project of the month

In the area of Kathiacoli, in the state of Assam, live several tribal communities: the Tiwa, the Garos, the Karbis and the Adibassis, who together form a variegated community where poverty and underdevelopment reign. The few resources they have come from subsistence farming with antiquated techniques and even then in a very irregular fashion due to the broken and dispersed areas of suitable land. There is an extremely high level of illiteracy which reaches 95% in some parts. Sanitation levels are alarming: the most basic conditions of hygiene are not respected and consequent illnesses from infected water – such as malaria, cholera and dysentery – create victims of the young and old alike as public health infrastructure is almost inexistent.

We, Missionaries of Don Bosco, wish to build a school to offer a brighter future for the tribes in this remote area of the Indian subcontinent.

Our first objective is to teach people to read and to promote scholastic education, while a secondary aim is to give these communities the tools to develop themselves in an organised manner and eventually to rise above the grave socio-economic disadvantages they currently face.

The initial project is to build just four classrooms which in the future will be augmented by further didactic areas. The school will have a double function: to teach children during the day and to offer a training service for adults during the evening, which it is hoped will incentivise people to undertake working activities able to initiate real development in this area.

The cost of building and equipping each classroom is € 4,000, so in total € 16,000.