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July 08, 2008

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 ABOUT THE OfERR.......

The Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR) was founded in 1984 with the main objective of assisting and rendering relief to Tamil refugees from Ceylon who had taken refugee in India. There are presently more than a hundred thousand such refugees in the State of Tamil Nadu and 78,500 of them are sheltered in the 119 Refugee camps run by the government spread throughout the state. New arrivals since 2006 numbering more than 19,080 have been accommodated in existing camps as well as new camps set up for the purpose.

OfERR is a non-profit making, non-political, service oriented organisation. The Committee of Management of the OfERR consists of Indian and Ceylonese professionals, educationists and social workers. 

The Organisation was duly registered on 21.05.1984 under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act No.27 of 1975. The registration number is 113 of 1984. The Organisation has been afforded charitable status under Sec. 12(A) of the Income Tax Act. OfERR is also registered with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, to receive foreign contributions under 6(1)(a) of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 1976. The organisation has been permitted to clear donations received in kind for distribution among the refugees from abroad free of customs duty. Relief articles thus received and distributed to refugees by the OfERR are handed over to refugees in the presence of a representative of the District Collector who issues a certificate confirming the distribution.

On going Interventions:

To advocate for the continued favourable political and social climate in India for Ceylon Tamil Refugees.

• Advocacy for protection and care of refugees, for an early resolution of the ethnic conflict and to facilitate meaningful return.
• Activities, efforts on conflict resolution.
• Facilitating refugees to take informed decision on return.
• Update and improve the existing database on refugees

To build awareness, motivate refugees and prepare them for return

• Awareness building, organizing refugees in preparation for return
• Community Organizing, Self Help Groups and Saving  Groups formation   
• Women's empowerment
• Counseling activity             

To supplement government assistance of providing basic facilities to the refugees in the camps and improve their quality of life

• Supplementing Government assistance and improving the basic facilities in the camps
• Improving the quality of life of refugees in the camps

To prevent diseases and improve the health status of Ceylon Tamil refugees in India.

• Sustaining and improving physical health of the   refugees- Medical programme.
• Health Worker Programme.
• Assistance to hospitalized patients

Improve the nutritional status of refugees living in 102 refugee camps.

• Providing supplementary nutrition food and vitamins for pregnant women, lactating mothers, children from four months to 18 years old and sick and invalids
• Promoting home gardening and poultry rearing

3. Providing nutrition education

To provide education, skills training and to facilitate income generation activities among   refugees.

• Education Programme                                                                       
• Skills Training to refugees.

4. Income Generation Programmme.

To create awareness among the Tamil refugees in the camps on Landmines and Unexploded ordinances  and to empower them to assist in the clearance when they     return to Ceylon

• Preparation of resource material in Tamil for Trainers to build awareness among the refugees

To provide the refugees with knowledge of the current situation in Ceylon and peace education to facilitate peaceful co-existence with all sections of the people in the Island when they ultimately return.

• Facilitating 'know more about your homeland' get together in camps
• Peace education for the refugees in the camps in Tamil Nadu

To provide skills to refugees taking into account the needs and opportunities in the Island

• Providing training for 30 refugees in "Spirulina" cultivation/ production
• Training in poultry rearing
• Training in Home Gardening skills
• Training in use of renewable energy and protection of environment
• Training in traditional medicine skills

a. To enhance the capacity of OfERR volunteers and refugee leaders to be able to work under a different environment when they return.

• Training OfERR volunteers and refugee leaders in Human Rights, Democracy, Gender and Community Organizing.
• Counseling Training
• Communication and Leadership training
• Health workers training
• Computer skills for social workers and graduates
• Training Nursery Teachers
• The Committee of Management of the OfERR meets once a month. At the monthly meeting, the working of the Organisation during the month is reviewed, policy decisions are taken and guide-lines are given for the formulation and implementation of programmes and for the handling of problems faced by refugees. Minutes of the meetings are duly recorded and approved by the Committee.

The OfERR receives financial assistance from Non Governmental Organisations, other Charitable Institutions, and Expatriate Eelam Tamils. OfERR also received assistance from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Refugees Fund. All such contributions are duly receipted and deposited in State Banks. Foreign funds are received and deposited to an account maintained exclusively for this purpose.

Accounting records of the society are maintained on a daily basis and the accounts are subject to annual audit by a Chartered Accountant. The financial year of the Society is from 1st April to 31st March. All accounts of the Society have been audited up to the end of the financial year 2005/2006.

The accounts and other records of the OfERR are also subject to inspection by representatives of the Registrar of Societies, Tamil Nadu and the Union Home Ministry. At the last inspection the Registrar reported that the functioning of the Society was satisfactory.

The Organisation makes representations to the State and Central Governments on various matters concerning the refugees. Many of the suggestions made by OfERR on refugee related issues to the State and Central Governments have been accepted during the past years and duly acted upon.

 OfERR’s concern for Tsunami Victims in Tamil Nadu

Aim :

To bring normalcy to the lives of 70,448 people from 40 coastal villages in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Kanniyakumary Districts, using a holistic approach for the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction with the participation of the community. 

The Tsunami caused a colossal loss to life and property to the inhabitants of Nagapattinam, Kanniyakumary and Cuddalore Districts. The Tsunami devastated the coastal communities, majority of them were fisher folks, killing thousands of people, destroying houses, boats, fishing gear, agricultural lands and salt pans and wiping out millions of their livelihood. It is estimated that a total of 890895 persons have been affected in these three Districts.

