Devi is one of the first few Irula tribe children from Nemillie kuppam to receive education and she is studying hard with mathematics and English her favourite subjects.

“Devi is an inspiration for me and for other students. In the beginning all the other students would not want to talk to her because she is an Irula but now in two years she has friends. It is amazing to see her work so hard,” says Shamala, Devi’s class teacher.

“I have friends in school now and it is nice. In the beginning I used to cry because everyone called me an Irula but now they are my friends and I am very happy,” says Devi.

Nemillie kuppam houses 36 Irula families who lost their homes and belongings in the tsunami and were not given any compensation or shelter by the government.

Though there has been no loss of life for these families, the discrimination after the tsunami was horrifying.

Through ActionAid and its partner, the Irula Tribal Women’s Welfare Society (ITWWS), two years later these families have permanent houses and a stronger lease on life.

ActionAid and ITWWS also had to put up a tough fight with the government to get children like Devi, who started in the fourth grade, enrolled in school.

“We believe that education is one of the most important ways to empower and spread awareness. The Irula’s have been denied all their rights and one of the reasons is that they are not given a chance to know what their rights are,” says Krishnan, ITWWS coordinator.

“We are hoping that we can enrol more Irula children in school. For those already in school we are providing support like tuition classes after school where we hire a teacher to help the children cope up with their studies.”

For generations the Irulas, a small group of indigenous forest-dwelling people, have earned a living by hunting snakes until a stiffening of India's wildlife laws made it illegal, forcing most of them to abandon their traditional livelihood.

Some had to become farm labourers while others migrated to the urban shantytowns in search of jobs.