There are 56,000 “Anganwadis” (preschools) located in government school premises all over Tamil Nadu. Impoverished parents entrusted their children, ages 6 months to 5 years, in these centers which also provided free midday meals for the entire school.
In 2007, Pamela Wash, a long-time TNF donor and Chairperson of Geneva based charity organization ‘Friends of India’ and P. Chandrasekar, Executive Director at TNF Chennai Center, visited the ‘Anganwadi’ at Athur, a remote village in Sholavaram block of Thiruvallur district. And the intent of their visit was to establish a computer center for the underprivileged children.
As Ms. Wash walked in to the “Anganwadi”, the first thing that hit her senses was the smoke lingering in the air and the burning sensation in her eyes. Soon she realized that the children and school staff were spending most of their day in that smoke-filled environment because of the midday meal cooking in “mud chulas” (stoves made with mud) with firewood. She could not imagine the cooks (mostly women) sitting and cooking in smoke-filled kitchens.