K . O . G . S . is based in the village of Keel Ottivakkam, about 70 kms from Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu. Keel Ottivakkam Grama Sangam (KOGS) was started in 1979 by a collaboration of people from both the Netherlands and India. The team consisted of Dr. Jeevanandam from Keel Ottivakkam, a small team from the village, Mr. Jaap de Schapper, Mr. Lex Veldhoen, Mr. Gerrit van Roekel, and Mrs. Joke van Roekel. They formed a trust, entitling it ‘Stitching Indi-ja’. The objective was to create self-generating projects, the profit from which would serve as a backup for all future projects.

Mr. Jeeva, the president of th+e organization, while completing research for his Ph.D. in public administration, found that there are numerous handicapped, blind, and physically disabled children who are not cared for or supported by their parents/guardian, and the amount of government help that actually reached the people was very meager. This led him to the idea of creating a home for these children, the result of which is the current hostel. Field workers were later trained, who identified 1600 disabled persons in the Walajabad block (110 villages) who were not receiving any kind of assistance.

The Grama Sangam established a medical clinic poor landless harijan people of Keel Ottivakkam and surrounding villages. It later created a rather unique workshop which makes callipers and walking aids. The equipment, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation is offered to the hostel children and patients throughout the area.

Our target areas consist of more than .5 million people. We try our best to help the disabled for physical therapy exercises, appliances, wheel chairs, tri cycles, crutches, splints, hearing aids and so on. We come across three thousand and five hundred disabled people in our target area. We also work for the empowerment of rural poor women, and Dalits. We help for the economic rehabilitation of adult disabled people. We arrange education for the children with disability. We invite poor disabled children to utilize our integrated education hostel.

At present there are forty-four staff work in our organization. We have requested the minimum wages to our workers and also essential cost estimate of medicines, appliances, foodstuffs, clothes, and materials.

• Start of the organization in 1979 with the goal of educating locals, providing health care, and employment for landless laborers
• Medical clinic for villagers
• Mulberry farm to feed silk worms, sell silk to local weavers: failed (bad climate)
• Poultry farm- sell meat and eggs. Lasted from '82 to ‘90
• Sponsor Pongal festival, organized competitions, prizes, and music. Stopped in 2003 due to sabotage of the stage
• Started hand-pounding rice unit, sent women to a similar neighboring unit for training then employed them at KOGS unit- no longer functioning
• Health awareness and non-formal education classes from '84 to ‘86
• Milk Production Center- program for women, sold milk to villagers and to government. Lasted from '87 to 2000
• Hostel for disabled children created '89 with 10 children
• Inception of IED program, ‘89
• CBR program started in ‘91
• Mr. Jayraman Trained for rehabilitation of multiple disability persons in ‘92
• Mr. Ravi sent for eye care training in '93, after started medical camps
• Orthopedic workshop created in ‘94
• New Hostel building completed in '95 with capacity of over 100 children
• First two CP/MR daycare centers created (no longer functioning) in ‘96
• Started farm with rice, sugarcane, coconut trees, and a mango grove in ‘96
• Jeevan Vidyalaya, English medium school, lasted from '99 to ‘03
• Began tailoring workshop in '99 with assistance of Mr. Jos
• KOGS started training for NPRPD program in Nov. 2002
• SSA program began in January 2003, now 18 teachers in Kancheepuram dist.
• Daycare Center in Keel Ottivakkam opened in Nov. 2003
• With assistance of a team of Scottish Dentists KOGS sponsors dental camps

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