In the dark and dingy alleys of red light areas, injustice, pain and suffering run rampant. And the worst affected are the children who grow up in red-light areas and are subjected to constant abuse and violence. “The sight of a 12-year-old girl being gang-raped by a group of men near a house l haunts me to this date. I was filled with anguish and resolved to do something,” says Girish Kulkarni who has made it his life’s mission to rescue children from red light areas and give them a safe and secure childhood. In the last 3 decades Girish has saved over 1100 girls from a life of abuse in red-light areas, giving them a loving home, education and medical care. He has further supported over 20,000 children with a better life.Sadly, 250 of the children rescued from abuse and exploitation are HIV positive. The high cost of medication has left Girish struggling for funds. Your support can help him provide these children with 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), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA). A movement to protect vulnerable children“Growing up in Ahmednagar, the experiences I had as a child witnessing the horrors of sex trade defined the path of my life. I had even seen my friend’s 15-year-old sister and 70-year-old grandmother being forced to do sex work for the price of a cup of tea”, recalls Girish. “I started by merely feeding and teaching children of sex workers initially with the intention of giving them some respite from the horrors of life of abuse in red-light areas. Gradually more and more mothers started coming to me and asked me to take their children away, even if it was just for a couple of hours,” he further adds.The work that Girish started in his youth gradually grew to become a movement, with many more joining his cause. His NGO Snehalaya to date has transformed the lives of millions. Girish’s work is crucial for the survival and safety of vulnerable children of sex workers. Snehalaya is almost entirely dependent on donations from the public and your support can strengthen his mission to save children most in need. Donate generously.The horrors of life in red light areas“The cruelty and abuse that children as young as 6 or 7 years of age face is something that I can’t explain in words. Young daughters of sex workers are made to watch their mothers being raped, are brutally assaulted and forced into sex work. No child deserves to grow like this, Girish says in anguish.Sad reality of life for children growing up in red light areas is that they are deprived of even the most basic needs like proper food, safety and education. Moreover, a majority of children rescued by Girish are diagnosed HIV positive. The task of securing medication, providing them quality education and much needed nutrition is one that requires constant support from donors. Moreover, the increase in healthcare cost has left Girish struggling to keep his home for children going. But your support can enable him to give his children a loving environment and save many more who still remain trapped behind closed doors.Donate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help Snehalaya give hundreds of children rescued from red-light areas a life away from violence and abuse.

Help Girish give 250 HIV+ children, rescued from abuse in red-light areas a new life

“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.

“I saw a girl, barely 7 or 8, being pushed into flesh trade. Her cries for help still echo in my ears. There were men as old as 60 r*ping the innocent child. That was the day I knew my mission in life was to get these children out of the hell-like conditions in red-light areas. They are nothing short of hell and no child deserves to grow up in this environment” says Vinay Vasta, founder of Social Activities Integration, an organisation committed to freeing children trapped in red-light areas.Vinay and his NGO have been able to provide education, medical care and nutrition to over 2,500 children. But his dream to provide safe shelter to children remains unrealized. “We do our best to keep these children safe during the day but sadly they are forced to go back to the red light areas at night as we don’t have a home for them. Your donation can help us build a safe home for children of sex workers and prevent them from being pulled into prostitution. Donate to make this dream a realityDonate 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).Life in red light areas“S*x workers use their homes which are barely 6 feet by 4 feet for their business. They invite customers in the presence of their children. Their children not only witness abuse but experience it too. Just imagine a child being told that all she can ever become in life is a pr*stitute”, Vinay shares as he explains the extent of abuse children face in red light areas.This is a life that thousands of children are forced to live behind closed doors where they suffer abuse and exploitation morning, noon and night.A ray of hopeVinay has been relentlessly trying to give children the care and education they deserve. He has provided quality English education to thousands of children, enabling them to secure a livelihood out of red-light areas. Several children taught by Vinay are today leading successful lives as professionals and Government employees. However the sad reality is that Vinay and his NGO, in the absence of a permanent shelter home, are unable to provide round the clock safety to these children, which is essential for their well-being.Your donations can enable SAI to build a shelter home for the children of sex workers and usher in a new tomorrow for them, away from the horrors of red-light areas.Donate to this fundraiser on Give.do, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to provide safe shelter for children of sex workers and save them from abuse and second generation pr*stitution.NGO's 80G number: AACTS0408EF20216NGO's 12A number: AACTS0408EE20028

Help Vinay bring children facing abuse in red-light areas to safety and protect them

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

Education

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

Children

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

Livelihood

Touching Lives, founded by Sonia Mackwani in 2003, is a non-profit organisation based in Mumbai, India. It works towards Learning, Healing and Art of children and families living in slum communities, in supporting them to become Independent Learners.An organisation that is both organic and process-oriented, it often conceives initiatives that is in sync with the "call" of the present world.LEARNING AND HEALING are continuous life-long and life-changing processes. When both are integrated, they help an individual to discover their gifts within, to recover from all the areas that limit them and to offer the best of them to this whole world.We thus provide a space which is safe, supportive and therapeutic for learning about oneself and this world.Our work with children living in slums of Borivali and Dahisar in Mumbai is the core of our work. Over 200 children receive activity based education through this project every year.At Touching Lives Learning Center and Community Centers, the trained mentors (teachers) use therapeutic learning methods for the overall development of children. This involves integrating mental health, education and developing conscious parent-child relationship.

