"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

“What will happen to them after me? I am 80+. I spend sleepless nights,” worries ex-Air Force officer, Group Captain AC Barua while talking about the future of the 28 destitute women under his care. “They have nobody in this world, sometimes they don’t remember their own names. They are absolutely alone,” he informs us as he goes from one room to the other meeting all the women who live at Seneh, the only home where they are loved and taken care of. After fighting for his country all his life, this octogenarian is now fighting to rescue homeless and abandoned women from dying on the streets. But he cannot do it alone. “Everyday I keep on getting calls from here and there. ‘Oh! there’s a woman lying here. Can you help?’ But I don’t dare to go and help because I don’t have the money. I don’t have the resources, our resources are very limited,” explains Gr. Capt. Barua who is lovingly called ‘Sir’ and ‘Deuta’ (father in Assamese) by the residents of Seneh. With your help, 80-year-old Group Captain Barua can fulfill his mission of rescuing abandoned and homeless women from dying on the streets, alone. Donate nowDonate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. All donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA).Seneh- a home filled with love, care and hopeThe residents of Seneh often don’t remember who they are, where they have come from. Many times these are women with mental health conditions and considered being a witch due to superstitious beliefs and beaten up as a result. They are victims of domestic abuse or widow mothers who are considered to be a burden on the family. Group Captain Barua has not only rescued them from critical conditions, he has provided them with urgent medical care, food and above all, a free safe shelter where they can live with love and care. Among these residents is Sarala Kalita who fled to save herself from the tortures of her alcoholic husband only to face neglect and trauma from her brothers- and sisters-in-law. “Both my brothers and their wives urged my father to leave me somewhere as they didn’t want to take care of me anymore. One day my brother’s wife didn’t even let me have food at home. She just wanted me to leave and go away. So that’s why, my father got in touch with Seneh through someone, and handed me over to Sir to take care of me,” says Sarita who has found joy in living at Seneh. “Coming to Seneh, it felt like I got a new life altogether. Sir has given me a harmonium. I love singing. It makes me forget everything and takes me to someplace else entirely,” she adds. More women like Sarala can find their way to a loving home like Seneh. All they need is a little bit of your kindness. “It is difficult to make both ends meet”To sustain their daily expenditure, Capt Barua needs approx ₹3 lakh a month and arranging the funds is a mammoth challenge for the NGO. “Our expenses are growing day by day. Residents are growing older, their sicknesses are increasing. At times we have to give them special food. They require more care so we have to get more employees. About half of them require leading around, 1-2 has to be fed also. It will be very difficult to sustain it unless we get help,” he added. One act of your kindness can save these abandoned women, with no one in this world, from struggling on the streets to survive. At 80+ Gr. Capt. Barua cannot sustain Seneh on his own. “With folded hands, I appeal to all. Please come and please help us. Let us help these people, these old people who have nobody in this world. They are dying. They will die on the streets,” he urged. Donate to this fundraiser by Give.do to support retired Air Force officer, Group Captain Barua in his mission to rescue abandoned and homeless women from dying on the streets.

After fighting for India, former Air Force officer is now fighting to save abandoned women. Help him, donate now

Cattle, bred for profit and abandoned after they stop producing milk, are often found malnourished, injured or sick on city streets. Many face bitter winters, starvation and death in road accidents - a sad fate for cows in a country where they are revered by lakhs of people. To save cows from such a sad end, Swami Ishwar Das started Shree Krishnayan Desi Gaushala, currently home to 18,000+ abandoned cows. But with the rising costs of fodder and medicines, he is struggling to provide the quality of care such mistreated animals deserve. “It was in 2010 when I witnessed abandoned cows from the streets in Uttarakhand being transported in a truck. The cows were administered anesthesia and stacked one above the other like lifeless goods. When me and a few of my acquaintances brought the cows off the truck, two of them died before my eyes and that sight shook me to the core. It was then that I started Shree Krishnayan Gaushala with 11 abandoned cows in a small donated land,” says Swami Ishwar Das.Swami Ishwar Das is unable to bear the rising cost of nutrition and medical care for injured cows and needs support to continue to save these voiceless animals. Donate now. All donations on this platform are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA).<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/ead01668-6b4d-4a8c-85de-30b43e174f22.JPG" />Every life matters“Here at Shree Krishnayan Desi Gaushala, it is our resolve to leave no stone unturned in caring for helpless cows. No matter what the cost of treatment may be, we make every possible effort to aid ill and injured cows. Our only objective is that a cow should not lose its life for the want of medical care, food or water,” says Swami Ishwar Das. In order to provide the best quality of care and treatment to its adopted cattle, three well trained veterinary doctors attend the gaushala 24/4. The NGO - Shree Krishnayan Desi Gauraksha Avam Golokdham Seva Samiti - spares no expense in providing nutrition either. From jaggery and grains to a healthy mix of green and dry fodder, cows are given meals best suited to their needs.With cost of fodder on rise the Gaushala needs help<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/93e7eafe-4438-40d6-ae40-6972feaf0988.jpg" />Swami Ishwar Das and his team, however, are struggling to keep up with rising costs of nutrition and medical care for cows. “The cost of fodder has risen by almost three times in the last couple of years. From food to medicines everything has become expensive. And we will never compromise with the quality of care and love that we want to give to our cows,” says Swami Ishwar Das. Help Swami Ishwar Das provide the best care and love to abandoned cows while saving them from a desperate life of starvation and suffering on the streets.

