Empower 100 Girls in Asia's Largest Red Light Area

When AAWC outreach workers first met Devika*, she was shy and disliked staying in her mother’s home all day. However, she had nowhere else to go and thus kept to herself. Also, as her mother could not afford to send her to school continuously, she was in a standard much lower than that of most children her age.

It was during this time that the outreach workers convinced Devika to come to AAWC's day care center. She slowly began enjoying her time here and was consequently enrolled into the night shelter program. With AAWC's help, she also moved into a higher school standard.

Today, Devika is happy, flourishing and pushing herself to achieve her dreams. She enjoys art and values her education very much. She is also an excellent role model to our younger beneficiaries.

*name changed to protect identity

Organization Updates

Capacity Building:

During the quarter, AAWC Staff attended a Patient’s Rights Workshop conducted by Rangoonwala Foundation and a workshop on CSR and Intellectual Property Rights organized by International Resources for Fairer Trade.

Medical Camp:

A Dental Camp and a General Medical Camp were organized at AAWC in association with Angels Dentist Network for all our beneficiaries. 141 AAWC and other community members benefited from the camps.

Udaan Program Updates

Education:

All of our Udaan girls who appeared for their 10th Grade Board Examination secured first and second class marks. One beneficiary secured 80% marks in her 12th Grade Board Examination and wishes to take up commerce to pursue Chartered Accountancy.

This academic year, we placed 20 of our Udaan girls into private English Medium school from vernacular mediums. The girls are excited and coping well with the transition. Tutoring classes were also commenced from June.

Exposure Visit and Sessions:

The Pricewaterhouse Coopers team in Bandra warmly organized an exposure visit for the Udaan girls to their office and talked to them about the importance of an education, merits of hard work and future goal setting. The girls had a great time playing different games and took back a positive message, along with various gifts.

The girls were also introduced to Journalism during a Career Guidance Session conducted by Editor Ajay Kamalakaran from ‘Russia Beyond the Headlines’. The girls learnt a lot about journalism during the session and made sure to ask various questions pertaining to the field.

Recreational Excursions:

With the summer vacation beginning in April, the Udaan beneficiaries got a chance to visit a lot of places such as museums, beaches, gardens, and a movie screening, which they attended with their mothers. They also visited the American Library where they were introduced to the concept of e-books, and the Chowpatty Beach with volunteer B’jorn who taught football to the girls.

The girls also attended weekly sessions organized by corporate partner Hexaware, where Hexaware employees engaged the girls in educative and recreational sessions on topics such as earthquake, fire safety, solar system and Indian states, along with various games.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

After their visit to the National Gallery of Modern Art with volunteer Antoinette, Udaan beneficiaries drew inspiration from the work of famous artist A.A. Almelkar and imitated his sketching style. The girls also participated in a self-defense session organized by instructor Martial Vout, where he trained the girls to defend themselves in various dangerous situations and shared easy tricks.

Also, to ensure that the girls utilized their summer vacation time to the fullest, we made sure to involve the girls in a host of engaging sessions where they learnt new musical instruments, songs in various foreign language, jazz dance form, drama classes, glass painting and paper quilling workshops as well as mehendi (henna) designing classes.

Counseling:

AAWC’s in-house counselor took various sessions on mental health, self-acceptance, expressing emotions and Personal Safety Education with the girls. Animal-assisted therapy sessions were also continued for the younger girls.