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Updates of all activities of Saheli Trust, Dehra Dun, India

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Dear Everyone,

Greetings from Saheli Trust.

We would like to apologize for the delay in sending the newsletters for last four months. These four months has been very hectic for all of us in Saheli Trust, so here we are, with a brief narrative of how we have been doing over the period.

President of Saheli Trust, Mrs Manju Kaushik and other members of Advisory Board, Saheli Trust, releasing the Annual Report for the year 2018-19.

From left to right: Mrs Jaya Singh, Mrs Geeta Alok, Mrs Manju Kaushik, Ms Shruti Kaushik, Mrs Anisha Madan & Mrs Amita Ahuja.

You can read the report here:

http://www.sahelitrust.com/AR2018-19.pdf

ifabric

ifabric, as you must be aware of, is an initiative for reviving the dying art of making handicrafts and handloom products that have been a source of pride for India all over the world since ages. Due to competition from cheap machine made fabric, these traditional art are on the verge of extinction.

Our motive is to restore this very soul of India.

We have participated in various exhibitions to showcase our products and also got a very good response from people. We make products like Chimes, Lamps, Apparels (Tunics, Skirts, scarf, etc), bags and other such items.

For more inquiries, please call/ Whatsapp +91 8534829401

Education@YourDoorStep

Isn't it a sense of satisfaction that these women who never ventured out of their homes alone and were forced to back out from their studies and some of them have never seen a school in their lives are learning Computers, English and Hindi. They never give up and are the real super heroes from whom we can learn.
There are cute duos of grandmothers and granddaughters who come together to attend our Education@YourDoorstep classes!!!!
Thank you for your love and support.

"I have seen laptop for the very first time in my life" - said a girl of our #EducationAtYourDoorstep batch.
You can help so many girls and women like her and contribute your bit to the society. Even a single penny counts.
The pictures are from one of our Computer and English classes at Lohiya Nagar, Dehradun.
Most of the girls here are school dropouts and some have never seen school in their lives.

A batch of 12 girls finished our 2 months Education@YourDoorStep program in Basic Computers & Spoken English. They went through 2 1/2 months of training and 2 exams and they were one of the few batches with 100% results.

Garage Class !
In the pictures above we started a new batch, in Kargi Grant village, of 13 girls who were taught Spoken English & Basic Computers. Over the last 2 years, we have taught 1000 girls in 59 different villages/ urban slums near Dehradun.

Computer classes at Kailashpur village, about 6 kms from Dehradun, under our Education@YourDoorstep campaign.

The pictures above are of English and Computer classes being conducted at Lohiya Nagar.

A batch of 20 girls finished our 2 months Education@YourDoorStep program in October in Basic Computers & Spoken English at Lohiya Nagar. They went through 2 months of training and 3 exams.

Students from our Naya Nagar Mehuwala batch learning wordpad.
All the students have never seen laptop in their life.

Exam time at our Lohiya Nagar batch.

A batch of 10 girls finished our 2 months Education@YourDoorStep program in September in Basic Computers & Spoken English. They went through 2 months of training and 3 exams.

English classes under progress at Mehuwala.

Certificate distribution to our two batches at Dehra Khas village in September. There were 30 students and were taught basic Computers and English.

With apprehensions towards education and no fixed income, convincing parents to send their children is a task in itself for our outreach team. Families are reluctant to send their children to school. Twelve years of education is a luxury which none of the families can afford.

Therefore, we go door to door with our Education@YourDoorstep campaign which includes basic Education and also invovement and counseling with the families and woman of this section of the society to step out and work. Some of these women get trained as drivers at our She Cab and also work with us.
This has now spread to half of Dehradun's slums, and today, most mothers send their children to school and they themselves come and attend the classes and learn the importance of education themselves.

Reaching out to the unreachable !!

While doing our usual outreach and surveys in the scorching heat of July, we met these two pretty sisters, showing their interest in studies and were not able to attend the school since their family was financially weak and had no money even to purchase books and uniform for the school. After the summer vacations, we finally managed to get two sisters, Shakeena and Hasina, admitted in school. Their father is a poor laborer who could not afford their education. The girls were thrilled on getting their books and uniforms.

In the pictures below you can see our hardworking outreach team reaching out to unimaginable places and tries to change the lives of those children and families who need us the most. Without them nothing would have been possible !

In June we went to the homes of over 70 women staying in Kargi Grant village on the outskirts of Dehradun, looking for those who might be in distress. We go house to house, talking to the ladies / girls we find there and trying to get to know them.

