FAMILY

FAMILY TREE.

A) K.R.VISWANATHAN PILLAI AND FAMILY
A.K.Seethalekshmi wife of K.R.Viswanathan Pillai and daughter of Aziyath Kunjukunju pillai Kurup and Kallianai Amma
a) Sons
b) Srikumar Vishwanathan married Ladka having a son Nathan settled in Czech Republic.

Srikumar is the President and Founder of Life Together,a social organization, and Ladka is in teaching profession.

Earlier Srikumar was in teaching profession in Ostrava..
c) Suresh Kumar Viswanathan married Manjushree. Suresh and Manju are in USA., working as Software Engineers. They are having a daughter Adithi .
d) Daughters
e) Sreelatha married Ramesh Kenath having two sons Rajath and Roshan settled in USA, both are working as software Engineers.
f) Srijaya married Balakrihnan Nair having 8 years old daughter Aswathi. Balakrishnan Nair is working as Chief Sub Editor, in Press Trust of India , Chennai, and Srijaya in teaching profession in MGR Universty, Chennai.

OTHERS

A) FROM PALAMUTTATHU TO KARAVALLIL
IN THE SECOND HALF 19TH CENTUARY,PARVATHY AMMA FROM PALAMUTTATHU ,

KAKKANAD MARRIED RAMAN PILLAI KOKKATTU HOUSE PALLIPAD THEY SETTLED IN KARAVALLIL HOUSE .WHO STAYED IN KARAVALLIL HOUSE BEFORE THEM IS NOT KNOWN.THEY HAD TWO DAUGHTERAS AND ONE SON. KUTTIAMMA ELDEST,GOWRIAMMA&GOPALAPILLAI. KUTTIAMMA MARRIED NEWPHEW OF RAMAN PILLAI PALLIPPAD.GOWRIAMMA MARRIED SANKARAKURUP OF PUTHUPURAKKAL HOUSE PENNUKKARA.GOPALA PILLAI MARRIED FROM KOIKKELETHU HOUSE PALLIPAD.

KUTTIAMMA HAD ONE SON PACHUPILLAI MARRIED FROM NANDIATTU HOUSE MANNAR AND HAD ONE DAUGHTER.AMMINI. PACHUPILLAI NO MORE. GOWRIAMMA HAVE THREE SONS AND FOUR DAUGHTERS. JANAKI AMMA , KESAVAPILLAI MARRIED SUSEELA OF ELANKATHU HOUSE TRIVASNDRUM.LAKSHMI KUTTYAMMA , KUNJUKRISHNAPILLAI, SANKARIAMMA,P.G.PONNAMMA, VIJAYANDRAN PILLAI

FAMILY DETAILS OF SUKUMARA PILLAI

B) FAMILY OF SUKUMARA PILLAI SON OF RAMAKRISHNA PILLAI AND JANAKIAMMA AND BROTHER OF VISWANATHAN PILLAI.

SUKUMARA PILLAI MARRIED RAJAMMA OF VALIAYNOOR HOUSE ARANMULA TWO DAUGHTERS SREEKUMARI(SUMA) SREEDEVI(KOCHUMOL). SUMA MARRIED MANOJ.V.CHANDRAN(son OF VIJAYACHANDRAN PILLAI & CHANDRALEKHA(AMMANI)) OF PUTHETHU HOUSE KARIPUZHA. THEY HAVE ONE SON,BHARATH CHANDRAN AND A DAUGHTER BHAGYA(MALU) SREEDEVI MARRIED TO VENUGOPAL (SON OF GOPINATHAN

NAIR KOIPPURATHU KALLUMALA, MAVELIKKARA) TWO DAUGHTERS KARTHIKA(KATHU) KAVYA

C) FAMILY OF GANGADHARAN SON OF RAMAKRISHNA PILLAI AND JANAKIAMMA AND BROTHER OF VISWANATHAN PILLAI

GANGADHARAN MARRIED VIMALA AMBIKAVILASAM TRIVANDRUM.TWO DAUGHTERS NEETHA AND ANUJA. THEY ARE IN MALASIA , NETTHA HAS TWO DAUGHTERS DHANYASHRI&KRITIKADARSHINI.NEETHA`S HUSBAND IS A BANKOFFICER IN KUALALAMPUR.MALAYSIA ANUJA`A HUSBAND IS VASU(BUSINESSMAN).

