Greetings from Thulir!
This year we have decided to send out three shorter newsletters instead of two long ones as some of you have advised us to do saying they will be easier to download and browse! So here we are in April, earlier than usual! Do give us your feedback.
—- The Many Hands at Work on the Library
Before the construction of the library , a group of friends from Runner’s High ran from Bangalore to Sittilingi in November 2022, in order to help raise funds for it! They spearheaded this effort and inspired us! Throughout the construction period, friends from Ein Zehntel Stiftung have been holding markets and exhibitions to raise additional funds. This was followed this year by yet another group of young friends from Yevvi coming forward to help us finish the construction!
The library is truly a team effort and a testament to the large community of friends Thulir has, all of whom have participated in their own way in seeing it built! It was really inspiring to meet with and see the efforts of all these groups. It was heartening to make contact with new groups of supporters like Team Yevvi. To see all of them, at such a young age, being socially conscious and responsible, working to help the socially marginalised and making a difference in society gave one tremendous hope for the future.
Please check out this podcast on Thulir made by the Yevvi team https://youtu.be/zjWstdlUppo?si=nXNVTGBSHdHCWTPb
—- Celebrating Christmas, Pongal and Ramadan
At Thulir, we have always believed in teaching the children to understand, respect and value all religions and faiths. So this year, we decided to celebrate Christmas, Pongal and Ramadan with equal attention and joy!
Thulir’s Christmas was a hands-on one. The students and teachers made all the decorations and a nativity crib themselves, out of natural materials and paper. The story of Christmas was told, Christmas carols were sung and tasty cake, baked at the Sittilingi bakery, was relished!
During Pongal, as always, adults and children drew Kolams all over the school and danced the traditional Kummi dance to Vellachi Ammal’ s rendering. Tasty Pongal was cooked on a fire outside and offered to Nature and the sun!
Mohammed Noman and Shaba Fatima, now part of the Sittilingi team, were special guests for the Ramadan celebrations. After relishing a hearty lunch of rice and chicken, everyone enjoyed listening to them telling us stories from the Islamic tradition. They also showed us pictures of Mecca, the Quran and various images of Islamic architecture,with their amazing geometrical patterns! Before this, in the morning we also thought it important to spend a few moments to think about Muslim communities worldwide who are unable to celebrate due to war and violence! We hope that when our children grow up respecting and valuing everyone and their beliefs there will be more peace in the world!
One-day Educational workshops at Thulir
“I was transported back to my childhood!”, “If I had been taught like this when I was in school I would have advanced tremendously in my academics!”, “I understood this math concept only today!” This was some of the feedback we received on a one day workshop conducted in Thulir for 20 odd staff members from the tribal hospital, Porgai, SOFA and Vanavil. This workshop was the third conducted this year as an effort by the Thulir team to expose the other teams to better understand and appreciate the practical, contextual, and child friendly pedagogical approach at Thulir. In each of the workshops, the teachers took turns to engage the participants in various activities – nature walks, Math, Language, Science, and Social Studies activities. This was followed by an afternoon show where each group of students did a performance of their choice, from telling stories to acting out play, singing and dancing to reading out and explaining a newspaper article. On the whole, it was a very fulfilling and enjoyable experience for all
The Sittilingi Run – a simplified version
We had to postpone the Annual Sittilingi Run this year at almost the last minute due to some communal tensions in one of the villages in the valley. But all the participants from outside had already made travel arrangements to come. on February 2nd. Around 85 people, mostly friends from outside and the Thulir team from Sittilingi, ran 10k and 5 K. We all had breakfast and lunch together.
A group of tribal teachers from Dew drop Academy School, Meghalaya visited. We had truly wonderful exchanges with each other!
Cultural Evening at Thulir
The cultural season towards the end of the year is something everyone looks forward to. There is a lot more music, a lot more dance and definitely a lot of drama!
After tirelessly practicing for days, the children showcased all they had learned to parents and friends of Thulir in a series of performances on the evening of March 29th. Each group sang songs, danced to a variety of music, performed dramas with tongue-twisting dialogues and performed long mimes in complete silence. Swetha made beautiful props out of paper for the plays. Varsha and Kavi Mitra, who passed out of Thulir five years ago, came back after their board exam to teach children to beat and dance to the rhythm of Parai. Gnanisha, also an ex-student, performed karakattam extremely gracefully. The teachers too were very enthusiastic and put up two performances of their own this year.
For the first time, film songs were also included. Anu started a conversation with the parents about the need to examine the words and meaning relayed by the film songs before we expose the children to them.
We are extremely grateful to Sai Swetha and Meedhu for their time and expertise. They brought out the artist in each child with such gentle care and unmatched prowess. Sai Swetha tirelessly did all the choreography.
Educational trips
Travel is a great way to learn! With this in mind, we ensured that the children and teachers got many opportunities to travel outside the school and learn!
visit to Ananya school, Bengaluru
science museum, Bengaluru
5K run, Bengaluru
visit to Sathanur Dam
Teachers visit Tanjavur
Join the ‘ Friends of Thulir’ network!
We believe that the education of our future generation should be the community’ s responsibility and not the burden of individual parents. Parents of the Sittilingi valley will never be able to support the complete costs of a quality school like this. The supporting community need not be the local geographical community but a wider community of like minded people worldwide! If 300 people contribute Rs.1000 a month which is Rs.12000 a year (or 100 friends contribute Rs.36000 a year), the school can be sustained! Please join the ‘ Friends of Thulir ‘ community and help make a tangible and lasting difference in this community.
Thank you!