Rescue sex workers & at-risk children in India

We have had a great summer of improving our services at Snehalaya:

We participated in Global Giving's Evaluation Programme that took place over 5 days of intensive observations and workshops that found our work in India to be doing extremely well. An audit report excerpt below:

"It is clear Snehalaya is utterly devoted to meeting their vision of creating awareness and building capability for those whose rights have been deprived due to discrimination, inequality and exploitation. Snehalaya centres all decisions around the ‘need’ of the individuals they support. Their biggest strengths as an organisation are how innovative and inclusive they are"  - hannah Gladman and Belinda saunders - volunteer evaluation programme audit excerpt

School teachers from Leicester continue to advise, monitor and assess our own schools development now in it's 4th year.  teachers from. Welland Park School and are returning for another visit next month through the support of British a Council Funding through the Connecting Classrooms Scheme.

Many UK supporters have helped our community appeal at London based charity shop Give A Little who are donating 6months profit from shop sales to Snehalaya. The launch was a great success and the balloons, information and Indian street food went down a treat.

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So who are we helping:

Before being brought into the Snehalaya Family *Sweta aged 14 had only known a bleak brothel life.  She lived, worked, ate and existed in a room measuring 10' x 8' seldom going outside the compound and being subjected to sexual encounters averaging 11 clients a day.  

In the 4yrs *Sweta has been at Snehlaya she has flourished at school, worked hard on her social skills with the help of on site counselore, learned to lay and enjoy some free time her new brothers and sisters and developed a keen love of painting and clay modelling.  Next year she will start her Nursing studies.  Life you could say is good.

With the ongoing support of international donors like yourself WOMEN & GIRLS like *Sweta stop existing and start living in a protecting, encouraging environment that allows a real future.  

Snehlaya has been operating in Rural India for 20yrs with a dedicated mission 

"Every woman & child has the right to lead a life free from discrimination, inequality and exploitation."

Weds 15th October is a match fund day, meaning your donation will magically grow by 30% plus 25% gift aid if you pay tax in the UK.  Meaning there was never a better time to give.  Donations given between 2-4pm on 15th October are most likely to qualify, just click on our donate button now!

Since launching our appeal in May 2014 a great many things have taken place:

1. Up & down the UK we've held community fundraisers from bake sales to pub quizes, fun runs to cricket events.  
2. Through such fundraisers and the generousity of you our kind donors we've reached 75% of our appeal target so THANK YOU!
3. Snehalaya UK is now a registered charity, great news for volunteer programes & fundraising potential.
4. Our Global Giving's partnership continues to grow following an external evaluation of our projects and operations in India and a successful weeks intensive assesment & training.
5. Recommendations for growth were outlined at the recent AGM held in Maharastra (26th July) and the collective decision has been made to shout about our great work in the field by setting up a Communications & Fundraising Department.

Varsna* our beneficiary in longterm care continues to do well in school and in play, we caught up with her in India last week and she still loves cycling; and is quite the comedian full of energy and spontaneity.  At 14 she still hopes to apply to a local nursing college after completing high school and is excelling in Sports and English.  Varsna* recently visited her older 'sisters' at the local nursing school, and her sights have been set.

The statistics are proof Snehalaya's that social impact is vast and we through building up lasting relationships with our benefiaries and really listening to their needs we are really helping to tackle and irradicate the root causes of the inequalities marginalised people in India used to face on a daily basis:

Figures from 2013-2014:

- Launching a WOMENSLINE and short stay crisis centre helped 308 beneficiaries in it's first 6 months.

- Our CHILDLINE office helps 642 beneficiaries, receives 250 calls a day, and covers a 50km radius district wide.

- 716 students attended our Youth Programmes to raise awareness for our beneficiaries struggles.

- Our government accredited IT centre saw 262 slum children complete basic training skills.

- 1138 people benefited from our community care centre providing short & longterm sanctuary and medical provision.

With a generous 40% match funding day on 15th October 2014*, we really hope to encourage donations on this day to help maximise our impact and reach our target amount.  This wouldn't happen without the generousity of people like yourself who really care about making a change.  Please make a calendar note to shout loud on your social media to encourage people and support us on 15th Oct 2014!

Paste the below into your diary now:

15 October 9am : Post to FB http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/end-the-sex-trade-and-trafficking-in-india/

*(donations through global giving benefit from a 40% top up and then a 25% addition of gift aid for UK taxpayers) 

Thanks for reading!

mirandahudson@hotmail.com

Links:

• www.snehalaya.org
• Volunteering Video
• Facebook