D) Tandathu Ayyappan Pillai Father of Ramakrishna Pillai and Grandfather of K.R,..Viswanathan Pillai
b) Tandathu Gouri Amma Mother of Ramakrishna Pillai
c) Sons
d Ramakrishna Pillai- Father of K.R.Viswanathan Pillai
e Damodaran Pillai
f) Padmanabha Pillai
g) Prabakaran Pillai
h) Sankaran Pillai
iMadhavan Pillai
j) a to i no more
k) Daughters
l) Chellamma
m)Padmavathy
n) Ambikamma
E) FAMILY OF SOBHANA DAUGHTER OF RAMAKRISHNAN PILLAI AND JANAKI AMMA AND SISTER OF VISWANATHAN PILLAI

SOBHANA MARRIED APPUIKKUTTAN NAIR NO MORE. HE RETIRED FROM KERALA ELECTRICITY BOARD AS CHIEF ENGINEER . SOBHANA HAS ONE SON HARIKRISHAN AND DAUGHTER HEMALATHA .HEMALATHA MARRIED TO MANOJ K RAVI KADAKKAYAM, KOTTAYAM.THEY HAVE TWO DAUGHTERS RAJALAKSHMI AND SREEPARVATHY. HARI MARRIED TO DR.MANJUSHA TRIVANDRUM. THEY HAVE ONE DAUGHTER AND A SON.DEVIKA AND SREEDEVI.
F) SONS OF SANKARA KURUP AND GOURIAMMA FROM VISWANATHAN PILLAI'S MOTHER'S FAMILY.

d) Keasava Pillai married Suseela from Elangathu House and having four children.

Suseela was a neice of late N.R.Pillai ICS former Secretary General Govenment of India.

e) Kunjukrishna Pillai married Sornamma having two daughters Jeeva and Jaya.

Kunkrishna Pillai and his family were in Malaysia.

f) Vijayachandran Pillai youngest son of Sankara Kurup, married Chandralekha and they are having two sons Manoj anf Sunoj.

G) THE FAMILY TREE OF K.R.VISWANATHAN PILLAI'S

FATHER'S FAMILY.
TANDATHU HOUSE, Muthukulam South

His father M. Ramakrishna pillai's father and mother

A .Ayyappan pillai

Gowri amma

I GRANDPARENTS OF K.R.VISWANATHAN PILLAI
a) G.Sankara Kurup - Father of Janamma and grandfather of K.R.Viswanathan Pillai
b)Gouriamma Mother of Janammma and Grandmother og K.R.viswanathan Pillai
J) DAUGHTERS OF SANKARA KURUP AND GOURI AMMA
h )Janamma Wife of Ramakrishna Pillai and Mother of K.R.Viswanathan Pillai K.R.Sukumara Pillai. K.R.Gengadhara, and Sobhana
i)Lekshmi Amma married to Advocate Narayana Kurup since no more and having five sons Gopinathan, Balakrihnan, Soman and Sivaprasad all,four died and one living son Devarajan is settled in USA
j) Sankari Amma ,married to Damodharan Nair, having two daughters Vasantha Kumari, and Syamala and son Sivasankara Pillai. Syamala is no more.
H) Ponnamma married to Baskaran Pillai Air Force Officer died
,and Ponnamma is settled in USA having one daughter and four sons all living .Daughter,Siekha,and sons Narayan Pillai,Salim Pillai,Omprakash,and Viswajit.Last three sons are in USA. Eldest son and the daugher are in Kerala. Omprakash owns the Karavallil original house.

