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 Mukane Adivasi Boarding School Ganeshpuri, India, is a small rural village located in the Thane District of Maharashtra State, about 75 kilometers north of Mumbai. While Mumbai is India’s financial and commercial hub, the area in and around Ganeshpuri is home to some of the poorest of the poor—the Adivasi, India’s tribal groups. Because the needs of these people are so great, relatively small efforts can bring about significant changes. Click on the headings below to learn more about TMA’s efforts to help. A major Adivasi tribe in the Ganeshpuri area is the Katkari. Over 90% of the Katkari families live below the poverty line while 80% are landless and totally dependent on wage labor for their livelihood. Exploitation by brick contractors, harassment by police and negligence by the government have left scant means for the Katkaris to survive and prosper in an unequal world. In 2001 the literacy rate for the entire country of India was 52.2% while the literary rate for the Adivasi tribes was 29.6%. Female literacy among the tribes was a stunningly low 18.2%. Among the Katkaris, most of the children are uneducated. Poverty, lack of a supporting atmosphere, and annual migration to work in brick kilns all contribute to the small number of Katkari children attending schools. TMA has “adopted” a residential school for Katkari children run by the Sai Prasad Adivasi Seva Mandal Vasind. Without this residential school, most of the Adivasi children in the area would have no hope of schooling. On a monthly basis, we provide money to help pay for food for the children of this school. For only $11, one child can be fed for one month. As funding for food increases from other sources, TMA plans to support other projects such as drilling a deep well and buying books and supplies.
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