[Sigiii-l] Pondicherry India ASIST member needs help

[Sue Johnson]

Dear ASIST members,

I just received a message from Subbiah (Arun) Arunachalam, an information 
scientist, ASIST member: past SIG III InfoShare winner and  a past winner of 
the SIG III International Paper Contest. Arun lives and works in Pondicherry 
in southern India, which was hit by the tsunami. His group, MS Swaminathan 
Research Foundation, needs your help. They are doing important work setting 
up successful knowledge centers with community kiosks, and their model is 
slowly spreading throughout India. Local people are trained and people can 
now get their birth certificates and other legal papers, find out the price 
for crops, the weather, public transportation schedules, local health 
information, etc.

The web site is: www.AIFoundation.org, mention the donation is for MSSRF. 
Thanks.



Here are his words:

"By God's grace I am not affected by the tsunami, but the communities we
work with are badly hurt. We are mounting a major relief and
rehabilitation program and we welcome dollars. Please channelise your and
your friends' tax deductible contributions through American India Foundation 
 Please
mention that it is meant for M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. I am 
indeed proud of my MSSRF colleagues. One of them, Mr Palaniappan was the 
ONLY HAM radio
operating in nagapattinam and Velankanni, two of the worst affected areas.
Despite being an asthma patient, constantly inhaling his medication, he
removed dead bodies and helped in burying them. My colleague Senthil was
away in a far off town when the tsunami hit, but he rushed back and went
to all the coastal villages we work in as well as other towns affected by
the tsunami, discussed with local communities long-term and substantial
relief and rehabilitation measures. History may not recognise them, but
who cares. There are many others like them who rose to the occasion.
Another colleague, Prof. Nagarajan of Gandhigram, has decided to adopt many 
children and provide them education up to class 12 (higher secondary 
school)."