K) FAMILY OF PONNAMMA, KUNJAMMA MOTHER'S SISTER OF VISWANATHAN PILLAI
Selvin(Narayana pillai) eldest son of P.G.ponnamma pillai& Bhaskaran pillai,Komacham veedu Chettikulangara. Sikha married to N.N. Prabhakaran nair(ret Lt.Col Army) Of Thekkadathu house Karichal. Their daughter Rachna died at the age of 22on 3.12 2000.Son Rohit (naval officer) married Nandita from Trivandrum Selvin married Lekha,Kulappurathu house Chennithala.Two daughters Lakshmi.N.Pillai 18 years old and Parvathy Narayan 15 years. Salim B.Pillai married Sumangala pillai from Palaghat and settled in U.S.A. They have two daughters(Savitha, Sanjana) and one son Suraj. K.B.Omprakash married VeenaJith from Chingollil, karthikappaly and settled in U.S.A One daughter Swathy and one Son Swagath. K.B. Viswajith married Chandini from Kottayam settled in U.S.Adithya(son),Meghana (daughter). The above information is about Puliprathu .
L) AZIYATHU FAMILY VISWANATHAN PILLAI'S WIFE'S FAMILY
a) Aziyathu Kunjukunjupillai Kurup Father of A.K.Seethalekshimi
b) Aziyathu Kalliayani Amma
c) Sons
d) Sivaramakrishna Pillai ,no more
e) Radhakrishna Pillai married Lathi and having one son and one daughter
f) and he is no more
g) Rajagopal married Srilatha and having one son and a daughter
h) Daughters
i) Seethalekshmi married K.R.Viswanathan Pillai having two sons Srikumar and Sureskumar and twin daughters Sreelatha and Sreejaya
j) Rajalekshmi married Haridas Unnithan having two sons and one daughter
k) Vijayalekshmi married Rajasekaran Nair having a daughter

Copying or reproducing any portion of the website is prohobited and is liable for legal action.

