Zaila: Handmade Soaps

Zaila are handmade organic soaps, made by the women of the Malayali Tribe, in the Jawadhi Hills, as part of the Seb’s Projects India’s Sustainable Livelihoods Program. Using carefully selected ingredients combined with tradition practices and knowledge, these soaps have provided employment and a sustainable income for over twenty families in the village of Thandayankottai.

The Soaps are popular in the Vellore region, particularly amongst the CMC community, where it is sold. To learn more about the soaps and the Zaila project, please click here.

Grant Accepted!

“My name is Nick Ross. I worked on the Sustainable Livelihoods Program for three months in the summer of 2009/10, and returned this year (2011) to work on the HEAL program, conducting research into the relationship between perceptions of the cause of illness, and care-seeking behaviour. My relationship with Seb's Projects has been a central part of my academic career and professional goals.

Working on the SLP in 2009/10 was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life, and left me determined to find a way to address issues of poverty and injustice in my career. As volunteers we were given both the support and freedom to begin designing a program to address the needs of the Thattan Kottai villagers, instead of just the busy-work and photo-opportunities offered by other NGOs to their international volunteers. Returning this year, I was moved to see how much the program had progressed, and the wonderful things Seb's Projects staff had been doing in the meantime.

Designing and conducting the research project for the HEAL program, in collaboration with a team from SPI, was an experience of responsibility and independence most people my age could not hope to experience. I was able to employ the skills I had acquired as part of my undergraduate degree to a problem with real implications for people's quality of life, an experience which has given me renewed enthusiasm to refine my understanding of what once seemed dry academic research techniques. I anticipate these experiences will set me in good stead as I begin my career in community development.”Nick has visited the volunteering projects twice since he first strated his work with Seb’s Projects India, and is fondly remembered by all the lives he touched in his health work. “My time working the Sustainable Livelihoods Project was perhaps the most the rewarding few months of my life. We went hoping to help to alleviate poverty in the tribal villages, and came back having received so much more in the way of love and kindness than we could ever have given.” Inspired by her experience, today Pia works as a campaigner for an environmental charity and Rajakumari, the little girl with her, is at high school studying to be a doctor, thanks to volunteer scholarships.

“Working in the Jawadhi Hills tribal villages, we had a lot of highs and lows! From the tractor breaking down in the muddy forest in the rain whilst trying to move our mattresses in on the first day to the roof of our school hut being eaten by termites, there were so many times we just felt like throwing our hands up in the air! But I’ll never forget going out with the locals to use bow and stones to kill rats for dinner, or the all night comedy show they put on for us at the end of our project.

UPDATE: Illuminae

Seb’s Projects India has started a new table designing project with six of the Illuminae women. The women designed beautiful mosaics for six tables and will be completing more in the coming weeks. With two tables, they can pay 1 month’s rent.

Once these initial projects are finished, we will work individually with each woman to see how we can link their own personal strengths to developing a skill that will provide a sustainable income, and monitor them through all the developmental stages.

The Sebastian Hunter Memorial Trust projects published in Indian National Newspaper, the Hindu

"While even the urban areas that have power connection feel the pinch of the absence of electric supply when there is a power shutdown, one can imagine the plight of the villagers who do not have power connection at all. There are several tribal hill villages in Vellore district which do not have any access to electricity, resulting in the retardation of the development of the villages.