Turning today’s beggars into tomorrow’s bigshots

Not so long ago, you could have spotted some of the kids in this photo begging on the streets of Chennai. Now, they are found engrossed in shaping their self-reliant tomorrows, through Sirugu Montessori School. Sirugu is a free, residential school, started with the aim of imparting quality education to underprivileged kids (street children, children from brick chambers, etc.).

But, how do middle class folks approach the begging community and end up getting their kids into a school, built almost exclusively for them? The answer is a story which is as fascinating as it is inspiring. Because I only know Uma and Muthuram from the Sirugu team, they play the lead roles in my recital of the story.

It all began when Uma and others got an assignment in their videography course wherein they had to create a documentary film. Uma decided to capture real life and turned the camera on the road side where she saw many families living on platforms and on the (metro) wanter pipe. At first, they rushed towards Uma and tried to brake the camera, complaining that many people take such pictures and make money out of it. Eventually, the team were able to pacify them.

This followed what was perhaps the critical period, wherein the team bonded with the community by spending lots time near their huts, understanding their issues. Muthuram and others wrote an artistic write up on what had been learnt about the beggars’ lives. Finally, a 20 minute documentary was born. That’s when they took an oath to come back and do something to assist the people. What followed was an endless list of interactive sessions wherein the team tried to inculcate self-confidence and values. A glorious example is Muthuram’s 90 minute counseling with one family man, resulting in him changing his mind and going ahead with the family planning operation after his wife had given birth to four or five children. In all, it took the team 5 years to convince the begging community about the importance education.

Initially, 3 children were put into a private school. By the time the strength went up to 20, the costs were too high to manage. Just when the team were wondering what next, the people, depicting a participatory approach, suggested the team to build a school near their housing location. This was the spark that the team needed to establish the Sirugu school, which now lights up over 200 little lives. Kudos to the entire team!

PS: This (true) story was composed based on a mail I had received from Muthuram.