AN ARTCLE IN PRAUGE POST

Hotel Prague Centre
BRIDGING THE DIVIDE.
There’s a party inside the walls of Life Together with lots of kisses and hugs, much food and drink and a constant queue of people from north Moravia who know Kumar Vishwanathan. He toasts and greets the steady progression of Czech and Roma people in celebration of his 45th birthday.
But his story doesn’t start at this party in Ostrava. It started thousands of miles away from the offices of that little nonprofit in the southeastern region of India, in Kerala. It started in the tropical climate of an Indian state that adjoins the Arabian Sea. It started in a place that was then and remains a welcome home to cultural and religious diversity that breeds conflict in so many other countries in that part of the world.
Vishwanathan grew up around Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Jews, and this shaped the man he is today, he said.
He is the eldest of four — twin sisters and a brother — born to an electrical engineer and a homemaker. For Vishwanathan, the way of life in Kerala had its limitations. He found that Indian women felt safer sticking to the traditions of their parents, a boundary he wanted to push past.
After studying at the Indian Institute of Technology and Science in northern India, he decided he wanted to study abroad. In those days, he was a fan of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, so it wasn’t a big surprise when he set out to attend the Peoples’ Friendship University in Moscow.
There he continued his studies finishing up with a master’s in physics and math. When he arrived in the Soviet Union he didn’t stop trying to push the boundaries set for him, this time not by his parents or the Indian caste system but by the communist government.
Although his visa was good only within Moscow’s city limits, Vishwanathan was caught several times attempting to explore the country on unsanctioned trips. After being searched and detained, he was always released with orders to return to the city.
Breaking out
It was in Moscow that Vishwanathan went from being a quiet, introvert to breaking out of his cocoon and becoming a social butterfly. He went from having few friends to having many from Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. One friend, in particular, became quite special. While in Moscow, he met Ladislava, or Laďka, as he calls her, who briefly studied there.
“They opened up the world to me in a very different kind of way. They opened me to their interests. Laďka cultivated my interest in art from world masters. We felt many things in common. She was also bold. I liked that,” he said.
They kept in touch, and he helped her organize student protests from time to time. Once the wall fell, they married, and he settled in the Czech Republic.
“I feel that I understand the people of Central and Eastern Europe. I feel at long last at home somewhere,” he said.
Like many other émigrés, his curriculum vitae consists of jobs not linked to his area of expertise. He raked leaves and cleared snow at a spa until he landed a position as a teacher at a bilingual British-Czech grammar school in Olomouc.
While there, he was in charge of creating a post-communist curriculum to bring the eager students up to speed with the rest of Europe.
“I am most happy that I managed to help break down stereotypes, like that physics is not for girls,” he said. “I developed a whole astronomy module based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. It inspired one of my girl students. Today, she is an astronomer.”
He taught for seven years, eventually integrating science with drama. He wrote a play, which was performed at the British Council in Olomouc and the Theater Comedy in Prague.
Then the floods came
Even with the new additions to his lesson plans, Vishwanathan was looking for a completely new challenge. The war in Sarajevo had just ended and he considered going there to teach. But, just as his routine became too mundane, fate struck and so did Mother Nature: The worst flood in 1,000 years hit Moravia.
“We had flood waters on our doorstep. But, in Ostrava, I learned that the water was 7 meters high and had destroyed a locality — Hrušov.”
Vishwanathan kept his eyes and ears on the situation. Some 400 families, both Roma and Czech, had been evacuated to a nearby school. The situation deteriorated after the authorities accused the Roma families of stealing school toys to give to their children to play with during the evacuation.
“I wanted to intervene, help,” Vishwanathan said.
With his wife’s blessing, he headed for Ostrava to volunteer. It was an emergency response to a temporary problem, or so he thought.
He started living with the Roma in the cabins made from asbestos — a cancer-causing insulation material — to help. The white community rejected the idea of Roma living among them and threatened to arm themselves against their fellow flood victims.
“I would have moved in to help anybody in such circumstances. It happened to be the Roma who needed it then,” Vishwanathan said.
While living among them, the man with the “big heart” learned a lot about issues facing Roma families. He became close to almost 30 different families. Then other volunteers joined.
“We became one big family,” he said. “Together, we overcame a lot of problems.”
After a few months volunteering, he began to earn a living by teaching English to Roma children. Laďka was very supportive, as well as the Olomouc community that raised money to help with the effort. Finally, a Prague nongovernmental organization, Nadace rozvoje občanské společnosti (NROS), teamed up with the Brno-based group, Loving Alternative to Punishment for Delinquent Youth, to provide Vishwanathan’s work in Ostrava with more fiscal support.
Since then, he’s been working with Life Together to fight for Roma equality. He has established a reputation for being a calming negotiator between the Roma and Czech communities. Not only does he work with different representatives from government and nongovernment organizations to further the cause, he brings the empathy of a teacher to an issue that’s steeped in prejudice and neglect.
“Kumar showed me a future,” said Miroslav Horvát, 27. Horvat is a Roma who grew up in institutionalized care before he met Vishwanathan. “I didn’t see any way of life. I started to work for him, and he showed me a way of life I hadn’t known.”
Vishwanathan said he can’t foretell the future, so he doesn’t yet know what the next act in his play will be. In the short term, he will continue with his passions: cycling, walking through the mountains and reading, provided he can find the time.
Since the days of his youth, he doesn’t read much Tolstoy but has grown to admire the works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Boris Pasternak and Mikhail Bulgakov, who he says best describe the communist Russia experience. Beyond them, he likes writers on cultural fault lines such as Hermann Hesse and Günter Grass.
As he lifted his glass in yet another toast to the packed room of colleagues, who after several years have become close friends, it’s obvious he makes time for what’s most important: family and friends. By now, the party has been going on since early afternoon and several women are topping off the food.
“More people are coming,” one of them said.
The party wouldn’t end before the wee hours.
When asked what he would like his own legacy to be, his reply could easily be found in the dialogue on the pages of a Hesse book: “I don’t chase any legacy.”
Although that may be true, the self-described “lone walker” has helped build a bridge between two cultures and bring many people from both sides to break bread. From the smiles of admiration and respect of those gathered, it looks like a legacy might be chasing him.

KARAVALLIL NAIR FAMILY WEBSITE

Click below to know more
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About Karavallil
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About Karavallil

Karavallil family members belong to Kakkanad Nair Tharavad near Kayamkulam, Central Travancore ,Kerala. Like all Nair Tharavads, Kakkanad Nair Tharavad has two Sarppa kavu , Kalari, and Bhagavathi temples. Nairs worship Snake God Nagarajan and his consorts. Their family deity is Goddess Durga, or Bhagavathi.

Kakkanad Tharavad is an oldest Aristocratic Nair Tharavad in Central Travancore. History of this Tharavad spans from around 300 years. There are no written documents available to know the history of the Tharavad . What is said by senior members of the Tharavad throws some light on the history of Tharavad. Earlier the Tharavad Karnavars were Chieftians of Kayamkulam Raja.

