TUCAI visits Vicente Ferrer Foundation in India

The TUCAI company celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2013.
To do so, they chose to support a humanitarian project in India, in collaboration with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, as a way of paying tribute to the element that has given them so much success since 1963 – water. A reservoir with a capacity of 53,000 m3 has completely changed life in Dalits, in the Anantapur region in the south-eastern part of the country.
Meanwhile, employees at the Ningbo Tucai plant in China, TUCAI's Bulgaria plant in Silistra and the Bárbera del Vallès plant (near Barcelona) chose to take part in a second project to facilitate access to education for disabled children in the Andra Pradesh region.
Ester Grau, daughter of one of the Company's founders, travelled to India last December to represent the company, along with a group of employees from all three Group factories.

Ester give us her testimony and her experience of what she saw there:

"You have an idea about India, from people who have been there, people who have talked to you about it, things you have read, and Anantapur is definitely not a tourist destination. Anantapur is in Southern India. It is one of the cities in the State of Andra Pradesh that is the poorest in all of India. This is all the more reason why we did not experience extreme situations, like seeing death on the street, that people talk about who have visited Bombay or been to Delhi. There is a lot of poverty. But what is really tangible is the work the Vicente Ferrer Foundation has done in that city and the surrounding area."

"It is an experience that, if at all possible, everyone should be entitled to have."

"In four days, you arrive at the Foundation and when you leave, you have the sensation that you've completed an intensive master's degree in love and charity, the highest level of a master's degree that you could ever receive."

Click here to view the pictures of that experience

TU APOYO ES LA LLAVE QUE PUEDE CAMBIARLO TODO
Y ABRIR UNA PUERTA A LA ESPERANZA 

En la India, 400 millones de personas viven bajo el umbral de la pobreza y 55 millones de niños y niñas menores de 5 años sufren desnutrición. 

Desde la Fundación Vicente Ferrer continuamos luchando para cambiar esta realidad y por ello lanzamos nuestra campaña: 

“Somos la llave que puede cambiarlo todo” 

con la colaboración de Imanol Arias 

Vicente Ferrer - La película

Vicente Ferrer - La película

• Vicente Ferrer - La película

Bulding Self-Reliance

The project supported by Tucai on the occasion of its 50th anniversary for the construction of a 53,000 m3 reservoir in the Anantapur - is now close to completion. 

Properly designed and well-constructed, the reservoir plays a great role.  The first step is to pour a strong foundation and then start the construction of the reservoir itself.  Its function is to store river waters available during wet periods and then use it during lean periods as water is not always uniform along the year. Reservoirs can also be effectively used to control floods as they regulate the river water flows downstream the reservoir.

The Town of  Pacharumekalapalli which is scarce in water and prone to drought as the rest of Anantapur region will soon face the challenge of managing the available water resources.

But the main focus is to empower people to build self-reliance and achieve permanent solutions to fight drought.

To ensure the sustainability of improvements, training is given to the community members and families to manage the water infrastructure and build a better life for future generations.

Hopefully this helps mitigage the miseries of the population of Andra Pradesh and above all fulfill basic needs like the access to drinking water and irrigation.

Thank you!  

Your support financing the Access to Education 
for Children Project has been invaluable 

The collected funds will finance one of the ”Access to Education for Children with Disabilities” Projects and ensure equality and opportunities for all.  

Persons with disabilities represent the poorest of the poor especially in rural areas. Because of their disability, they are isolated and discriminated in the family and community in terms of property, education, health, income and all other socio-economic rights.

Generally rehabilitation services are mostly confined to cities and major towns while such services are not available to people in rural areas and small towns. Even a majority of parents in cities and major towns are unable to access rehabilitation services due to lack of awareness, poor financial conditions and attitudes of parents/family members towards their disabled children.

Vincent Ferrer (1920-2009) and  Anne Ferrer founded Rural Development Trust popularly called RDT in 1969 with Ananthapuram  in Rayalaseema Region of Andhra Pradesh as its Central Headquarters.  RDT has been working with people with disabilities since 1987.

