"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

Help Lalitha give kids rescued from abuse in red-light areas a safe and loving home. Donate now.

“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

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Education

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Art & Culture

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Livelihood

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Community & Rural Development

Manzil Mystics is Delhi based choir band, institute, as well as an NGO striving towards social inclusion through their self-composed music in Indian folk fusion form. A part of Manzil, an education initiative for marginalised sections of society since 20 years, Manzil Mystics has been imparting education in music since 2017. It is a registered trust under The Indian Trust Act.Learning Through Music (LTM) is the flagship programme of Manzil Mystics, which enables children to express their hopes, ideas, happiness, anger and frustrations through music. It is conducted in government schools, low income schools or NGO centres in the Delhi-NCR region. Students learn how to sing, write, and compose a song. LTM workshops are structured in a way to induce team building, nurture creativity, build confidence, life skills education, gender education, menstrual hygiene, reproductive health, and textbook history, Hindi and English lessons. The sessions are conducted by 2 musicians once in a week, for 1-2 hours with 60-100 students.

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Manzil Mystics

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

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Various studies across the world, shows the critical role of music education in overall development of a Child Music Training Strengthens Children's Brains, Decision-Making Network: If the brain is amuscle, then learning to play an instrument and read music is the ultimate exercise.~ University of Southern California, MedicaXpress, 11/14/17 NYC's only K-12 school with music as core subject sees high outcomes: The school'sleaders believe intensive music instruction is a direct contributor to academic success.~ Tara García Mathewson, EducationDIVE, 1/17/17 Music instruction improves cognitive, socio-emotional development in young children: Music instruction appears to accelerate brain development in young children, particularly in the areas of the brain that are responsible for processing sound, language development, speech perception and reading skills. ~ Medical News, Life Sciences &amp; Medicine, 6/16/16The NEP 2020, NCF 2005 and various Indian reserachs have explained the important role on music in education. Yet, most schools do not have access to Music Education. For instance, in Delhi, only ~20% of schools have music teachers, of which many are inactive. Further, currently, music is taught on a theoretical level in schools, failing to act as a catalyst for growth. Thus, we impact/improve classroom learning and enable life skills through our flagship programme ‘Learning through Music’ in schools. 
 Manzil Mystics is a distinctive Delhi based choir/a registered Non-profit known for sparking hope, happiness, compassion in young minds through music. We aim to provide music education to every child belonging to a low-income background at least once a week for an hour and aid ongoing teaching methods to enable life skills &amp; impact educational outcomes in schools. <blockquote>"Music brings colours to our life and that rainbow of happiness and joy should be created in our schools. The music workshops that we do are not only about learning music, it is Learning Through Music specially designed for children studying in government and low-income schools." ~ Anurag, Co-founder</blockquote>  We are imagining schools change and learning through music. Our vision is to transform young lives by enabling access and use of Music to ignite creativity, learning and social change in low-income communities and government schools.  How we are enriching lives through Music? Learning Through Music is our flagship programme through which we:●      create safe spaces, bring happiness, inculcate confidence and creativity, and ignite the true potential of a child●      teach children how to sing, write and compose a song, and express their feelings and aspirations through music Our programme acts as a magnet for them to attend school, trigger other essential elements.  "Bhaiya, I really want to have this music class, but next year I have to leave the school as I will clear my 5th class. Tuesday is my favorite day of the week. Can you come to my school next year?"  ~ Sakina, SDMC School, Jangpura, New DelhiMost Government/Low-Income community schools in India face an issue of low student attendance, largely due to a lack of interest in education. This leads to low educational outcomes and low student performance. <blockquote>"Music is the easiest and most engaging medium to talk about anything we want. I love how students are now more confident and melodies at the same time"   ~ Teacher, SDMC, N Block Sewa Nagar </blockquote> We conduct interactive Music Workshops once/twice a week in Low-income schools &amp; disadvantaged communities. We teach:●      How to sing●      Write and compose a song●      Life skills●      Gender equality and sensitization  Our programmes include: Performing Arts and Kids Happiness (P.A.N.K.H) and WeBhor: • Identify and collaborate with Schools/ NGOs/ Communities• Plan &amp; design customized curriculum (based on school curriculum and Kishori Manch Policy) and conduct pre-assessment • Identify, Train and Place Music Facilitators in Schools / Centers, typically 2 to 3 facilitators assigned per school• Conduct Interactive and Experiential Music Workshops over the Academic Year, typically once or twice a week (40 to 80 sessions per year)• Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact assessment• A showcase or performance on stage by the children• Curating professional choirs in low-income schools  Bus Music Project: We have built India’s First Mobile Music Classroom &amp; Recording Studio which is an initiative to solve the infrastructure problems 100% of the government schools in Delhi have. One Music Bus can solve the problem of music infrastructure in 15-20 schools at a cost of building a similar infrastructure in 2 schools. It provides a high-quality well-equipped music classroom, recording studio, and performing stage experience to each child at their doorsteps. This initiative has been possible because of SBI Card who supported us from the beginning.  Work with Delhi Government: Manzil Mystics have signed MoU with the Delhi government to work as a knowledge partner for their new School of Specialized Excellence (Performing &amp; Visual Arts). As their exclusive partner for the music programme, we are building a unique curriculum to educate students in music as other performing arts. In addition to this, we have the government’s collaboration to run our LTM workshops and Music Bus in all 1030 schools in the next 2 years.  
 After running this project for 5 years in several government/low-income schools and NGOs we have seen students improve their grades, demonstrate leadership skills and learn crucial life skills. We have also seen an increased awareness of hygiene, reproductive health and gender equality.  Our Music workshops help improve children’s happiness quotients, improve their mental health, bring out their confidence and creativity. The workshops create a long-term sustainable impact rooted in their foundation years which will enable them to reach their true potential as they grow. The objective is to use Music as an initial magnet and using it to firstly improving attendance and gradually triggering other elements of change. We have executed the LTM program in 50+ low-income and government schools to date in Delhi and 900 rural villages across India. Presently, we have curated 85 unique choirs in Delhi NCR in 35 government and low-income schools with 3000 students come from low-income communities.  Case Study We Partnered with I Am A Teacher (Tech Mahindra Foundation) in 2017 for a programme to deliver music workshops in Government schools in Delhi. • Enrolment increased from 35 to 200+ in 2 years• More than 95% Attendance on the day of music• 11 unique Music performances by the students• Children were more Confident, Creative, Happy and Sensitized to Social issues

