"My son used to kick me when he was in my womb. Why make an issue when he kicked me in my old age?" reasons a very forgiving Shakti Dasi. The widow travelled 2300 kms from Tripura to Vrindavan after her only son violently beat her with a burning plank of wood and broke her knee one evening. She had to leave behind the business she had built with her husband who had died a few years back. Shakti ended up on the streets of Brindavan begging for food and shelter. But when Winnie Singh of Maitri saw Shakti in a frail state in tattered clothes, she brought her to the shelter home where Shakti gets food, care and medicines. What more, with Maitri’s intervention, Shakti reconciled with her son - and daughter-in-law, and now travels home to Tripura twice a year to spend time with her grandchildren. But she is not leaving Maitri, as this has become her family.Not every elderly widow who comes to Vrindavan after being abandoned by her family gets as lucky as Shakti. Many of them often end up living a lonely life and begging to survive on the streets. Maitri aspires to take care of every widow in need of help.<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/ce101369-528c-4d37-bc1d-1118b9925af3.jpg" />Maitri’s Project Jeevan to the rescueAbandoned, elderly widows are the amongst the most vulnerable in India. After being thrown out of their often abandoned by their own children and are forced to beg for food and shelter. “Through Project Jeevan, Maitri houses aging widow mothers in two ashrams in Vrindavan and Radhakund (Mathura), providing them with wellness and well-being. The programme also reaches out to widow mothers beyond the ashrams with fruit, milk and healthcare services,” explains Winnie Singh, co-founder and executive director, Maitri India.Save homeless elderly widows from begging on the streetsMost widows who make their way to Vrindavan are abandoned by their families, often after years of abuse. They come here hoping they will spend the rest of their days in prayer and devotion. But most live in impoverished conditions on the streets and in dingy rooms. Since poor living conditions often cause a wide range of health ailments, including respiratory infections and chronic conditions, Maitri comes to their rescue through its Project Jeevan.The project aims to:<ul><li>Provide meals leading to improved health and wellbeing</li><li>Make physical and mental health services accessible</li><li>Offer necessary quality aged care and assisted living support</li><li>Increase awareness on and engagement around the struggles of abandoned widow mothers</li></ul><img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/1abfb906-563b-4747-85b8-8af2071a2856.jpg" />Project Jeevan needs your support to help those in need of food, healthcare and well-being. Donate now.“Maitri urgently needs your support to provide food, clothing and healthcare to sustain these widow mothers who are prone to more illnesses as they age,” appeals Winnie.Maitri believes in a woman’s right to dignity in life and death, more so a mother. Our help will enable Maitri to save hundreds of abandoned widows from a life of begging, and restore the respect, dignity, and identity they deserve.

Save abandoned, elderly widow mothers of Vrindavan from begging on streets

“They insert a candle in the vagina, fingers are inserted (in the vagina) and tortured, and if children don’t relent even then, they put chilli powder so that children will say “yes” because of the burning of the skin… There are teeth marks on their bodies, and their vaginal parts are burnt. When children stay in these conditions, it is painful even to hear,” says Lalitha SA of Society for Participatory Integrated Development (SPID), in course of talking about many heart-rending stories of trafficked children in red-light areas.In over three decades, the SPID led by Lalitha, has saved over 3000 children from the red-light areas, many from clutches of sex trafficking.Sadly, many more children need to be rescued and in need of a loving home. But Lalitha needs our support to carry on the mission, to move out of her small facility so that she can rescue more children, house them in a permanent location and give them all the love they deserve. Your support can help her give these children the care and upbringing they need. Donate now.Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India).A movement to protect vulnerable childrenAs a social worker, Lalitha has worked for decades in GB Road, the red-light area of Delhi and helped many women escape the clutches of being forced into sex. But it was the exploitation of children, many of them hardly ten or twelve or even less. The SPID has focused on rescuing such children and giving them a new life.Lalitha plays a vital role in the survival and safety of vulnerable children in the red light areas. As SPID is almost entirely dependent on donations from the public, we can support and strengthen SPID’s mission to save children. Donate generously.Donation to SPID’s fundraiser on Give.do“I have limited funds and very limited space, and if I had the funds, I would be able to rescue many more children and provide them with more comfort. With folded hands, I plead with you that you help us with funds in large numbers and support us in providing us children with a decent life. Become a part of the mission,” pleads LalithaDonate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help Lalitha give hundreds of children rescued from brothels a life away from violence and abuse.NGO's 80G number: AADAS3217RF20212NGO's 12A number: AADAS3217RE20214

This Navratri, help Lalitha give kids rescued from abuse in red-light areas a safe and loving home. Donate now.