After the defeat of Kayamkulam Raja,by Rammayyan, the army chief of Travancore Maharaja Marthanda Varma,Kayamkulam was merged with Travancore.Several other small kingdoms were also merged with Venad and later Venad became Travancore.

The great Maharaja Marthanada Varma did not punish any of the Kayamkulam Raja's chieftians. Instead the family of the Chieftians in several Nair taravads in Travancore, were respected with family 'titles' like Pillai, Kurup, Panicker etc.These titles are used by the Nair community. The term Pillai in Tamil (and hence in old Malayalam) meant "child" or "son", and conferring this title on an individual was indicative of his closeness with the local kings.

The formal investiture of the title among the noble class is associated with a ceremony known as Thirumukom Pidikukka, which confers special privileges. Thirumukom meant " high self " which was an honorific title conferred by the kings of Kerala. Thirumukom was one step below Thirupad which was the title used by the kings of Kerala. Karnavars of Kakkanad Tharavad gave full loyality to the Maharaja Marthanda Varma,and as a gester to thier loyality the Maharaja gave the titles of 'Pillai' to the family members.

At present there are around one thousand members in the Kakkanad family.This Tharavad have a rich tradition in socio-economical, political and educational field in Travancore. Karavallil Family belongs to Kakkanad Tharavad. A branch of Family Members shifted and settled in Karavallil,Karipuzha, Mavelikkara in 19th centuary.

This is a sincere effort on me, K.R.Viswanathan Pillai, the eldest member of the family to ensure that our generation and the succeding generations of the family stay connected and be proud of their heritage. I request contribution from everyone, so that we can make this website a living entity and updated with every succeding generation.

Karavallil Nair Family Website
Keeping the Family Connected
Home
About Karavallil
Contact Family
Family Photos
Links
Memories
This Family website is for aiding the extended family members of the Karavallil
Family, Mavelikara, Kerala, India to stay connected. This website also aims, to trace the descendants of Sankara Kurup and
Gowri Amma grandparents of K.R.Viswanathan Pillai and help the future generation
to know about their ancestors and their life styles.Wishlist:Will need the help of interested family members to do the following 1.To get the rare photos of our forefathers and document the family history. 2.To get the contact information of the family members and store it in online with
the relevant security /access restrictions Copying or reproducing any portion of the website is liable for legal action.

MavelikaraUpdated Wednesday, December 24, 2008 5:30 AM
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Ramakrishna pillai ,father of Viswanathan Pillai

Ramakrishna Pillai, father of Viswanathan Pillai

Sri Kumar Vishwanathan - Ashoka Award

Sri KumarVishwanathan,eldest son of K.R.Viswanathan Pillai

Country: Czech Republic
Region: Europe
Field Of Work: Human Rights
Subsectors: Equality/Rights,Housing,Intercultural Relations/Race Relations
Target Populations: Minorities,Underserved Communities
Year Elected: 2006

This profile was prepared when Sri Kumar Vishwanathan was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2006.

Sri Kumar Vishwanathan is bringing solutions to the severe housing problems in the poorest urban communities of the Czech Republic. By designing ethnically integrated neighborhoods, he offers adequate housing and a replicable, new model for peaceful coexistence among Roma and non-Roma.

http://www.ashoka.org/node/3892

The New Idea

Kumar’s Roma Coexistence Village offers a fresh approach to housing and poverty reductions in the Czech Republic as responsibility is placed in the hands of the poorest residents. In the city of Ostrava, Kumar is overcoming housing obstacles among poor urban communities while revolutionizing ethnically integrated living. His work prevents poor urban areas from getting trapped in a culture of poverty and apathy, and brings the plight of the Roma to the public’s attention through a broad coalition. Kumar brings stakeholders from all sectors together to design an integrated urban living space. Volunteers, charities, private owners of the houses, and the municipality form small task forces with the Roma inhabitants to build lasting communities that are sustainable. This collective process stimulates cooperation and mutual understanding, shifting mindsets and proving that Roma and non-Roma can coexist and participate together to solve their problems.