The process of immediate rescue and relief went on for some days until the government made a public appeal on 3^rd January 2005, through News papers and other Medias, for counselors. It was then that OfERR realized that the proper moment had come for the organization and the refugees to demonstrate their gratitude to the people and the government of India and Tamil Nadu by fully engaging in the process of counselling to get the victims out of the shock and trauma caused by the Tsunami, which had mentally paralysed the affected in the three districts. These are the people who once welcomed the refugees, gave us space and shared their resources with us, when we took refuge in India being affected by the ethnic conflict.

Rising to the occasion OfERR immediately called on the Tamil Nadu Revenue Minister and produced the psychosocial training records and offered to help. The Minister and all those with him were so overwhelmed that they requested OfERR to proceed to the worst affected districts of Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, and Kanniyakumary and to report to the respective District Collectors after speaking to them over the phone. The Collectors then referred our volunteers to the concerned officers and our volunteers were immediately assigned the task of visiting many difficult areas where others were reluctant to go.

On going interventions

To bring back the self-esteem and sustain and improving of the affected families.

• Providing Psycho Social support through first aid and medial help, educational support, Women’s activities etc.
• Home visits by Counsellors, Health Workers and Village Coordinators.
• Co-ordination with the Government, local NGOs and INGOs to co-ordinate relief and rehabilitation work and also to avail the services of the government, getting their guidance and necessary permissions.
• Use of counselling techniques to bring normalcy in the lives the affected people.  
• Distribution of play items to Nursery schools in all 40 villages. Motivation of youths to engage in sports activities in order to avoid defiant behaviors due to worries and depression.  
• Training of volunteers as emergency workers on first aid, health, disaster management, individual and group counseling.
• Through counseling, make the fishermen to get back to their fishing, reactivate the women’s group, and encourage widows to find their own livelihood activities and also people to find alternate livelihood programmes.
• Supplementary nutrition programme to be implemented for children, elders and sick, lactating mothers and pregnant ladies.
• Low cost awareness sessions in all these villages.

In reconstruction and development psycho-social issues and nutritional care are one of basic needs.  During the rehabilitation phase, continue this phase, expand some services like promoting awareness in HIV/AIDS, family planning and providing special care for elders. Inadequate care of children low birth rare, IMR high and morbidity of diseases, sex workers and sex violence, young marriages, unmarrital activities are some of the issues in the affected areas. The root causes of these problems are illiteracy, family economy and mental stress caused by the Tsunami.

To sustain and improve the physical and environmental health status of the affected families

• Health work is a popular activity in the villages
• Provide medicines or medical help to the people in the villages, apart from first aid health care
• Conduct health camps and visits by Doctors
• Improving the sanitation and environmental cleanliness in the 40 villages to prevent the outbreak of epidemics
• Utilize the human resources from village groups, SHG’S, students, youths, sports groups etc for Shramadhana works.

Advocacy and Lobbying with Govt. officials to get back their lost documents and assistance.

• Collections of data on deaths, loss of documents, needs etc.

Empowering the women to come together by motivating and providing them the required skills

• Þ    Formation of Self Help Groups in the villages based on the need of the people.
• Þ    Motivated the SHG’s to sustain and have regular meetings.
• Þ    Celebration of the International Women’s day.
• Þ    Formation of new Self Help and young girls groups in the villages.
• Þ    Provide training in Women Empowerment and home gardening activities.

To encourage and motivate the tsunami affected student community in school education, especially dropouts to get back to school.

• Meeting school principals and teachers regularly to motivate them to encourage the students to continue their education
• Holding parent- teachers meetings where there are school dropouts, visit their homes and encourage them to resume their schooling.
• Motivating students to form students association while strengthening the existing ones.
• Conducting competitions and cultural programmes
• Construction of community centers to be used for community meetings, conducting of coaching classes for nutrition distribution and training programme.
• Conducting nursery classes, children’s care centres and Coaching classes       

To rekindle the interests among the youths to enable them to prepare themselves to start a new life by providing vocational training to them.

• Capacity building is an essential part in any kind of rehabilitation work.
• Conducting training programmes for the youth in the affected villages and Leadership and communication to the young girls.
• Providing training in Para counselling
• Providing training in computer and tailoring to the youth and women in the villages

Improving the living conditions of the Tsunami affected people living in temporary shelters

• Providing better housing and sanitation facilities
• Construction of toilets, water tanks, kitchen extensions, painting of walls, partition of room for privacy, repairs to doors, roof cover, smokeless chula, Tar sheets, fans, fire buckets, solar street lights, plinth raising and cutting of drainage.
• Undertake complete survey of needs assessment for up gradation of temporary shelters in the Tsunami hit districts.
• Meeting with District Collectors to obtain orders for the improvement of temporary shelters.

Training Programmes

• Providing training to construction supervisors.
• Providing training in water and sanitation to gain expertise to design and install water and sanitation facilities in Temporary Shelters.
• Provide training in health promotion, women empowerment, water analysis and preserving of drinking water

Awareness Programmes

• Obtaining hygiene water
• Construction of waste water drains
• Purifying water
• Importance of the usage of toilets
• Construction of soak pits
• Usage of smokeless chula

                          Treasurer

                                 OfERR

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