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

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Dear Everyone,

After a long time there was a peaceful month for us. Things went off smoothly as planned, there were no last minute stresses and we were able to do what we had to.

Read on to know more...

Reaching out to the Community

In November, we reached out and went door to door in one of the largest slum areas in the center of Dehradun, the Balmiki Basti, home to over 1000 families. Most of the men here sell vegetables in carts along roadside. Unemployment, lack of medical care and alcoholism were the most common issues facing the people here. It took us around a week to cover the entire area and we managed to convince a lot of unemployed, sitting at home girls to take a step in empowering themselves by learning to read and write. Hopefully our next batch of classes will be in this area.

We were thrilled to have as our guest, Mrs Karuna Pandey, a Colors TV artist who is seen in many serials. She took the trouble of searching for us on the net and then booking a SheCab from the Airport.

Community Meetings

In November, two community meetings were held to drive home the message of gender equality and women's rights. The pictures above are from a slum on the outskirts of the town called Chamanpuri Basti and the ones below are from Johdi basti, a small settlement about 9 kms from the town.

Education@YourDoorStep

Our efforts at educating the rural girl child continued with 6 classes every day across different villages/ urban slums. The picture above is that of the 35th batch of girls finishing their 2 month course of Spoken English & Basic Computers.

The pictures below are those from another batch, being taught English & Hindi alphabets. These are young children of migrant workers who have never been to any school but are anxious to learn.

Saheli Home

The Hindu festival of lights "Diwali" was celebrated with great enthusiasm and festivities on 7th November. As is the tradition, the children feasted on sweats and lit up the house with earthen lamps and burst a few crackers.

Hello !

Dear Everyone,

Greetings from Saheli,

A very warm Hello to everyone and we hope everyone had a very Happy Diwali and we all are looking to mark Christmas soon this month.

After a long time, we have had a relaxed month and we loved it :-) . Ofcourse that does not mean we didn't work, it just means we did'nt have the stress and pressure of an average month. It is always good to take a deep breath once in a while.

SheCab, or the women's cab service, we launched last month, is running well, we are able to meet our expenses, of course, it is too early to expect profits. The profits we make eventually will be used to train more women drivers.

I would also urge everyone to please visit us to experience Saheli first hand. We all are truly indebted to each and everyone who is reading this newsletter, because you all have contributed to make Saheli what it is today and without your support and love, we would not have been able to achieve anything.

Also, i would be more than happy if you have any questions or suggestions about our work. New ideas can help us grow. Criticism can also help us improve, so both are more than welcome. Please reply to this email if you need to convey anything to us.

Regards,

Shruti Kaushik,
Secretary,
Saheli Trust
+91-9760371958

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

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