The Problem

Urban stratification is one of the biggest problems to have emerged in Czech Republic and throughout Eastern and Central Europe in the years of political transformation. Although the formation of ghettos is not a new problem, the character of post-socialist transformation has meant that local communities are disintegrating at an alarming rate. The poor are increasingly living in isolated ghettoes without economic integration or opportunity. Once diverse, these communities have become segregated due to rising ethnic tensions between Roma and non-Roma throughout Central Europe. Housing patterns and urban planning reveal the dominant societal ideology and prejudice which is traceable over time. In the 1950s and 1960s a large number of Slovak Roma (were) resettled in industrial areas of the Czech Republic, and most placed in houses in city centers. The trend at the time was to live in block of flats considered modern in their design and utilities. When property in the historical centers plummeted after the Velvet Revolution, the Roma were moved, often illegally. At that time, organizations representing their interests were largely underdeveloped and incapable of providing relevant defense for their clients. Many Roma, together with other poor urban dwellers, were forced into internal migration and overcrowded houses. In addition, the liberalization of the housing market began. Many people could not afford to buy their homes and ended up in housing owned by private individuals or companies—many in poor urban quarters. Life in these neighborhoods is still marked by extreme poverty, and many families live without running water, electricity or heat. The separation between the Roma and non-Roma has grown and there is still no coherent government policy to combat prejudices in urban areas. While some “separations” exist only in the minds of the Czech public, in one infamous case, a wall was literally constructed around a Romani city quarter.The State expects that such problems will be addressed at the local level. However, locally-based efforts to overcome marginalization in housing, education, employment, and access to services often fail. Most municipalities refuse to co-operate in the improvement of these areas. In addition, most of the money coming from the center is used inefficiently. Because many activities do not deliver the expected results, they fail to engender feelings of responsibility. Many municipalities try to expel the poor them without really attempting to offer timely and effective help to them in overcoming social and economic problems. In the case of the Roma, some municipalities openly violate their rights. All this leads to expectations of failure, decreasing civic responsibility among the residents and ultimately a breaking up of the communities. Little effort has been made to bring together all the stakeholders (Roma, the State bodies, the local bodies, the EU, private business and community organizations) to develop effective solutions. A general apathy in these areas also plays an important role, since many people believe that there is actually very little chance to change the situation. The constant failure to take responsibility and inability to see that situations can improve creates a vicious cycle with no winners.

The Strategy

Kumar’s strategy involves creating change on two levels. On a basic level, he helps poor urban dwellers, many of them Roma, to attain adequate housing. More importantly, however, Kumar’s work builds communities that can overcome ethnic prejudice. Kumar realized that the only way to break apathy and inaction is through active participation of various stakeholders that gradually builds trust. In the late 1990s Kumar lived with Roma who had lost their homes to floods and lived in porter cabins that were meant to be temporary but became permanent. The Roma have expressed the desire not only to live in adequate housing, but also to live together with the non–Roma in integrated communities. By working closely with them, Kumar managed to slowly change their perception, gain their trust, and prove to the authorities that the Roma can live in a fully integrated way with non-Roma. A simple community program of cleaning toilets and planting trees, initiated by Kumar, began to shift attitudes of the Roma and of those with deep prejudice against them.Gaining cooperation from the city, however, was more difficult. The municipality of Silesian Ostrava refused to apply for state funding and no other entity could apply for this type of funding. At the same time, the non-Roma inhabitants were not only against living with the Roma but were actually against the Roma living anywhere near their neighborhood. The novelty of Kumar’s strategy lies in the step-by-step process he uses to bring important actors together, build trust and understanding, and illustrate how coexistence can work. First, he builds small community task forces which have very specific tasks, from lighting the streets to advocating against illegal sterilization of Roma women. Each task force has autonomy and is self-governed, and a few have developed into mature citizen organizations. Kumar organizes young volunteers from other parts of Ostrava (many of them non-Roma) to work on community tasks such as planning the new neighborhood layout, organizing cultural events, and reforming town policies to make them more inclusive. The volunteer program has the dual benefits of improving the community and teaching young volunteers about coexistence. These positive examples and working solutions began turning the whole community around. Kumar’s network of helpers grew and grew, and as a result of this cooperation, the Czech-Roma Coexistence Village was founded in 2003. The Village provides housing for 30 families, half of which are of Romani origin. The initial anti-Romani sentiments have lifted and the Village has become one of Ostrava’s most desirable areas to live. In order to create an inclusive platform, Kumar organizes discussion tables where various actors—the state, community organizations, municipality, groups of citizens—meet and discuss what can be done in the area of housing of the Roma. He has managed to open communication channels among entities that have been failing to engage for over a decade. In addition, the contributions of the Roma have given them a distinct role in the design and construction of their housing, and a new feeling of responsibilities for their lives. The success of the Coexistence Village offers proof that new forms of integrated urban living are possible, and that inhabitants and outside groups can work together to solve community problems. Building on this success, in 2006 Kumar began applying his idea to benefit families in the adjacent settlement of Liscina. He is negotiating with the stakeholders, looking for a common platform for communication, and creating an outline for the project. At the same time he is empowering the poor, who have expressed their willingness to support Kumar and work with the community organization to seek a solution to the housing situation.

