Intermittently, in the front of a house or a narrow bylane are photos of fishermen in the neighbourhood who died in the sea in the weeks that went by, when their boats capsized in unpredictable weather or tidal waves. We are in Vettucaud, a coastal area in Thiruvananthapuram most known for the Madre de deus Church, where such accidents are unfortunately common. Inside an apartment complex in Vettucaud, Shobha Thomas sits on a cot in her living room and points to a garlanded photo of her husband. He passed away a month ago, while fishing in the sea. It is November 2, a Saturday, when families in the coastal area observe remembrance of their lost kin.

In another corner of the room, Shobha’s children stand, the younger one - a boy of class VII – sporting an Argentinian jersey but denying that he is a fan of Lionel Messi. His sister is nearby, and their grandmother is on the floor, sitting by Shobha. One after another, they answer the questions of two social workers who are visiting the homes of Class VII students of a school in the neighbourhood to better understand the lives of children in coastal areas and fishing communities– what do the parents do for a living, how many people live in the house, they begin to ask, before going onto more sensitive questions like financial issues, mental health problems, or suicides in the family. Sneha and Advaid, the social workers from Kanal, take down the details. This is part of a project called Changathi – a bio-psycho-social intervention program, conceptualised by the nonprofit organisation Kanal.

The houses, like Shobha’s that TNM visited along with Changathi’s workers, are on narrow stretches, just wide enough to let a motorbike go through. The families mostly fall in the Below Poverty Line belt. Some of them live in apartment buildings built by the government to rehabilitate those whose homes were destroyed by sea erosion and other natural calamities including Ockhi (cyclone) and Tsunami.

“It is a year-long program, focussed on Class VII students, to prepare them for adolescence and all the bodily and mental changes they would face. Children living in coastal areas, with one or both of their parents working as fisherfolk, may go through several issues, including nutrition deficiency, and academic or behavioural issues. Our project aims to bring interventions through continual training of the students, teachers as well as parents,” says Anson Alexander, founder of Kanal.

The idea of focussing on Class VII students is so that every year, for the next four to five years, if they train new batches of students, there would be high school graduates who would have all benefited from the interventions. A precedent would be set.

This is the second year of the project, funded as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity of the company Infoblox, with the support of the General Education Department of Kerala. In the first year, the project was limited to one girls' school in the coastal area and for the students of Class VII. In the second year, encouraged by positive results, the project has included one more aided school – a coed one – nearby. 

“We could bring improvements, by making assessments and introducing interventions based on it. Regular counselling of students and parent management training are given. We also hold workshops – like on theatre or pottery – to address behavioural issues in children, the way it can act as a calming therapy,” Anson adds. 

Last year's study of the Changathi project showed that irregular food consumption is very common, with around 18% of the children skipping at least one meal a day. About 75% of the children had vitamin deficiencies, 73% were anaemic and 61% had insomnia. This year, after including one more school in the project, another study revealed that 50% of the girls and 38% of the boys were anaemic, while 75% of the children were skipping at least one meal. 

Sneha, one of the social workers that TNM accompanied for the house visits, speaks about other problems like the substance abuse that is prevalent in the area, even among children as young as 12 years old. “During my last visit, one of the boys pointed to a spot and casually told me that that is where they smoke their vapes. It did not occur to him that it was not something he should divulge,” she says. 

Substance, learning difficulties, nutrition

Anson explains the Say No campaign that they have begun to control the use of drugs among kids. “But it is not enough that we tell the kids not to use, that need not be effective. What we are trying to do is break the chain of drug supply. Where do these kids get it from – mostly from older boys in the neighbourhood, and where do they get it from? We try to identify this link and cut it. Sometimes it comes in really small sachets called Kool, filled with pan masala,” Anson says, adding that they work in tandem with the school and government authorities.

During the Changathi sessions at school, they identified other issues. There are children with learning difficulties, for whom they organise separate classes to help catch up. “Sometimes it can be as bad as a class VII student not being able to follow even a class III syllabus. In the state system, everyone passes till they reach class 9, so these children should be given special attention,” says Sneha, who is also the coordinator for the Changathi project.

In one of the houses, she speaks to a 12-year-old girl who was in such a special class. Her guardian Nisha Babu says that she had adopted the girl and her brother when they were little because her mother had mental health issues and their father abandoned them. There were suicides too in the family. For kids with mental health issues, Anson and his team facilitate counselling, in addition to workshops.

Another problem is the use of alcohol among parents. Annie, a cleaning staff and mother of three children says that half their money goes to buying alcohol for her husband, who works as a sales executive. “He is perfect in every other way, cares for the children and looks after them when I go to work. But for two days of the weekend, he is fully drunk. I was forced to take this job which includes night shifts just so that we can make ends meet,” she says.

Among their interventions, Kanal also introduced a Water Bell campaign where a bell would ring and students would drink from their water bottles. “We also tell parents about low-cost diets including micro greens that could help the children’s nutrition,” Anson says.