“I used to be sexually abused repeatedly, and when I screamed in pain, they hit and threatened me with more violence,” says Priya (name changed), a rescued child sex worker. Priya was abducted by traffickers and sold into a red-light area house before she was rescued by Guria led by Manju. For over two decades, Manju has been rescuing young girls forced into prostitution across the country. She has been shaken to the core seeing some of the most horrifying crimes that young girls have to undergo. “You can’t imagine the state of girls forced into sex work. The girls are given electric shocks and burnt with cigarette butts just to get kicks out of it. And if they get pregnant, the "owners" kick them repeatedly in the womb so that the child inside dies…If you want to see hell, it is here on this planet where young girls are sexually abused,” says Manju.Manju needs your help to rescue more young girls from forced prostitution and reunite them with their families. Donate now.Guria’s work over the yearsBased out of Varanasi, inarguably the holiest place in India, Manju and her organisation Guria, fights the sexual exploitation of girls, especially minors, by taking on the traffickers head-on, and rescuing and rehabilitating them.Started in 1993, Guria has rescued over 5500 persons from slavery, sex trafficking, and child prostitution so far. It has also been instrumental in shutting down hundreds of places that housed trafficked girls and putting scores of traffickers out of business and in jail.For instance, in 2005, a Guria-led rescue operation in Varanasi's red-light area led to the freeing of 49 women and girls, including minors. Many of them were kept against their will. Some of the traffickers were also arrested and tried. Since then, Guria has rescued thousands of young girls.Manju and her husband, Ajeet Singh began rescuing girls from Varanasi’s red-light areas and then working to stop the sex-trafficking of young girls within Uttar Pradesh and outside. The organisation’s aim is to eliminate the sex trafficking of women, especially minor girls, end second-generation prostitution and child prostitution, and rehabilitate women and girls who are rescued from the trade. Manju has faced violent backlash from the traffickers and other vested interests, but it has not deterred her from carrying on rescuing young girls from trafficking. Rescue and rehabilitationBesides rescuing girls trafficked for sex, mostly from low-income families, from across the country, Guria fights on their behalf in courts and also provides education, food, vocational training, and other facilities until they are united with their families. But because of a lack of funds, Guria is finding it difficult to rescue more girls and also take care of them once they are away from the clutches of the traffickers. Take the case of Sameena (name changed), who was abducted from Uttar Pradesh all the way to Telangana. Guria took it upon itself to rescue the girl with the help of its own work and also the authorities. After months of rehabilitation, Sameena went back to her family and even completed her education. With your support, Manju can rescue many more young girls from trafficking and help them live the life of their dreams.

Help Manju rescue young sex trafficking victims. Donate now

This is a sample description for Women Empowerment. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Women EmpowermentWomen EmpowermentWomen Empowerment.

Women Empowerment

This is a sample description for Livelihood. For the purpose of testing I will use the word LivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihood.

