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"My name is
Kanniponnu. I am residing in South Street of
Ayyampalayam. I am 23 years old. There are five
members in my family. My husband's name is
Picthaimani. His first wife ran away with
another man leaving her two children to his
acre. He married me. He was already an HIV/AIDS
patient. He hid this fact from my parents before
my marriage. Now he is not able to do any hard
work. I am partially blind and so am unable to
go for work. My mother-in-law is earning a
meagre income from picking waste paper
from roadsides. We were living in a hut with
much inconvenience. We requested RTU's
assistance for a house. Now we are living in
this house safely. We are also given a monthly
assistance of Rs.500 under RTU's Home
Sponsorship Scheme. We are living a happy life
now. We are ever grateful to RTU for its timely
assistance." |
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Rural Housing Programme |
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Houses |
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Depending on the
availability of funds there is an ongoing programme
of building specially designed brick-built,
tiled-roofed houses at a cost of
around £650 per house. There is a constant need in the villages
for good, low-cost housing. 80 houses were
built in 11 villages in 2008. |
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For the poorest
villagers, palm-leaf huts are too often the
only place that families can live and care for their
children. These are insecure and only last a
year or so. They are too often shocking, inadequate and unworthy of
human beings. |
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In October 2008, in
the village of Pattiveeranpatti, 7 of these thatched
houses were destroyed in a fire caused by an
electricity power leakage. There was no government
assistance available and the families approached
RTU. After surveying, RTU immediately built
the houses; and also provided clothing and other
assistance for the affected families. |
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Each house occupies
314 sq ft and is constructed on a concrete base. The
window and door frames, and the door itself, are
made from ferro-cement to avoid insect attack. The
roof trusses are of steel for the same reason.
All the materials needed (apart from the trusses)
are produced by the Cement Product Unit of RTU. |
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2009 NEWS After
entirely rebuilding the hamlet of Kakanji Nagar (on
the edge of a large village just a few kilometres
from RTU) in the first part of 2009, work has
started on a second more remote hamlet,
Vellaiammalpuram. Download an interim report
here. |
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Since the programme
began, over 7500 houses have been built, including
more than 60 entire villages. RTU houses are strong,
durable, weather-proof and well designed, with the
features rural dwellers want: a shady veranda, a
living room and cooking area, and a washing area. |
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A unique feature of
this programme is the participation of foreign
volunteer groups. Besides monetary assistance they
offer their labour for this programme. Volunteers
from Britain made the 2008 and 2009 programmes a great
success. (These volunteers are provided and
organised by Lasallian Developing World Projects,
not by us. Click
here for more information.) |
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