A five-member team of Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) on behalf of the Canadian Embassy on Sunday toured a dozen hamlets in Bangarupalem mandal in Chittoor district, and inspected the ongoing welfare activities initiated by the organisation two years ago. The CCFC and Rural organisation for poverty eradication services (ROPES) have jointly initiated developmental works such as desilting and deepening of tanks, digging of borewells, renovation of school buildings and running of early learning centes for children in as many as 32 villages in the mandal, predominantly inhabited by tribal and dalit communities.
The team members, Rachel Bonneta, Peter Karl, Belinda Bennett, Boner Bel and Lipi Jobson, visited Vepanapalle village and interacted with the residents, getting their feedback on drinking water facility. The team also interacted with children at the early learning centres at Paleru, Eguva Bandarlapalle and Veluthula Chenu hamlets. They also visited the ST colony at Eguva Bandarlapalle, where the huts were gutted in a fire mishap a few months ago.
The ROPES chairman, K. Dhanasekharan said that the desilting and deepening of tanks in the mandal led to recharge of groundwater levels and helped cultivation in about one thousand acres, besides nourishing livestock. He said that as part of the child-centered community development, special focus was laid on children at the learning centres by giving them orientation in English, maths and science.
Team member Lipi Jobson said that in order to strengthen the sports abilities among children, sports material was distributed to high school students, besides assisting their academic career. He said that their campaign would also support the open defecation free project in rural areas.