Enriching lives of children in low-income communities through Music

There are 6000 (approx) government and low-income schools in Delhi. In Delhi, more than 20% schools have music teachers, of which some are inactive. Furthermore, music is taught only on a theoretical level in schools, failing to act as a catalyst for growth. Thus, we intend to bring a transformative change and impact classroom learning and enable life skills through our flagship programme &quot;Learning through Music&quot; in schools. Most schools face an issue of low student attendance, largely due to lack of interest in education. This leads to low educational outcomes and low student performance, reflected in inadequate reading, comprehension and mathematical abilities. We believe that cultural arts, especially music can have a big role to play in getting children interested to come to school, thus triggering other essential elements of change. Music brings happiness, inculcates confidence and creativity, and ignites the true potential of a child. After running this project in various schools and NGOs we have seen students becoming leaders, improving their grade rates and becoming more sensitised about life skills. 
 Through music we intend to teach children how to express their hopes, feelings, and ideas. Our activities are designed to be fun and creative, and many times we extend them to incorporate lessons of reading, writing, spoken English, values, social and life skills, menstrual hygiene, reproductive health and gender education. The objective is to make music a part of education system and change the relationship of a child with learning. Customised curriculum as per the batch size and time available across the academic year makes each centre unique. Our compositions are of a socially aware and responsible nature. Thus, students imbibe a socially responsible outlook from a young age, with issues related to gender inequality, world peace, conflict resolution and inclusion. This is a year long programme where workshops take place in schools once in a week for 2 hours with a group of 25-40 students. Currently, we have 25 music classrooms in 21 schools and working with 1300 students across Delhi. We are planning to increase it to 50 classrooms and work with 4000 students across Delhi NCR in 50 schools. 
 a. Qualitative Impact: ni.Exposure to Music: LTM is often the first exposure of students to music.A hobby like music is something to fall back upon - in times of grief, music is proven to keep teenagers from engaging in harmful and anti - social activities r nii.Creativity and Confidence: The programme nurtures creativity and helps build confidence in participating students r niii.Sensitisation to Social issues: Our lessons on life skills, spoken English, value education and social skills often make deep - lasting impacts on the personality and outlook of students r niv.Music as a profession: Numerous LTM students have also taken up music as a profession and are doing really well.(Some current members of Manzil Mystics are ex - LTM students) r nb.Quantitative Impact: As we have been running the project at small scale, we have seen school attendance and grades / marks of students undertaking LTM workshops to have increased within one year of enrolment.Some studies have been conducted to assess the quantitative impact of the programme, specifically on learning outcomes in curricular subjects.