RDT has been carrying out various need-based welfare and integrated programs of development to improve quality of life of rural poor especially marginalized and underprivileged sections namely persons with disability (PWDs).

The programme interventions of the organization cover major sectors such as Education.  RDT believes that sports and cultural events are very much necessary for the growth, self esteem and confidence of rural children and has been undertaking suitable program activities to bring out hidden talents of rural children in Sports/Games and cultural aspects.

It has 1920 full time staff comprised of senior and middle level managerial staff, professional/ technical cadre, grass root and support level who are experienced and trained in their respective fields of work.  There are also 3037 volunteers such as community health workers and Community Based Teachers who are trained by the organization at the village level.

The Project financed  with the funds given by Tucai employees around the world now ensures access to quality education by providing classrooms that are adapted to their needs, a place to live during the school year and quality training by qualified educational and support staff.

55 girls with disability are pursuing their special education and rehabilitation training at Kanekal residential centre both primary and secondary level run by RDT .

Securing education for these children will create opportunities in the future and break the cycle of poverty in the community.

Open Day in Tucai

On 16^th June, families and friends visited the Barberá-del Vallés plant to mark its 50^th Anniversary  with visitors given the chance to look around Flexible Connector assembly lines, the R&D lab and offices.

Lancy Dodem, the first child sponsored by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, attended the Event; he explained the work of the team of more than 2.200 people involved in the development of the program in India.  He gave news about the project sponsored by Tucai for the construction of a reservoir in the Anantapur region and the parallel project sponsored by Tucai Group employees to give access to education for children with disabilities.

Click here to view the Open Day photo album.

The excursion to Montserrat

The excursion to Montserrat was organized in the frame of  TUCAI 50th Anniversary.  

Montserrat lies 45 km northwest of Barcelona and it is a 1,200 meters high mountain where you can view far into the landscape of Catalonia.  iTis the mythic holy mountain of Catalonia. The famous Monastery of Montserrat is the center of the Catalan faith.   Pilgrims retreat there for "La Moreneta", the Black Madonna.

And this is one of the reason why this destination was chosen. 

The first idea was to gather all members of the Tucai community based in Barbera del Vallès and have a one-day excursion to share altogether a nice experience and wonderful day. 

The second one was to pay tribute to the Moreneta and thank for the 50 years of our Organization´s success and pray for our colleagues, family members and friends that could not join.

The two buses left Tucai factory early in the morning.  The day was bright, the sun was shining and temperature was good.

Arriving at Monistrol, , halfway up, hidden from view, stands the monastery.  Both the mountains and the monastery are an integrated whole.  You are stunned by one of the most impressive natural attractions in Spain.

The bravest participants decided to hike up to the meeting point – the main square of Santa María.  It is about a one hour and half hike up to the Basilica,  a very nice path and all enjoyed the views.

You cannot get over how they actually built this special place, Montserrat (The Serrated Mountains) -built on a 4,000-foot cliff but when you arrive the Basilica, you understand the new meaning to this place being considered Catalonia’s holiest place.  The monastery is a center of pilgrimage and devotion.

After a nice picnic in which sandwiches, pine-nut and chocolate cocas were  an obvious excellent choice to recover our strength, and before leaving Montserrat, Lorenzo paid homage to the statue of the Virgin Mary lighting up a few  candles to say THANK YOU.

Click here to view the excursion album

What can you do to help?

Improving the life of many people is in your hands.

Your support is essential. Join this transformation process led by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation. Help collaborate and take part in change. Tucai will collaborate with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation through two types of agreements.

Firstly, the company is making a voluntary donation for the construction of a 53,000m3 reservoir in the B.K. Samudram region.

The construction project for the Pacharumekalapalli reservoir is at the centre of our 50th Anniversary celebration. The initiative is intended to support a water-related humanitarian project and to help a population in dire need of assistance. It's keeping with Vicente Ferrer's philosophy of equipping all peoples with their own resources to develop and live free, independent and prosperous lives.

