Starting January 27

2010, Jyostna, Myself and Sri Kruti spent three days at the AIDRural Technology Resource Center in Parlakhemundi, Orissa. The center has been startedby Dhanada Mishra in 2007 as a center for holistic training. The center is nestled in abeautiful plain with hills on all sides at a distance varying from as close as 5 Kms toabout 50 Kms (Wikimapia link: http://wikimapia.org/2079352/Aid-Rural-Technology-Resource-Center

). The nearest railway station is Palasa, and the nearest airport is Vizag.The RTRC has three components: anIndustrial training center, a school forchildren from the local villages, andfacilities for organic farming/ vermiculture. The center is establishedon a plot of about 4 acres, withapproximately 1.5 acres set aside fororganic farming. The RTRC has sixpucca structures each having a groundfloor. Three of these buildings are for theschool, and two of them are officespaces cum residential quarters. One of these buildings houses the industrialtraining centers. The sixth building houses the pottery center. The center also has a shedcontains four vermiculture pits and space for 2 Buffaloes. Additional photos are here:http://picasaweb.google.co.in/smilesjosu/AIDOrissaSchoolAtParlakhemundi#

Industrial Training Center:

The industrial training center has been setup with a view to provide necessaryinfrastructure to train village folk in activities such as pottery making, coir dolls, andkhadi dress making. The center has two instructors on tailoring, of whom one was onleave when we were visiting. They are pai a salary of Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,000 respectively,based on seniority. The AID-ITC center has been given the National Certificate of Vocational Training (NCVT), which allows it to run Govt. approved training classes. Thecenter runs classes for tailoring, and guarantees employment after passing the tailoringtraining. There are 2 students at present for the tailoring class.

About 20-25 adolescentworking girls receive training here in a residential format. This is an unofficialarrangement, and the girls are part of a NABARD project funded by the Government.The girls stay at AID-ITC and are provided shelter, housing, and training. NABARDpays AID-ITC Rs 70 per girl. The “Jeevika” range is made here.The pottery is made by P Appanna who designed and made most of what we seein this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfDBaHcWamE.Gajendra Mallik is a

deaf and dumb artisan who makes coir dolls. He was trained in the art at Konark and wasbrought to AID-Parlakhemundi by Peter Bakos. Appanna and Gajendra also help out inseveral other jobs on the field and is paid a salary of Rs 4,000. The center is trying toestablish contacts with resellers and examine if pottery and coir dolls can be sold on aregular basis. Some of the articles made by Appanna, like the water filter can fetch agood price. The coir dolls are made of recyclable material and are totally child safe. Theyare more expensive than plastic dolls and therefore the center finds it difficult to marketthem through regular channels. Establishing contacts through FabIndia or similar storeswill be very useful to sustain these initiatives.

School:

The center runs an English medium CBSE school, and currently caters to childrenfrom class LKG up to 2

. The school has six teachers with a salary of Rs 2,000 each. Inthe vicinity of Ranadevi village, there is a Government Oriya medium school, and aprivate English medium school that is managed by the Centurion group. There are severalschools (including a Kendriya Vidyalaya) in the town of Parlakhemundi, but the town isabout 8 Kms from the village. The private schools are out of reach of the landlesslaborers, but at the same time, they do not want their children to study in the Govt. schoolthat offers only Oriya medium education.The school currently is not recognized by the Govt. and hence is not covered bythe mid-day meal scheme. The center has arranged for an auto to ferry children to/fromthe school. The school incurs an expense of Rs 250 per child. However, most of theparents are capable of paying only a meager sum and as such, the fee retrieved from themranges from Rs 30 to a maximum of about Rs 150. Many parents do not even pay aminimum amount.Video of the school: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahxUFkzXzLs A list of students and their names:

Name Class Name of parent

G Rambabu LKG Janaki , KrishnaSrikanth LKG Venkat , AnnapoornaSantosh Pradhan LKGSrinu LKG Jaya, SurenshChinnu Pradhan LKG Sunita,KrishnaMishar Jagannath LKG Ramo,M Ravikumar LKG Jaya,AppalaswamyDilleswari LKG Susheela,Danalakshmi LKGMunna LKG Nagamma , JaqubaMadhu LKG Renu , HaddiM Ranjith LKG Ravi ,PushpaKiran 1 Shivani , SanyasiVijaya Lakshmi 1 Jaya , SureshJhansi 2 Pushpa , RaviNeelandri UKG Prababathi , Kantha Rao