Projects

Shelter to children and youngsters in India

The Isai Ma(i)yam trust is a small Indian private development organization (NGO) which started in 2003 supported by Dutch Trust Stichting Isai Ma(i)yam in the Netherlands.

Dance and music activities for pour girls and young women

We give shelter to (orphaned) children and youngsters in the Southeastern Indian city of Pondicherry and help them to get a opportunistic future. The children lived with us permanently in a safe, caring and loving environment until 2020 the corona time started. After we closed our boys and girls home. At the moment from 2020-2025 we are using this buildings for dance and music activities for pour girls and young women from dalit (outcast) families.
Additionally we supply day care for physically and mentally disabled children and young adults five days a week.

The name Isai Ma(i)yam means ‘centre of music’ in the Tamil language. This name shows that music is an important means to reach our goals. We teach music, singing and dancing to all of our children as well as to the village children from the surrounding villages.

The Isai Ma(i)yam Trust wants to drastically improve the living conditions of these children and youngsters. Before they came to us, they lived in endless poverty.
Often they weren’t educated, had been forced to work, had insufficient food to eat and were sometimes roaming the streets. Often one or both parents is missing and their situation at home is unsafe because of abuse (alcohol or drug abuse) or other problems. Some children cope with severe trauma, like the loss of the mother who set herself on fire. A few saw this act of desperation happen before their own eyes.

We don’t leave these children to their own fate. Therefore, we create healthy and vital living surroundings in which they ‘heal’ each other and learn to take responsibility for themselves and others. In this way they can eventually support and look after themselves. We hope that with the knowledge and skills they learned, they can be of support for their close family members, neighbors, and others.

At present (2025) we are having handicap school and also Art school and Village support for girls and young women. Our boys and girls home had to closed in 2020 because of corona.

Boys and Girls Home ( from 2003-2020)

We were having a boys and girls home until 2020. In corona time we had to closed from government. After corona time we didn’t start again as lot of our boys and girls were grown up to go collage. So we support them now financially for their higher studies.

The boys home building we are using now also for handicap school and the girls home building we are using for dance and music classes for pour kids from surrounding villages.

Gayatri Art school (from 2009-present)

Isai Ma(i)yam means ‘Centre of music’. Through music, singing, dancing, and (illustrative) art we help our girls regain fun in their lives and increase their self-esteem and self-confidence. Being busy in a creative way helps the children to express themselves in a better way and stimulates unity.

Music and dance are a fine way of getting positive energy and forget problems or bad memories for a while.
For this reason children go to the village Raya Pettai, near Auroville, every weekend and during holidays. Here we also teach music, singing and dancing on a weekly basis to girls and young women from the villages in the vicinity.

The children play Carnatic (traditional Indian music) on instruments applied for this style. Many of our girls learn Barata Natyam, a traditional dance in India, following English conversation lessons and computer classes.

We also have Isai Ma(i)yam Music Band. All musicians are youngsters from our community of villages in the vicinity. They receive our financial support for getting a music or dance education. The band often plays at (wedding) ceremonies and parties, together with our dancers. With this they earn their own income.

Art school have in weekends around 85 children from surrounding villages.

Ananda Special Day Care Centre (handicap school from 2005-present)

Five times a week a group of 48 mentally and/or physically disabled children and young adults come to Isai Ma(i)yam. In Pondicherry we have modified a former clinic into a day care: Ananda Day Care.

Two young adults who grew up in our children’s home and completed the music education, are the daily supervisors and take care of the daily program with music and creative workshops. They are supported by Indian social security women and part time workers who have the required experience.

The handicapped children do physiotherapeutic exercises, yoga, dance, sports, gardening, educational games, reading and writing exercises, drawing/painting.

Further doing handmade like embroidering work, tailoring bags and flags, mat making, soap making. Then sign language, music like keyboard and guitar, percussion if possible, and they get a warm meal.

The children are being picked up in the morning and brought back home in the afternoon by our bus, that has been especially modified
to be able to transport these children.

The activities taking place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in Pondicherry and on Wednesday in Raya Pettai in Art school for doing sports and gardening. In 2019 we got certificate for being the
best handicap care institution.

Government of Puducherry Directorate of social welfare Certificate for being the BEST INSTITUTION FOR THE BEST WORK DONE FOR THE CAUSE OF DIFFERENT ABLED.

Village support (from 2003-present)

We are supporting (financial) higher studies for mainly young women from surrounding villages of Isai Maiyam Trust

*We had to close our girls and boys home in 2020 because of corona government order. But we are still running Art school and handicap school and doing village support at the moment (2025). Our boys and girls from that time we are following up and give them financial support for their studies.