Livelihood

This is a sample description for education

education

Front For Rapid Economic Advancement of India (FREA) and its project Akshara Centre works with women and youth from different walks of life to promote gender equality and a violence-free society and employability.  Akshara provides scholarships for education, training in life and technical skills, and job placement for socially and economically disadvantaged young women between the ages of 14 and 24 in Mumbai. Young women primarily poor Poverty and lack of resources and daughters of single mother are some of the crucial criteria for selection of girls. Their parents are usually from the Informal Sector doing jobs as domestic servants, office support, watchmen etc. Free primary education provided by the government has reached most of this target group. They are educated up to the 10th and 12th standards. Higher education amongst this group is low. FREA India/Akshara trains young men to become supporters of gender equality and take up personal and social action. This work is done through The National Social Service unit of the Education Dept, GOM has officially recognized Akshara’s program with youth. We work with around 20 colleges and about 400 students every year. Students can be a part of Akshara’s programs for each year. Our training workshops on Masculinity and Leadership Development have encouraged students to Join the Anti-Violence Campaign and for women to take leadership. Our aim is exposing young people to issues of gender, sexuality, violence against women and sexual health. Akshara is playing a key role in promoting preventive solutions and developing strategies for a ‘Gender Inclusive City’ with the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, transport authorities, police and State. Akshara is a leading voice in many national and regional networks which advocate for better laws against sexual violence, improved implementation and gender inclusion in local, state and national policies. Akshara’s work to make the Development Plan of Mumbai more inclusive has been successful in getting an entire chapter on Gender included for the first time in any vision document in the city planning. Akshara has always risen to support and assist during national and natural calamities whether it is floods or tsunami. This time during the Covid 19 Lockdown, society as a whole and women in particular suffered loss of jobs and livelihood. Akshara raised and distributed direct transfers to young women, single women and women rag pickers. We helped survivors of domestic violence as the number of cases had risen exponentially.We responded by a large campaign requesting women to report and also connected it with police authorities and special cell for women and children. Please click on  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2e3JwxFmw8&amp;feature=youtu.be" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#Lockdownondomesticviolence</a> to see the videos. The campaign reached over 6 million views.

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Sakina Bahora

Akshara Centre

This nonprofit is registered as a charitable trust under section 12A of India's Income Tax Act, 1961.

This nonprofit is registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961. This means you can deduct 50% of the donation you made through your tax return.

This nonprofit is registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. This means it can accept donations from foreign nationals.

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Empowering Dream Program focuses on underprivileged young women from age of about 16 to 24 and offers them financial assistance to complete their education and enhance their livelihood skills.They are from different slums of Mumbai like Dharavi, Govandi, G south and G north areas which are populated by families of mill workers who attend low resource colleges which and around these areas and struggle to finish their higher education. They Belonging to both local and migrant families,  diverse caste (Dalits, OBCs and SCs) and religious groups (Hindu, Muslims, Christians). Most of them live in slums or one room tenements. An average household size is 4.5 members who live in 10’X10’ rooms with or without attached toilets or water connections. 50% do not have access to hygienic sanitation. Most of these families have one or at most two earning members who are either self-employed or work in the informal Sector. About 13% of their families are women headed. Almost all the girls have studied in local municipal schools upto class 12. Inequality, poverty, discrimination, slum violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, societal norms and patriarchy have been a constant feature in their lives  
 Akshara believes that formal needs to be combined with technical skills and non-formal education [gender and citizenship] so they are not caught in early marriage, unwanted pregnancy, low wages and violence and can make a better life for themselves.We encourage young women [16-24 years] to take up higher education [college] as this has become the accepted criteria in the labour market for a decent job. We would like to put forward that both secondary and tertiary education are important for the present requirements of the job market post globalization, especially in the urban areas.  By giving various trainings and building and strengthening their leadership capabilities and skills to not only tackle sexual harassment and violence but also to claim their right to access education, health, sanitation and other public services and improve their well-being and quality of lifeWe use a multi strategy approach:•       Learning: supporting girls to complete their school and higher education by providing financial assistance•       Livelihood: teaching them skills for employment like computers, English, CV writing, interviewing, accountancy•       Life skills: information on health, reproduction and contraception, health relationships, gender, resistance to violence 
 All the girls who come to us for financial assistance desire to complete their education and get employment in the formal sector. Even though unstable financial conditions, few girls still aspire to continue their education and complete their Masters or hope to enrol in Management programmes while some also study for CA, CS and Computer science. These girls challenge social norms in their community by completing their graduation, surpass their family tradition to move on to different educational field and vocation. Girls have negotiated with their families to pursue post graduation higher Professional education. They gained knowledge of their body, reproductive health and understanding sexuality etc. They learnt the concept of ‘Gender’ and the issues that they are facing like gender discrimination, violence and the laws. Their confidence and self-esteem gets increased and started to build better relationship within and outside the family.The individual and group inputs for technical and employbility skills have made girls more confident in the current competative job market. MSCIT and Tally courses completion have helped them during their job applications. They have applied for jobs online and some are building their experiences through internships.

Empowering Dream

Save abandoned, elderly widow mothers of Vrindavan from begging on streets

This Navratri, help Lalitha give kids rescued from abuse in red-light areas a safe and loving home. Donate now.

Help Manju rescue young sex trafficking victims. Donate now

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