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

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

Ankit Kanani

Touching Lives Welfare Trust

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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Many slum community clusters exist in huge population and multiple dynamics across Dahisar and Borivali, suburbs of Mumbai. Thousands of families and children within these slum clusters face basic resource challenges, one being education itself. It is very well known fact that this huge population live in economically, socially, psychologically challenged circumstances leaving them with less or sometimes no opportunities to avail support for enhancing their quality of life.We currently run 3 Community Centers in open spaces and temples at Ganpat Patil Nagar slum area. We provide Learning, Healing and Art opportunities and platform to the children. We also provide counseling, healing and awareness programs to the mothers. More and more parents want to send their children to learn. However, the space constraint, little resources and funds limit us to offer such opportunities to more number of children.Lack of physical infrastructure results in challenges to conduct the regular activity classes during monsoon, festivals etc. 
 We want to build a Learning Center for children- a rented physical infrastructure, which will provide a safe, conducive, growth-oriented and educational environment for the development of the existing children and to enroll more children in our program.The Learning Center will be run by our empowered Community Leaders - college students who have learned at Touching Lives, received formal teacher's training and have joined the team to share the gift of education with other children.This will also enable us to recruit passionate leaders and change-makers to teach/mentor and lead the project and take the vision forward.The in-house developed 'self-work approach/curriculum (supplementary education)' will provide:1.     Learning &amp; Education: English, Academics (Math, Science, etc.), Technology, Humanities2.     Wellness·        Mental Health: Therapies (Reiki, Emotional freedom technique, etc.), Activities (Art based therapy, Expressive therapy, etc.)·        Spiritual Health: Healing, Meditation, Connection with Earth·        Physical Health: Yoga, Sports, Movements3. Conscious Relationships: Work with children/parents/community, CounselingExisting number of children in 3 Community Centers - 60Number of mothers in Healing Program - 25Number of Community Leaders - 7Program Head - 1The funds raised through this campaign will help to :<ul><li>Set-up classrooms of the Learning Center</li><li>Operational expenses and Educational Resources for one year</li></ul> 
 Our overall goal is to help the children to Recover, Discover and Do what they realize for themselves and for the world.Child-Oriented impact:<ul><li>Build strong foundation in Education</li><li>Support emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual development</li><li>Bring them to their age appropriate level of learning</li><li>Enroll them in formal schooling</li><li>Equip with tools for healthy self, family, world relationships</li><li>Provide life-skills, vocational and leadership training</li><li>Sponsorship for higher studies</li></ul>Parent-Oriented impact:<ul><li>Educate them towards child development and child care</li><li>Tools for self-care and relationships</li><li>Practical awareness towards the education of their children</li></ul>Community oriented impact:<ul><li>Awareness towards community living / safe environment</li><li>Developing children to become role models for other community people and children</li><li>Including them in the development of the program</li></ul>