Help Swami Ishwar Das rescue cows on roads, abandoned as they no longer produce milk

This is a sample description for Environment For the purpose of testing I will use the word Hunger & HomelessnessHunger & HomelessnessHunger & Homelessness.

Hunger & Homelessness

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

Livelihood

Kolkata Rista (hereinafter, ‘KLR’) is a transgender community based organisation (CBO). The organization working in four states of India for last 14 years (West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh), with various subgroups of the broader LGBTQI community as well as general populations specially youths, i.e. those of non-normative sexual orientation and gender identity. This includes people who identify as Transgender, Hijra, Kothi, Lesbian, Gay, Queer as also the often ‘hidden’ populations of Dupli, Parikh, Giria etc. who rarely publicly identify. Amongst these groups are included male and transgender sex workers. Kolkata Rista, is run by members of these communities themselves and over the years the programmes and strategies of the organization represent an approach sensitive to the ground level experiences of exclusion and marginalization due to gender and sexual divergence from the heteronormative structures of society. KLR is sensitive to socio-cultural diversity and celebrates pluralistic nature in the surrounding: ‘All roses are roses but all roses are not red!’The early years of KLR’s work had been in the context of health, and more particularly vis-a-vis HIV/AIDS interventions. It has been a primary partner for a range of governmental and international interventions providing HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment information and services from a Human Rights perspective - i.e. recognizing that vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is strongly correlated with broader social, economic and political marginalization. From here KLR has broadened its work to other elements of health and healthcare, including work on tuberculosis within the transgender community. KLR also has a strong track record of working on broader issues of gender and patriarchy, including in the context of domestic violence, the right to education, supporting families in extreme poverty. KLR has worked, and continues to work with a range of local, national and international campaigns, including the Wada Na Todo Campaign and the One Billion Rising Campaign.KLR has, over the years, focused on building a strong presence especially amongst working class Transgender communities while also establishing relationships with a range of stakeholders in its attempt to bring about an Enabling Environment for the realization of rights. It has established mechanisms for collective deliberation and action by communities in the context of violence and crisis intervention. KLR has given special emphasis on working with the police and focused on administrative level advocacy as a strategy to minimize stigma, discrimination and violence against the community. In this regard KLR has concrete expertise in organizing workshops and sensitizationprogrammes for high-level officials, police personnel and government administrative offices.

Donations through Give Foundation, registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961 are tax-deductible.

Donations through Give Foundation, Inc. a registered US 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization, are tax-deductible.

Donations through GIVE, a registered charity in UK, are covered under Gift Aid

Dr. Santosh Kumar Giri

KOLKATA RISTA

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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Majority of transgender persons live in conditions of poverty and eke out their livelihood primarily through begging and sex work, both of which are avenues of work that entail public presence and physical contact. With social distancing having been mandated (and rightly so to prevent furthering of virus) transgender persons have been weaned away from their only source of work. Additionally, transgender persons are further vulnerable, because of lack of food security, housing, steady income, access to healthcare, sanitation facilities etc. A high prevalence of HIV, makes the community more susceptible to COVID-19 infection, and also the culture of community living, (in ghettos, slums,) in poor hygienic conditions has also created a situation of danger within the community for spread of Coronavirus. In such a context this proposal therefore calls for an urgent attention for the transgender community in two states of Bihar and West Bengal. Both these states have low socio-economic and poor public health systems (per capita income in Bihar is USD2,395 and in West Bengal is USD5,983 per annum as compared India’s figure of USD 7,346; source These States have been severely affected due to lockdown and the impact on daily lives of Transgender. 
 Kolkata Rista as an organization will be initially focusing on 1000 transgender members in the two states of India: Bihar and West Bengal. In such a context, these are the priority issues:Providing monthly rations kits at home through fair price shops to 1000 transgender individuals and their dependant families residing in Bihar and West Bengal. Each kit would be of Rs 1000 and it would provide minimum two weeks’ worth of ration to a family and would help them sustain during the Covid- 19 crisis. The ration kits include per community is below.<ol><li>5 kg rice=200 rupees</li><li>5 kg atta=175 rupees</li><li>1 litre tel=140 rupees</li><li>2 kg Dal=260 rupees</li><li>5kg alu=140 rupees</li><li>2.5kg onion=75 rupees</li><li>1kg sugar=40 rupees</li><li>Masala=50 rupees</li><li>2 Soap=20 rupees</li><li>1kg salt=20</li></ol>.   
 With social distancing being mandated in India (and rightly so to prevent the further spread of COVID-19virus) transgender community has been weaned away from their only source of work. The impact of this project is to address the vulnerabilities of the transgender communities, who, because of lack of food, security, housing, steady income, access to healthcare, sanitation facilities etc are especially exposed to the vagaries of life. Our objective is to come up with techniques to impede the drastic fall in their life chances, by providing them enough supplies of rations and health facilities so that they can get back on their feet after the pandemic is over. Since such livelihoods might take a couple of years to revive, our aim is to spread awareness on how they can best lead their lives, safely, by abiding by all the pandemic health and hygiene protocols.

To combat the Impact of Covid19 on Transgender Community

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

After fighting for India, former Air Force officer is now fighting to save abandoned women. Help him, donate now

Help Swami Ishwar Das rescue cows on roads, abandoned as they no longer produce milk

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