Sebastian Indian Social Projects
Sebastian Indian Social Projects (S.I.S.P.) is a non-profit organization working in the coastal region of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of India's south-western state of Kerala. S.I.S.P. was founded by two Belgians, Paul Van Gelder and Werner Fynaerts in 1996.
S.I.S.P. strives to accelerate social and economic change in the rural context by collaborating with local community members to build a better society where all people have easy access to education, health care, and employment opportunities. S.I.S.P. has an explicit commitment to remain disassociated from any religious activity and to work both for and all side the poorest among all communities. The staff members and beneficiaries of S.I.S.P. belong to all the different communities in the area.
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Where We Work
Our primary beneficiaries are located in Vinhizjam, Kerala, a marginalized fishing community with a population of 300,000 located along the Arabian Sea in Southern India.
Residents live without proper drainage canals, toilet facilities, access to drinking water in overcrowded huts or houses. Alcoholism and domestic abuse are rampant. Due to extreme poverty and lack of awareness by parents, hundreds of children drop-out from school at very young age to become child labors or get involved with local youth gangs or start begging or become occasional sex-workers in the nearby touristic resorts in and around Kovalam.
Our vision is to accelerate social and economic change in the rural community, by contributing in building a better society, where all people have easily access to education, health care and employment opportunities.
