Vanavil Trust

About us

Vanavil is a Non profit organisation working with Nomadic Communities in Tamilnadu in the fields of Education, Health and Livelihoods.
We help kids from extremely marginalized and historically nomadic communities, who would otherwise be living on the streets and begging, fortune telling, selling plastic, or worse.
Vanavil was set up in 2005 for children from the Narikuravar and Boom Boom Mattukarar community devastated by the tsunami in Nagapattinam and who had slipped through the gaps of government and NGO aid. In recent times, kids from different communities across the state have spontaneously come to Vanavil to find a safe place.
We house homeless kids in a supervised hostel. We provide three meals a day.
We get kids back into school. Most of the kids who come to us are underweight, abused, ill, or otherwise emotionally troubled. We run primary school classes on-site, and, after kids are healthy and accustomed to the school environment, we enroll them in local schools, monitor their progress, provide mentoring and support through the qualifying exams at 10th and 12th grade, and help place them in colleges.

Our Vision
Vanavil School Project – A Vision of a Better Future for Children

Education
• Educate the children using ‘Play Way’ method.
• Bridge the education gap with a bridge school
• To utilize tools such as computer-aided learning, video and audio lessons
• Girl-child education geared towards special needs such as health, hygiene and vocational opportunities
Livelihood
• Creation of a livelihood knowledge centre.
• Providing materials on various local vocational opportunities
• Creating training opportunities & marketing linkages for livelihood development
• Providing +10 counselling for educational and/or occupational development
Community Development
• Keep the children away from begging with a goal of 100% attendance
• Create awareness through the children via a the school’s curriculum
• Nutritional awareness training for mothers
• Providing a noon-meal scheme in the school for the children
• Cultural programs that create learning and awareness of the communities heritage
• Educating the adults on their rights as humans.

Revathi R. is the Founder and Director of Vanavil Trust.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.