School education in India is free and compulsory. However the cost of higher education is expensive, and educating a school child is highly challenging for tribal communities. Due to less access to middle schools they are forced to opt for boarding schools and this increases the burden to spend for boarding supplies and other needs. This year we successfully made 43 transitions from primary to middle school. Our partnership with the government has helped us to celebrate a lan

11 Seb's School students have qualified in the entrance exam for the Eklavya model school in Jammunamarthur of Thiruvanamallai district and will be admitted in sixth standard in June. We appreciate our teachers for their tireless efforts to prepare these students. The largest contingent of students who qualified were from Seb's school. Seb’s tribal school encouraged and provided the opportunity for 29 fifth grade students to write the entrance exam for sixth standard admissio

The humanitarian clown’s team arrived in the first half of the November. They visited the different projects around Vellore town. A one day visit was made to Seb’s school Periyapanapari village in the Jawadhi hills and the entire team was involved in making the day a success for both the children and the volunteers. A get-together was organized for the local volunteers to share their experience and learning from their service to the needy. #GetInvolved #Volunteer #JawadiHills

We're happy to announce a brand new Seb School at Palamarathukollai village in the Jawadi Hills. After meeting the Seb's team and learning about our projects at a conference, a group of young Indians visited the school at Palamarathukollai village. It was very dilapidated and the group were moved by the students and community. This group is called Prayag. They raised money among themselves and spent £3000 to build this beautiful structure, then 20 members of the group came al

The Tribal Initiative Programme in Sittiling Valley of Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu is 23 years old. During these years Dr. Regi George and Dr.Lalitha Regi along with a team of 45 highly trained members initiated the health service and their programme expanded from Community health programme to Tribal Hospital, Farming initiative and Craft initiative. The Tribal Health Initiative believes that every community has the resources needed to help themselves. Each village nomi

We have identified the immediate need for balwadis in the villages of Periyapannaparai and Palamarthukollai and we hope to have these two centres set up by the end of this week. The balwadi in Palamarthukollai will be inaugurated on the 22nd of July and in Periyapannaparai on the 24th of July. From the 14th to the 16th of July, we conducted a training programme for the new balwadi teachers, a group of 11 young women from all the tribal villages where Seb’s Projects works. Ove

Here are three photos posted by Laura. The photos were taken while visiting the tribal villages in Jawadhi Hills where HEAL, the Sustainable Livelihoods program, and many other education projects affiliated with The Sebastian Hunter Memorial Trust happen! #Health #Tribal

Meena is a cheerful 11-year-old girl who attended the Seb’s Tribal School in Thattankuttai until 2011, when she was taken away to labour in another state with her family. When she returned she started to go blind, and within weeks she was completely unable to distinguish shapes and see light. Seb’s Health and Development Workers, notified Seb’s staff and rushed her to the Community Health & Development Hospital in Vellore, where she was immediately referred for treatment at S

In connection with HEAL, CMC Hospital doctor, Dr Archana, conducted health camps in the tribal areas of Karpanankollai, Jadayankollai, Attukondarai, and Pallumarathukollai in the Alleri area. The team Dr Archana took out included two of Seb’s Projects local health and development workers, Srinivasan and Louise. The team visited 42 patients in small hamlets covering a 25 km radius. The patients visited suffer from a variety of illnesses, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and

Two Chemical Engineering students from the Vellore Institute of Technology, Mithun Balraj and Sham Kumar, will be working on sustainable and easy-to-use solutions for purifying well water in the tribal villages. During the first week of August and along with Seb’s staff, they conducted the first assessment visit and water quality tests in Thandayankottai. Unsafe water cause many health problems, including diarrhea, fever, parasitic infections, which can cause seizures and bra

Zaila are handmade organic soaps, made by the women of the Malayali Tribe, in the Jawadhi Hills, as part of the Seb’s Projects India’s Sustainable Livelihoods Program. Using carefully selected ingredients combined with tradition practices and knowledge, these soaps have provided employment and a sustainable income for over twenty families in the village of Thandayankottai. The Soaps are popular in the Vellore region, particularly amongst the CMC community, where it is sold. T

We are delighted to read about the wonderful work being carried out by our tribal teachers, enabling children who previously had no access to education the chance to learn in the tribal schools. #Education #Tribal #Press

The Sebastian Hunter Memorial Trust is thrilled to announce that the Seb’s projects team in Vellore has successfully received a grant for a lamp project for the tribal villages in the Jawadhi hills. More details to come soon! #Livelihood #Tribal #JawadiHills

Chinnasamy is 55 year old man from a tiny hamlet called Karpanankollai consisting of only 3 houses. Chinnasamy’s occupation was cutting bamboo, which earned him 15,000rs per year. HEAL workers were asked to visit a sick relative of a woman in Thandayankottai. To get to Chinnasamy’s village requires over three hours of walking. On their way, the HEAL workers came across a group of thin, tired young men hauling something in a blanket. Inside the blanket was Chinnasamy with sev