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It is largely unknown that India, a vast country of a billion plus,
has its own "native" or tribal communities which have inhabited the
subcontinent for tens of thousands of years. One of these communities
is called "Bhils" and lives in the isolated and barren district of
Jhabua in central India. Characterized by abject poverty, drought and
disease outbreaks, Jhabua has been consistently ranked over decades as
having the lowest literacy of the country's over 600 districts.
Helping the most vulnerable members of the Bhil community, the
children, a group of local individuals who had the luck of receiving
education, built a residential school and a community health center
with the help of German volunteers and donors ten years ago. Today
Chetna Education and Healthcare Center is home to 750 tribal students
and serves families in 15 villages through immunization, nutrition and
safe motherhood programs.
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