The Person

Kumar comes from a middle class family in India. He was offered a chance to study abroad and chose Moscow partly because of what he perceived to be an agenda of social justice. He became disillusioned with the political ideology but he remained in Russia, finished his studies, and met his wife who is from the Czech Republic. After university, Kumar and his wife moved to the Czech Republic where he played a crucial role in the establishment of the first bilingual British high school. After teaching for 7 years Kumar moved to Kosovo after the war in Yugoslavia to design a new educational system. However, in 1997, when he witnessed the serious floods in the Czech Republic, he decided to stay, not only because of the physical destruction but also because of the deep ethnic conflict emerging after the flood passed. Kumar worked in a temporary shelter as a volunteer social worker. His Coexistence Village is an entirely new approach to social work in the Czech Republic, and has been a tremendous success. Once the Village was sustainable, he left it in the hands of the Red Cross and Catholic charities which took legal responsibility. His goal has always been to leave as much of the governance in the hands of the Roma and non-Roma living there, with an oversight body existing mainly as a formality. He is now in the midst of developing a similar community on a larger scale—the first of its kind in all of Central and Eastern Europe.

Sri Kumar Vishwanathan- Ambassador Portriat

AMBASSADOR PORTRIAT

http://www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu/904.0.html

He was born in Quilon, state Kerala, India.

He graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University in Moscow (his majors were physics and mathematics) in 1990.

He underwent trainee-ship in a number of British and American schools/universities in the following years (e.g. London University, International Visitor Leadership Program in the USA). He worked as a high-school teacher of physics at the bilingual branch of Hejčín Secondary Grammar School in Olomouc between 1991 and 1997.

He is a co-founder of a Czech-British bilingual school, at which he was responsible for the creation of a new curriculum. He has focused on Roma minority in the Czech Republic since 1997. He has worked with Roma people affected by floods as a street-worker and a community worker in Slezská Ostrava. He co-operated on the creation of the social fieldwork methods in Roma community and on bringing the methods into practice in the CR.

He also collaborated on the basic school reforms and the revisions of the psychological testing on children. He is one of the initiators of a project called Vesnička soužití (The Village of Coexistence). Within the frame of this project, 30 Roma and non-Roma families built themselves a new house which replaced the older one destroyed by floods.He founded a civil association called Vzájemné soužití (Mutual Coexistence) together with the students of Ostrava University and Masaryk’s University in Brno in 1998.

He is now the chairman and the director of the association. He was appointed a civil member of the Government Council for Human Rights in 1999 (again in 2003 and 2005), a member of the Bridge People UNHCR in Prague for the consultations of the interethnic co-existence in the CR with the Embassies of the EU states.He has systematically focused on human-legal and social issues, fieldwork, community work, educational work, educational reform, institutional education of children and the development of Roma communities in Ostrava etc. since the 1990’s.

He has won a number of prizes: František Kriegel Award of Charta 77 (1998) for a personal participation in convergence and mutual understanding between Roma and non-Roma people; Prix Irene (2003) awarded by Tolerance civil association for improving interethnic life;

Alice Garrigue Masaryk Prize (2005) awarded by the US Ambassador in the CR, Mr. William Cabaniss, for the improvement of human rights and the promotion of social justice;

The Ashoka Fellow Prize (2007) etc.