A group of Chenchu tribals on a 9000 km expedition

HYDERABAD:  A team of 21 children and young adults from the disadvantaged Chenchu tribal community are being taken on an expedition to the Himalayas by running and cycling for the first time in their history.

The event was flagged off by NV Hanmanth Reddy, district governor, Rotary International District 3150 and virtually by Magsaysay awardee Sonam Wangchuk joining in from Ladakh on Sunday, February 14 from People’s Plaza, Necklace Road. 

The expedition includes 15 boys and six girls. The Himalayan tour will be for five months (February to June) covering a distance of 9,000 km.

The group started from Palutla village, Yerragondapalem Tehsil, Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh on February 6 and will go to Leh, Ladakh covering over 14 States and 70 districts. They reached Hyderabad on February 11.

The tribal children and young adults aged between eight and 18 were selected after training over a period of nine months. A Chenchu couple and their daughter, and a special child will volunteer throughout the expedition. 

“The idea is to help these poor, but talented athletes explore the outside world, and eventually win national/international sporting competitions,” said Vamsidhar Kalidasu, a senior academician and mathematician from Hyderabad. Vamsidhar has been working with the Chenchu tribal community, and has founded ‘Children of the Forest’ in Palutla village.

This village is nestled deep in the Nallamala hill range of the Eastern Ghats in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. It is in the core area of Srisailam forest reserve, which is also India’s largest Tiger reserve forest, about 300 km east of Hyderabad.

Vamsidhar has pooled in some of his personal resources for the expedition, and relied on the help of like-minded friends and well-wishers in kind and cash.

On why this Himalayan expedition, Vamsidhar comments: “To transform the negative energy into positive activity by engaging kids and young adults in meaningful outdoor sports and train them to become outstanding sports persons.”

Three training programmes are also planned for the children enroute to the Himalayas and on the way back – at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS), Manali, SEMCOL (for trekking), Ladakh, and at Goa.

The group plans to meet the President, Ramnath Kovind in New Delhi, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their return from the Himalayas. The nationwide lockdown has driven several of these children to drop out of school for good, and falling into the regular traps of bad and unproductive habits of the tribal community.

“To attract the distracted children and bring positive change into their lives, I organised boot camps in sports and fitness to bring sports awareness to the Chenchu tribal community. The efforts have proven to be lengthy, but showed good results,” added Vamsidhar. 

— Express Features