Humanitarian Activities

The following are the main humanitarian activities that M. A. Organizations support across the world. Service centers exist in India, United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. Please check www.amma.org for more information.

Since early 1980s, the primary charitable activity of M. A. Math has been feeding the poor. M.A. Math continues with that activity, feeding over 50,000 people through various centers each month in India and over 60,000 meals in the U. S. in addition to the distribution of kitchen staples such as rice and cooking oil through programs established to support those in need. Food programs were also greatly expanded as part of Amma's disaster relief aid. Known in the West as Mother's Kitchen projects, preparing meals for the poor occur on a weekly, bimonthly or monthly basis.

In the U.S. $1 million were raised and donated to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to aid hurricane recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast area. The donation was personally received by former president Bill Clinton in his offices in New York. Apart from financial help, substantial services by M. A. Center affiliates included helping find missing or lost family members and aiding in the clean up activities in Texas & Louisiana.

The MA Math Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation Project covers a broad range of services for the victims of this catastrophe. Amma pledged $23 million to meet these expenses, though the value of the services is twice that, as much of the work is done by volunteers. Services include free housing, free education and educational supplies, job placement, the forming of village cooperatives to generate income, assistance for fishermen, free medical care and psychological counseling, marriage assistance, free hot meals and kitchen supplies, orphan care and adoptive services, clothing, bedding, personal care supplies, and financial support.

GreenFriends is an organization established by Amma's ashram for the preservation and protection of the environment. Started in India in 2001, it has spread around the globe, with thousands of members throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan. The current focus is on reforestation, conservation, and education as a means of protecting ecosystems.

Since 1987, M. A. Math has been constructing houses, free of charge, for the benefit of the poor. In 1996, she inaugurated the massive Amrita Kuteeram project, constructing the first 25,000 homes. Amma's new goal has expanded to 100,000 homes for the homeless over the next ten years. In addition, Amrita Kuteeram has taken on several large scale building projects as a major reconstruction effort following the earthquake in Gujarat and the tsunami devastation on the east and west coasts of India and in Sri Lanka.

Children are at the heart of our efforts. Most recently, all the children orphaned by the 2004 Tsunami with no living parent have been adopted the M. A. Math. What this means is we have taken the responsibility to provide them a homely atmosphere for living & growing, quality education and opportunities to nurture their extra-curricular skills. Apart from this recent addition of children, M. A. Math tenders over 500 disadvantaged children, mainly from tribal villages in northern Kerala. The children receive loving care, nourishing food, and an excellent education. The orphanage school is the largest school in Kerala to teach Sanskrit as the first language, and is one of the best schools in its district. The ashram has also instituted a scholarship program to encourage poor students to get a higher education.

AIMS, Amma's 800-bed specialty hospital in Kochi, has a dedicated team of physicians, nurses, and health care professionals who provide an extraordinary level of knowledge, skill, and compassion to every patient they serve. They welcome patients from India and around the world. Charitable care, to the fullest extent possible, is provided to those in need. Enhanced patient care is facilitated by a fully computerized and networked hospital information system, a fully digital radiology department, and a state-of-the-art clinical laboratory in facilities spanning a 30-acre campus. There is now a medical college, pharmacy school and nursing school on site. The quality and ethical standards of AIMS have influenced other hospitals in the area to improve the qualit and lower the cost of the services they provide, and begin reaching out to the poor. Amma's organization provides free or low cost community-based medical programs. These out-reach services, available to many villages throughout India, include pain and palliative care, diabetic welfare, disaster and emergency response, village general medicine and eye camps, neurology camps and a telemedicine program reaching remote areas through the support of the AIMS hospital in Kochi.

This project takes an integrative and holistic approach to the sustainable development of tribal people including reforestation and the protection of flora and fauna throughout India. The first phase of the project aims to improve the quality of life of the tribal population through the building of schools and vocational centers, providing education for people of all ages. Future projects include hygiene and personal health training, rehabilitation of tribal women, sustenance income for the destitute, general and specialized medical aid, development and preservation of water resources and eco-friendly crop cultivation practices.

Amma has established a vast network of educational institutions, providing the most modern educations while imparting the traditional values of Indian culture. Besides the more than 50 schools of primary and secondary education, she has established more than 60 educational facilities throughout India, including management, engineering, IT and medical schools, an industrial vocations school, and a speech and hearing improvement school for hearing-impaired children. Schools for indigenous tribes are also being built in remote areas.

In India, only government employees get state pensions; others are dependent on their children or private insurance. Many children cease to care for their elderly parents and even mistreat them. Often the elderly have nothing to rely on. Thus, a Care Home for the Aged, at Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu was inaugurated in 1998 and at Talayolaparambu, Kottayam, Kerala in 2003. M.A. Math is hoping to create more homes for the elderly. Land has been acquired for similar purposes in Baroda, Gujarat, and a facility is planned for the Amritapuri Ashram itself. Hopefully, through such homes, we can help return the love, dignity, and spiritual environment that all the elderly deserve.