We hope this email finds everyone in good health & spirits. May is hot in India but that has never deterred our personnel from working and their work, under the open summer sun, is not easy. I'm sure we all appreciate that. This is all the more tough given they work in slums and villages, out in the open, on streets which are not very clean.
Read on to see what we have been upto in May.
Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence is a sad part of our lives, widespread and cutting across all socio-economic strata. Our Women's Helpline, which runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week, gets calls from across India. We connect outstation callers with non-governmental organizations working in that area and after a few days we call back to check. In last 2 years we have dealt with 106 cases of domestic violence. Our intervention involves counselling,
sometimes threatening the husband and if nothing works we call in the police. For short term, to tide over acute crises, we offer the victim a place to stay
in our Saheli Residence. A big limitation we face in handling cases of Domestic violence is the absence of legal team in our Trust. Fees of lawyers
are unaffordable except in severe circumstances. Our attempts in getting CSR funding for a legal team have so far been futile.
Education@YourDoorStep
Two new classes were started this month for girls and women who have discontinued their studies or never studied, one in Kailashpur village, about 10 kms from Dehradun (picture above) and another in Dehrakhas village on the outskirts of the city (picture below).
Exam Time at Mehboob Colony
12 girls underwent a "mid term" exam in Lohiya Nagar slums in English & Hindi. It is heartening to see women/ girls who
could not even write alphabets, now writing their own names in Hindi & English.
One memorable moment....
One moment, which most of us will never forget is captured in the picture above, a grandmother with her granddaughter learning how to read and write Hindi and English in one of our Education@YourDoorStep centers. It's never too late to get educated.
Another satisfying moment....
Another moment which we will never forget is the happiness on the face of two sisters, Shakina & Hasina. They live in Gandhi Gram, a slum on Kanwli Road and needed to get admission in a nearby school. The admission fees for both is Rs 2400/-. Their father is a laborer who earns 400 Rs per day and is unable to save enough to get them admitted. He was willing to pay their monthly fees of Rs 200. We got the children admitted in the school (picture on right) and the smile we saw on their faces was, as they say, worth a thousand pictures.
Reaching out to the community
Reaching out to the community is one of the most important aspects of our work. Knowing the people, getting to be known by the people are both important. Over the last 3 years we have held 48 community meetings attended by approximately 800 women / girls.
The message we give out at every meeting is the same, be brave, stand up for your rights, we are always with you and educate your girls.
The pictures above are from a village called Choila, on the outskirts of Dehradun and the pictures below are from a slum in Dherakhas village.
Hello !
Dear Everyone,
Greetings from Saheli Trust. I'm sure you've read the posts above and you realize that this month has been particularly memorable for us for a number of reasons.
It has also been sad for us, because our Outreach Manager, Ms Kanti Rawat, left us afte 3 years of hard work. She was one of our strongest assets and her absence will be felt sorely. Ms Sheetal Sharma has now taken her place and continues her good work.
There is always so much to share at the end of the month, that the newseltter tends to become too long. We have to leave out a number of things. At the end of the month, it is difficult to believe all what we have done was done in just 30 days.
Also, i would like to request everyone to please forward this email to your friends & relatives. The more people know about us, the better it is for us. We are always desperately short of funds, and I can assure you, if only we had more funds, we could have done so much more. Funds are our limiting factor, not our energy or motivation. Therefore, please do tell people about us, if you think we are doing something positive.
As always, my request to you, please do visit us at any time of your convenience. We would love to hear from you, simply reply to this email. Suggestions help us improve.
Regards,
Shruti Kaushik,
Secretary,
Saheli Trust
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