YMCA TRIVANDRUM

The YMCA movement in India began in 1854 with the establishment of the first Indian YMCA in Kolkata (then Calcutta). This marked one of the earliest extensions of the global YMCA movement outside Europe and North America. Though it started in 1854 it had no continuous existence. The second YMCA to start in India was at Trivandrum in the year 1873 at the instance of British missionaries. Perhaps it was the only instance when a woman took the initiative to help organise the Young Men’s Christian Association. Miss Mary Bourne of the Zenana Mission of the Church of England encouraged young people for whom she used to conduct a Bible class to organise the YMCA. Rev. Samuel Mateer of the London Missionary Society who remained the president of the Trivandrum YMCA for a number of years gave the premises of the LMS chapel for holding the meetings of the association. He served the association in that capacity for a period of 17 years. Reverend V Moses the pastor who assisted Reverend Mateer became the next president the statement of purpose of the association was the same as that of the early London YMCA except for the fact that it covered non-Christians also. The purpose was stated as ‘the spiritual and mental improvement of its members and the non-Christians around’. Though the Calcutta YMCA is considered as first YMCA started in India, it is quite likely that the Trivandrum YMCA was the first YMCA established with a predominantly Indian membership and which had an unbroken career.

In 1890, Rev. V. Moses was the President and the Trivandrum YMCA had 23 members and all of them were Indians. In 1894 the association was affiliated to the National Union of YMCA’s. The Trivandrum YMCA was one of the first few YMCAs to take this important step. In 1917 the Maharaja of Travancore granted 78 cents of land adjacent to the Government secretariat on lease. At this time the YMCA activities were being carried on in a small building in the Museum Bain’s compound where a hostel was run for college students. In 1923, plans were finalised for the construction of a permanent building consisting of a hall student hostel and a boy’s branch building.

The YMCA platform was regularly used to discuss public ssues of national importance. Dr G Ramachandran of Gandhigram and Mr Pattom A Thanu Pillai (who later became Chief Minister of Kerala) were some of the national leaders who spoke from the YMCA platform against the stand of Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer for the independence movement. It is a matter of great pride that the National flag was first hoisted in Kerala on the Independence Day in 1947 at the YMCA premises.

In 1976 a 17-acre plot of land along with an old building was purchased in Perinkulam Village of Aruvikkara Panchayat about 17 kilometres east of Trivandrum City. A boy’s home with six boys using the old building and a rural development centre consisting of a model farm and a plant nursery was started in 1977. Another Rural Development project was started at Vettinad about 17 kilometre north of Trivandrum by the side of MC Road in 1982. Vocational training school buildings were built in 1986. The boy’s home which was functioning at Aruvikkara was shifted to Vettinad in May 1997 in a two-storey building constructed with a grand receipt from Cooper Atkinson Trust in England. The Kircheim YMCA, West Germany supported the boy’s home.

The YMCA Library & e-Learning Centre started operation as a new project of the Trivandrum YMCA on the 30th March 2009.

YMCA Youth Centre at Vettinad opened its YMCA Habitat Centre-1 on 21 September 2019 which was a part of Sesquicentennial Project of YMCA Trivandrum. Muthoot M G George memorial YMCA Futsal Turf & Sports Hub was inaugurated on 19th January 2023 at Vettinad.

The Trivandrum YMCA is moving forward with its innovative and useful programmes to meet the challenges of the new Millennium without devoting from its basic principles