Building Learning Center for children living in slum communities

Dream Project is for college going students with challenging socio-economic situations.Students from different slum communities in India, students associated with many other NGOs, students rescued from abuse and living in homes designated for the survivors, students living in slums communities in different parts of Delhi and Mumbai, students living in small villages of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra etc.The major CHALLENGE is English language due to the transition from vernacular medium school to English medium colleges. The second challenge is coping up with diverse environment finding difficulty in communication. A student is faced with many decisions about career, finances and developing their personalities and exploring their self-identities. Due to financial challenges, some of the students are forced to do part-time job that affects their education.Thus, it is important to provide support for sound mental-health, personality development and life-skills too and help them prepare for the practical world.Per student education sponsorship INR 15,500 (190 USD) (175 Euros) (157 GBP)Total Number of students 2023-24 : 40Fund utilization: Salary of mentor (teacher), internet data recharge for students, subscription for Zoom, educational resources. 
 OUR SOLUTION1) Students gain enduring skills and knowledge that prepares them for the practical world and helps them in their career2) Holistically support their development and ‘dream’ for better quality of lifePROGRAM STRUCTURE: ONE YEAR ONLINEThe students attend regular 1.5 - 2 hours of online class twice a week via Zoom.CURRICULUM :The curriculum is developed by professional educators.1.   ENGLISH  (Communication skills in listening, reading, writing, speaking)2.   LIFE-SKILLS (Personality development, decision making, stress management, others)3.   HEALING &amp; SELF-WORK* (self-awareness, mindfulness, meditation, art-based therapy activities)4.   GLOBAL PERSPECTIVECOURSERA CERTIFICATIONThrough our partnership with Coursera, the students can learn and earn certificates from best universities and organizations in the world on Coursera for free.SPECIAL SUPPORT 1.   Workshops with experts on topics such as psychology of happiness, confidence building, entrepreneurship etc.2.   College study support with volunteers3.   Individual counselling with professional psychologist4.   Identifying and grooming interests, skills and talents. Preparing for job interviews and presentations5.   Tab / smartphones whenever funds are available6.   Monthly internet data recharge if they are not able to afford7.   Dream Fund scholarship: 3 students scholarship for college fee, vocational coaching 
 THE MODEL of Touching Lives is to support the individual journey of each child for their education and for their life.Here are some of the success stories of our previous batch:1. Shaheen Shaikh: Worked with Antarang Foundation as a consultant and career awareness facilitator. Shaheen got selected for the US students exchange program and is studying Early Childhood Care and Child Psychology at Northampton College.2. Shubham Singh: Works with an NGO supporting people with disabilities3. Saba Mirza: Working as a teacher in a nursery school in Dubai4. Sabreena Khan: Works in a pathology laboratory5. Ram Soni, who lived in a slum community in Mumbai, received support for his school and college education, sponsorships to learn computer, swimming, art-based therapy, clinical hypnotherapy and slowly work towards fulfilling his dreams. When he was in school, ram had dropped out of school to earn money. With his determination and support from Touching Lives, Ram completed his graduation in Psychology from Mumbai University.Currently, Ram lives in a rented apartment with his family, works as a therapist with Touching Lives and also with Wholistic Health college, Australia.Education does change the lives of children and their families forever!

Dream project

In the slum communities of Mumbai, families live in economically, socially and psychologically challenging circumstances. With ₹1,600 per child per month, you could help Touching Lives support the educational and life-skills needs for 300 children identified from slum communities of Dahisar and Borivali in Mumbai.The online nature of learning has enabled us to also support students rescued from abuse by other NGOs, students living in villages of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, different parts of Delhi and Mumbai etc., and not be limited to any location. Every child living in these vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds comes from families and communities where drop-out ratio from schools is high and there is a need to provide psychological/emotional development support to children. There is also a need to assist them to attend regular school and college.For some of the students, the reality is that the child may be in grade eight and yet not be able to read three letter English words.Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives and livelihoods of families and added to their challenges in life. The children need more support for staying mentally healthy, attaining and managing age appropriate levels of learning and making sure they continue their educational journeys. 
 Independent Learners Project by Touching Lives is an initiative to provide activity-based supplementary education to children living in slum communities in Mumbai and vulnerable situations across India. It also supports parents of the students with meditation and mental-health programs.Over the period of years, we have developed our in-house curriculum catering to the evolving needs of the children and working not just for their school study support but for their overall development.Thus, a child attending programs run under Independent Learners Project is assisted not only in continuing and progressing in the formal education system at school and college but also empowered with life-skills training, knowledge and tools for sound emotional development, mental well-being and creativity.For 2022-23, our goal is to support 300 regular students - continue to conduct the sessions online for 3-5 days a week one hour each day. The mentors and team of Touching Lives is constantly in touch with children and their parents apart from regular sessions through individual learning sessions and counselling support on rest of the weekdays and weekends.Annual per student education sponsorship - INR 18,960 (250 USD) (225 Euros) (190 GBP)Total Number of students 2022-23 – 300 
 THE MODEL of Touching Lives is to support the individual journey of each child for their education and for their life.Education does change the lives of children and their families forever!Ram Soni’s journey epitomizes the work, impact and vision of Touching Lives.Ram used to live in a slum community in Mumbai with his family and was always told since his childhood that he has to become a vegetable vendor like his father. Ram had dropped out of school for a year to earn a living for his family when he was in 7th standard.But with his determination and with the support of Touching Lives team, he was able to get back to education. Ram received support for his studies, sponsorship to learn swimming, computer, alternative therapies arts-based therapy, transactional analysis, clinical hypnotherapy, and also for his life goals. Currently, Ram lives in a rented apartment with his family, works full-time with Touching Lives team as a Healer and Counsellor. He has completed his graduation in Psychology and is also pursuing Distance Learning course of Masters in Holistic Counselling from Wholistic Health College, Australia.You can read more success stories of Touching Lives students here - <a href="https://www.touchonelife.org/the-sacral-success-stories/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.touchonelife.org/the-sacral-success-stories/</a>

Building Learning Center for children living in slum communities

Dream project

Independent Learners Project

Help Girish give 250 HIV+ children, rescued from abuse in red-light areas a new life

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

Help Vinay bring children facing abuse in red-light areas to safety and protect them

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