'Singing SkYlarks' to the rescue of KereThanda

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Founded in 2008, the 'Singing Skylarks' is a music group and has taken up singing as a tool to serve humanity .

singing as a tool to serve humanity. Theyareinvolvedinvarioussocial-upHUBlI: The Kere Thanda is a liftmentactivitieslike providing educasmall hamlet with around 275tionfortlieunderprivileged,helpingin 300 houses in the blazing district de-addiction, and supporting the deof,Bellary, It Is barely four Ion prived population ofthe societyily-rais" from the World Heritage site .ing funds through their music conHampi, and five Ion from Kama- certs. Ispur, which has the distinction of . The 'Kere Thanda project', an ambihousing the lone Kannada uni,tious project taken up by Singing SkyverS1t!f.The 'Thanda' or tribal larkswas basically triggered by Singing group has a population of around Skylark members Vibha Venkatesh 1,500, mostly belonging to the and NaridiniArunkumar, along with a Banjara tribe, migrated originally group of volunteers led by Girish. "We from Rajasthan. However, the ge- do not believe in wasting our free time. osraphicalproximityofthethanRather, we would like to contribute our dato acclaimed plaas like Hampj pie to the society. The Kere Thanda and Hospet serves advantage project is very near to us as it is chalto these people. ' lenge for us. Observing the sorry conditionofthethandawedecidedtohold The appaling condition of the pop- , the project in two phases. The first ulation can well narrate the tale of phase involved collection of data and neglect here. A galore of problems the second, which is still on, involves like over-sized families, illiteracy, un- mobilisation of funds, inviting and im, employment, child labour, extreme plementing practical and progressive alcoholism and poverty, besides civic solutions to improve the thanda", says problems like grave scarcity of drink- Vibha Venkatesh; ing water, crampy roads, and unhygenic living conditions just form the First phase surfaciallevel of problems. Inspiteof During the first phase of their visit, this unsavouryhuman conditions, they dividedthemselves into fiveteams the hamletisjust another quarry for and identified the day-to-day chalthe Igovernment which has recon- lenges that the people ofKere Thanda 'ciled itself to the grousing popula- are facing. . tion. Each family here had 8-10 people With 2-3 members working as daily 11le 'Singing Skylarks' wage workers to feed the entire family. But, a Bangalore-based music This fetched them just around ~ 200 group 'Singing Skylarks' did not just per day, which is grossly insufficient sulk on the failure of the govern- for a basic living. ' ment, but havethemselves come forThe financial constraint is such that ward to help the people of Kere theyareunabletocultivateevenasmall Thanda. patch ofland that theyown, And if at all Founded in 2008, the 'Singing they get some yield, they cannot reach Skylarks'is a music group compris- the market as there is no facility of ing of engineers, consultants, film transportation from the thanda. They makers, heads ofNGOs, radio jock- have to walk down 18 km to reach the , eys, media persons, and others. Un- nearest market. liketheir cosmopolitan counterparts, To meet the growing financial dewho spend their time buzzing mand, children and women are put to around the luxury malls or taking work at the sugarcane fields where pride in forming an inert social com- they earn a meagre of~ 50 for per day munity looking forward for social of hard IabOltf1: service! this te,am has taken up Snot-nosed'eh''

Dlvyashri Mudakavi

younger siblings while the elders are away at work in hence a conunon scene. Strangling their education rights, children are also sent to Mysore, KOlar and other places to "'WmMnsagarcane fields. Alcoholism is another setback. Even women consume considerable quantities of alcohol ending up spending half of their wages-on it. Owing to these habits, the families have libsolutelyunaygenichumansettlement : . conditions.

Second'phase
. Under the second phase, the Singing Skylark. members have al.. ready begun collecting clothes. and pedagogic materials for the children; This would persuade children to rejoin schools or either gain education informally. The team has planned to educate the women folk about growing vegetables around their houses which can at least meet the nutritional demands of the family. . They will betaughtto grow flowers which can add some more to the faroiIy income. , . The seeds for this will be collected from.the Forestdepartmenteffieeat Malleshwaram ill Bangalore. 'They will also be distributing ORS packets and packaged food to families with tiny tots tQ prevent the spread of summer borne epidemics. They are holding talks with. the concerned officials to divert a bus to the thanda atleast _ a day. They are also arranging addiction and health check-up camps to make the population healthy. ' . . All these practical efforts by the plucky Singing Skylarks has proved to be a 'Talisman'to the thanda people. They are now hoping to dispel the clouds of despair and breathe it new air of progress .. Further, the Singing Skylarks are also planing to reknit the villages of Raichur district which were affected by the recent floods.

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DH News service

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