It has been our experience, that most of women in distress in villages, have no help, simply because they do not know where to go and who to approach, help from their own parents is often not forthcoming, hence the importance of us reaching out to them.

Reaching out to the community

While everyone was busy celebrating Dipawali and shopping, we celebrated it with the women of Bhuddi Village. Telling them the importance of education and enlightening them about their rights. Also discussed with them about how is it like to break a stereotypical mindset and enter into a world which is waiting for them to be successful.

Reaching out to the community @slums of Kargi Grant village. A number of women here said that they had discontinued their daughter's education, simply because the school was "too far". It is this mentality we are striving to change.

Community meeting at Chandra Nagar.
Our aim is to level the employment field for disadvantaged women by providing bold livelihoods options that enhance women’ economic status, dignity, and decision-making within their families. To achieve this, our Outreach team travels around villages to villages and house to house to tell women their rights and give them various options to be financially successful. Our SheCab and E@YD program provides that opportunity to many women to fulfill their dreams.

Had an interactive monthly community meeting in Mehuwala. All of them were already familiar with Sahelitrust due to our Education@YourDoorstep classes in the surrounding villages. They all wanted us to conduct more such classes in their areas.
We also circulated our women helpline number for reporting Domestic Violence cases and child abuse. And also discussed the importance of education in life.

Another community meeting with women and girls of Kanwali Road. They were sensitized about women's rights and were all very thrilled to learn that we teach Computer and English to various women.

Talking about Menstrual Hygiene

Sakya Hospital had an interactive workshop on menstrual hygiene with the students of our Education@YourDoorstep classes. They also taught how to make sanitary pads at home.
Talking about menstrual health and breaking taboos related to it !

Inspiring Lives !

Had an interactive session with girls of GGIC Rajpur Road and GGIC Ranipokhri, GGIC Doiwala. Room to Read brought them to learn about women empowerment, SheCab and the work Saheli Trust has been doing.
There was so much to learn from the students as well. They were such fighters! Some were looking after their whole families and some were staying with their grandparents and looking after them, their health. Such huge responsibilities in these small shoulders. And then too they are maintaining a good attendance at their school. We wish them all the best for their future. They learned about SheCab and Saheli and were very thrilled to see woman drivers for the very first time.

With nearly 1 in 2 girls married off before the age of 18, South Asia has the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world. But girls are fighting back against this harmful tradition.

Rukaiya is a student in Grade 8. She lives in Ranipokhari in of remote village near Haridwar.
Last year, her parents took her to their village saying they are going to spend the vacations but she was shocked to see that they were planning for her marriage.

“While I was sitting outside with my cousins one night, I overheard my parents talking about getting me married, but they didn’t tell me about it directly. So I had very little idea about what was going on.

"Our school teacher told us about child marriage being illegal during one of our classes. So the moment my parents told me that they had confirmed my wedding date I fought and went on a hunger strike. I have seen my elder sister's suffering. She was also forced to get married at a very young age. She gave birth to two children at a very young age and now her in laws and her husband torture her a lot. I will not make myself suffer. I will study hard and make my parents proud on day."

Rukaiya, whose identity is protected because of her age, is now pleased to be continuing her studies.

If you have any such story of a girl or a woman like her. Please let us know.
You may call at: 9760371958
Let the world know about these unsung heroes.

Hello !

Dear Everyone,
Warm wishes from Saheli Trust.
As you must have gone through our Newsletter and seen the past updates of last 3 months. I know there should be no excuses for not updating you all about the activities of Saheli. But believe me, this has never happened before and I will make sure it never will. Past few months were really very hectic due to various classes in our E@YD program. There were very amazing duos attending our classes, a granddaughter and a grandmother, they both learned basic Hindi and English together and it was a sight which very few will get to see and I find myself lucky to encourage them to attend the class together !
It is all because of your continued love and support that we have been able to reach out to so many people and help them.
And with the festive season coming up, there were a lot of exhibitions coming up and all of us were occupied there delivering orders and attending exhibitions.

Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to help those who are really in need of it.

You may contribute to our work by either volunteering with us or by donating any amount you want.
To help a woman study in our E@YD classes you may donate Rs. 1000/- per month or to sponsor one child in Saheli Residence it is Rs. 4000/- per month. Once you start you can stop anytime you want.

Thank you :)

If you missed the back issues of our newsletter, please follow this link to see our past issues:

http://www.sahelitrust.com/newsletters.asp