Empower 100 Girls in Asia's Largest Red Light Area

Ratna* joined AAWC’s tuition classes in January 2015 but discontinued in September 2015 because of her mother’s personal problem. Her mother had also stopped Ratna’s school as she could not afford school fees due to inadequate income.

Ratna was given regular counselling during AAWC’s intense outreach. The outreach worker had influenced her to join AAWC again and it gave good results, as Ratna joined AAWC’s tuition classes in September 2016 nearly a year after dropping out the first time. Now she is receiving formal education regularly and participates in other day-to-day activities at the center. Today, Ratna is found filled with laughter and joy, taking her education seriously and wanting to build a better future.

 *name changed to protect identity 

Organization Updates:

GuideStarIndia Transparency Awards Gold (Advance) level: During this quarter, AAWC has received the GuideStarIndia Gold category award for transparency and accountability in the public domain. AAWC was chosen after four levels of transparency criteria along with 51 other awardees from the nation to achieve this feat. AAWC is planning to apply for the last and final Platinum award certification.

Project Inspire:  AAWC was selected as a semifinalist for Project Inspire. Project Inspire is a joint initiative from the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard, which is helping young change-makers to create a better world for Women & Girls in Asia Pacific.

Udaan Updates:

Education: In the previous quarter, AAWC shifted 20 Udaan girls from Marathi Medium to private English Medium School, as they showed academic progress in the previous year. In this quarter, the girls were observed adjusting to the new school environment and the education system. They were found adapting to the environment and trying to meet the expectations of their school and tuition teachers. It was an overall new and challenging experience for the girls; however, AAWC is sure that they will soon get familiarized to the new schooling system, which could lead them to a brighter future. Throughout this quarter, all the teachers, staff, and volunteers focussed on providing additional support to the girls to cope up and do better in academics. In-house assessment, follow-up in the schools and sessions on English speaking were regularly conducted for their holistic development.

Workshops & Sessions: In this quarter, volunteers from Columbia University conducted a workshop on scriptwriting wherein the Udaan girls were taught the concepts of dialogue writing and stage direction. They were also encouraged to write skits and act in it. In the Spoken English classes, they were introduced to new vocabulary. New topics such as different types of meals, personality traits, and wild animals were taught through games and innovative techniques. The volunteers also worked on the girls’ basic grammar. A volunteer had conducted sessions on computers and its applications. The girls learnt to use the MS Office application, the Internet, and names and functions of internal parts of the computer.

Recreational Excursions: The Udaan girls were taken to visit the Funky Monkey amusement park wherein they enjoyed themselves, as they do in each year. The Annual Udaan Felicitation program was organized during this quarter and like every year the girls had a lot of fun in it. They performed dance and drama and the AAWC band performed on different songs. The girls were encouraged to do well in the coming academic year by giving them awards in different categories. AAWC’s founder trustee Mr. Sudarshan Sir and a volunteer Mr. Kalyan felicitated the program. Awards like Most Creative Thinker, Best Team Leader, Most Cohesive Mentor-Mentee Pair, Most Enthusiastic Learner, Most Regular Tuition Group were distributed to the girls in the program. The skits and dances of the girls were appreciated by all in this program.

Extra-Curricular Activities: Along with regular guitar classes, the girls also have started learning the piano, which was donated by one of the volunteers. Currently, the girls are enjoying learning it. To make their Sundays stress-free and interesting, yoga sessions were introduced. These sessions comprised of warm-up exercises, simple asanas, and fun games, and the girls were observed enjoying this new activity. A rakhi-making competition was also organized for the Udaan girls during Raksha Bandhan festival and they made beautiful rakhis using woolen thread and foam paper. The girls also had a discussion on why these festivals are celebrated every year at such a grand level in our nation. In theatre class, girls have been trained to think about different concepts of their plays. This has not only developed their creative skills but also made them more confident to present in front of others, express themselves, improve their body language, work in groups, share with others, and be more creative. The AAWC volunteer Mr. Kalyan, during the theatre sessions, gave small assignments to the girls for making skits on topics like a scene at a hotel, at a bank, etc. The girls made impressive skits and presented them in front of everyone. He also conducted games that were targeted towards making the girls lose their inhibitions, becoming more confident, and getting comfortable with themselves. In the art classes, girls had art sessions on mirror images, portrait sketching, and coloring; a volunteer, Antoinette from the United States, conducted theme based drawing session with the girls to prepare postcards to be used in her calendar. During this quarter, the traditional Warli painting session of the Warli tribe was also conducted and the girls learnt how to prepare the Warli paintings using traditional and natural colors.

Counselling: The in-house counselor conducted various sessions with the girls in the group counselling sessions on emotions and expressions, which included focusing on their tone, pitch, body language, facial expressions, and saying ‘NO’ in unwanted circumstances. Some sessions were also organized to sensitize girls about environmental issues like deforestation, food and water wastage, pollution; and social issues like child marriage, child labour, the importance of education, human trafficking, etc. Topics like personal hygiene and cleanliness and self-discipline were also covered along with working on some girl’s behavioral issues. Individual sessions with few girls were conducted related to reading, writing, social skills, motor skills, and anxiety.