ASSOCIATION OF RELIEF VOLUNTEERS (ARV) is a group of 281 local human rights volunteers donating their time to work directly with the Dalit people (formerly known as the Untouchable Caste) of India. The Dalit people have the distinct disadvantage of being born to the parents of one of the lowest Hindu castes (social classes) in India. Dalits are impoverished, continue to be discriminated against, marginalized and remain mostly uneducated, all because of their low caste birth. The government’s efforts to provide proper basic education and good healthcare to the impoverished Dalit children and their families have largely been unsuccessful.
Ravi Kumar founder and director of ASSOCIATION OF RELIEF VOLUNTEERS(ARV)
There are at least 150 million or more Dalits in India, and The Association of Relief Volunteers works in the rural villages and city slums of India to help these citizens obtain the rights and resources that the government has been unable to provide. By working within the Dalit communities ARV volunteers are able to gather information about starvation, joblessness, discrimination, health, and sanitation.
After assessing what each community needs in order to improve its situation, the ARV volunteers then work collectively with the villagers to fix the problem. In the past this has meant getting an entire village the ration cards that it was entitled to receive as Indian citizens. It has also meant cleaning entire villages, feeding villagers, arranging for medical camps, bathing and caring for the hygiene of children, building community centers, and fund raising for much needed housing. ARV works with the village so that the work they provide matches the most pressing problems with which the community is dealing.
Interested in learning more about India as a country? Please click here.
JET Volunteers Raising Funds and Building Homes for Dalit Widows in India this Spring!
