‘sos SCAD-DORPEN India’ is a Belgian non-profit organization supporting SCAD. We help to finance their projects, aiming at empowering villages, lifting their inhabitants out of poverty.
Our organization started in the eighties after a visit from Irene Vanderjeugt to Dr. Cletus. She was most impressed by the way he and Dr. Amali were committed to their fellow countrymen. There was – and still is – a lot of poverty in Tamil Nadu and living conditions were harsh.Irene witnessed how entire families in the saltpan villages worked in very unhealthy circumstances, without any opportunity of sending their children to school. Even very young children were filling bags of salt to gain a living. Back in Belgium Irene and some of her friends started, in 1998, a non-profit organisation: ‘SOS Zoutmijnkinderen-India’. Meanwhile our NPO exists for over 25 years. We are proud to know that we could contribute to the fact that over 18.000 children of saltpan workers could attend school or enjoy an education nowadays.
Kiki Pauwels en Kiane Van Lindt, two sisters from Antwerp, met dr. Cletus in 1993. They too were convinced of the great value of the projects SCAD was realizing.
In 2008 they formed a ‘chain of solidarity’ between Belgian women and women in Tamil Nadu: SCAD Belgium’s Women to Women. They specifically aimed at financing the projects supporting women by organizing self-help groups, income generation and housing. A few years later they met members of SOS-Zoutmijnkinderen India and the two groups decided to cooperate.
In various ways we promote SCAD and as a result we can count on a large group of loyal donators. On a regular basis we organise fund raising activities. Together with SCAD we propose projects that are predominantly subsidised by our province but also by some of our cities and municipalities or other organisations. We keep all the funders informed by our newsletters and online channels.
Over the years SCAD evolved: the emphasis now is on empowering communities to rely on their own sustainable solutions with a strong focus on ecology. Over 260 villages are self-supportive thanks to SCAD. Other villages are still waiting.
That is why, after 25 years, we relaunched our NPO with a new name: ‘sos SCAD-DORPEN India’. We created a new logo and are happy to welcome a few new members in our board and general assembly.
Meanwhile we can look back with some pride on the financial support we were able to realize until now, thanks to the commitment of the members who started this NPO and continued the work on a daily basis. They will keep supporting us in the future.
Together with SCAD NIRMAN we help to realize 12 of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. We stand behind the vision of SCAD, we want to help them to make society a better place where all people are treated with dignity and respect, affording everybody equal opportunities, rights and recognition.
Follow us : https://www.scad-dorpen.be
Marijke Ven