Secondly, Tucai will collaborate by acting as an intermediary between the Foundation and donors from among its employees, clients and suppliers to carry out an additional project.

We hope that the money collected will allow the Vicente Ferrer Foundation to finance one of the projects described below. If together we reach our goal, we will keep you informed on the progress of this project on Tucai's corporate website: www.tucai.com

BUILDING OF GENERAL HOUSING
The plan is to build housing developments for especially needy families. These families, with an average of five members each, are forced to live in adobe huts, unsuitable for the high temperatures in the region and easily destroyed by monsoon rains.

GENERAL HOUSING
1 home: from €1,775
2 homes: from €3,550
6 homes: from €10,650
10 homes: from €17,750



BUILDING OF ADAPTED HOUSING
The aim of this project is to build housing adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities who belong to the Dalit group and the most disadvantaged castes.

ADAPTED HOUSING
1 home: 1.975€
6 homes: 11.850€
10 homes: 19.750€



 
ACCESS TO EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
This project aims to ensure that children with disabilities in the Anantapur district have access to quality education by providing classrooms that are adapted to their needs, a place to live during the school year and quality training by qualified educational and support staff.

ACCESS TO EDUCATION
4 pupils: from €2,200
8 pupils: from €4,400
12 pupils: from €6,600


 
TRAINING OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS
This consists of training health care workers and equipping them with first aid kits, basic medication and instruments to attend to basic health needs in rural communities. This rural health network is intended to ensure access to health care for all people living in the district.

HEALTH CAREWORKERS
20 workers from €2,200
50 workers from €5,500
100 workers 11.000€




BUILDING SCHOOLS
The main objective of building schools is to provide access to education, which is understood as the cornerstone of community development.


BUILDING SCHOOLS
1 school: from €9,888

Tucai gets involved

TUCAI makes a commitment to a water-related humanitarian project: the construction of a Reservoir with a capacity of 53,000m3 in the town of Pacharumekalapalli, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, to fight against desertification. At the same time, the plan is to sensitise others, causing them to reflect on the consequences of poor water infrastructures and to foster the spirit of cooperation amongst employees, clients and suppliers to build a future for these populations.

The Vicente Ferrer Foundation (VFF) is a development NGO committed to the process of transforming one of the poorest and neediest regions in India. It was created in India in 1969 with the aim of finding solutions to the serious problems faced by the rural community of Anantapur.

A team of more than 2,400 people (of whom 99% are natives of Anantapur) are implementing the development programme the organisation is carrying out - the most innovative in the history of India - to meet the needs of 3,110 towns, benefiting nearly three million people. Until recently in the district of Anantapur, the infrastructures for water storage were deficient and a large percentage of the water was wasted. Women in rural India were forced to make as many as six trips a day, carrying up to 15 kg of clean water on their heads for their homes. From a very young age, their dependence on water prevented them from accessing education and posed serious health risks.

Today, the construction of reservoirs makes it possible to store water during the rainy season, during which time torrential monsoon rains fall and filter into the subsoil without ever evaporating. Crops improve, as they receive more underground water. This filtered water, which is exposed to less pollution, ends up in the aquifers and nearby wells that the farmers rely on for personal use.

Lorenzo Piera, Managing Director of the Tucai Group:

In these times of crisis, celebrating an anniversary with commemorative events and parties does not live up to the values established by the founders of this company, Misters Grau, Arnó and Tuá.
The success of our group stems from one of our core principles: the value of responsibility. It has always guided our decisions. That's why, on our 50th anniversary, we have decided to invest in helping others.

Construction of a dam in the B.K. SAMUDRAM region, near TADIPATRI in the state of ANDHRA PRADESH:
• Objective: Availability of water resources
• Reservoir capacity: 53,000 m3
• Location: Town of Pacharumekalapalli
• Local stream: Pedda Vanka
• Irrigation of 167 acres (67 ha)
• Population benefited:
- 20 families of farmers
- 174 families in town (indirectly)