Learning Through Music

India ranks at 135 out of 146 for Gender Parity, on the annual Gender Gap Report 2022 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) released in Geneva on July 13, 2022, just above Afghanistan, Pakistan, Congo, Iran and Chad etc. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2021 report Crime against women in India have increased by 13.2% while incidents of rape have increased by 19.34% over the previous year. While crimes against women and children are increasing day by day, there is lack of adequate awareness and effective communication on these very issues and everyday topics that effect lives of women in India. Sex Education, Menstruation, Sexuality, Gender Norms etc. are all considered taboo conversation topics in most strata of Indian society., In turn, lack of proper understanding and knowledge contribute to unsafe, improper and experimental practices that further add to risk and challenges to women’s health and autonomy. 
 WeBhor, a women-run project of Manzil Mystics, leverages Music to Recognize, Create and Raise Awareness around challenges women face around their Rights and Empowerment at one level and Reproductive Health and Hygiene at another level. The name means ‘we rise together’, a combination of We (Hum sab) + Bhor (Savera/Subha). WeBhor mentors young women musicians come from low-income families through musical sessions to carry this message to the communities they work and live in. Our Proposal -  WeBhor, a women-run project of Manzil Mystics, will leverage Music to raise awareness around Gender specific issues through Music Workshops aimed at girl students in the 11-18 age group in government/ low-income schools within Delhi NCR. The sessions will leverage Songs as a tool (singing and composition) to open conversations on Gender specific topics - Women’s Rights and Empowerment including Financial and Legal Literacy, Socio-emotional Wellbeing, Sexual Harassment, Reproductive Health and Hygiene. As a secondary but equally important objective, the project also aims to provide employment to 10 women musicians from low-income background to facilitate these musical sessions in target schools and communities. Programme Components:  The programme will cover the following areas: a.    Gender sensitization: Biological and Societal Positioning of Womenb.    Reproductive Health: Physiological structure of the body and Reproductive healthc.    Nutrition Awareness &amp; Menstrual Hygiene: Menstruation Management and Personal Healthd.    Why Women Must work: Career orientation, Aspirations, Self-pride 
 Direct Impact with 3000 girls: A safe space created in government and low-income schools for girls to discuss and understand the gender specific issues above (6 batches across 6 schools and low income communities, once a week 1 hour workshop over 6 months for each batch)  Indirect Impact with 20000 girls and Women: Through digital content, Teacher’s training, and live Performances Livelihood Sustainability for 10 Women musicians for 1 year: WeBhor will identify, train 10 Women musicians from low-income family. The selected Women musicians will spend 20 hours a week educating 400 girls (in government &amp; low-income schools) and 20 hours a week building their own employability skills through various courses (music, media, professional, life skills and capacity building) that WeBhor will offer.

Enriching lives of children in low-income communities through Music

Learning Through Music

WeBhore- We Rise Together

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

Help Lalitha give kids rescued from abuse in red-light areas a safe and loving home. Donate now.

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

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