safety in the college. Sneha and Sreeji have already started attending sessions conducted by Kanal for Scheduled Caste children in the colonies at Nellanad grama panchayat in Venjaramoodu. More will join in the coming sessions. “I have always wanted to do something different than choosing engineering or medicine. This initiative has convinced me to join the masters in social work,” said Ashiya Nazim. Subitha S, Anjana A G, Devika Gopan, Evangelin, Gopika, Shravya, Deepa, Hridya, Aparna, Lekshmi, Saranya, Shifana and Shahana are part of the group initiative.
Ezhuthani and Reading Spaces
Kanal has been getting the support of the urban youths in serving the most underprivileged in the society. Students from various colleges have tied up with Kanal to organise seminars on cyberbullying in the city schools and colleges, addressing the issues of children in tribal and coastal belts etc. “We started the Ezhuthani project since there is a need to address the social backwardness among tribals,” said the president of Kanal, Anson P D Alexander. Kanal members reach out to such locations in Aralam, Vettikavala, Amboori etc and gain their trust by engaging them in cultural activities. During the course, they set up reading spaces for children in the area. The students are given the responsibility of managing space and books. The idea is to convert reading centres into cultural, said Anson.