Educate and Shelter Children in Red Light District

Dear friends of New Light,

In order to explain how donations are being used, we feel it important to reiterate the history and current work at New Light. New light is is a registered public charitable trust operating from the terrace of a temple deep inside the red-light district of Kalighat, Kolkata that offers comprehensive community development services. 

The shelter project provides the children of sex workers a safe haven,particularly in the evening hours when streets are the most dangerous and the mothers are working. Initiated by caring for 9 children in the year 2000, the programs of New Light today serves more than 250 children of various age groups.

The services offered by New Light includes education, healthcare, nutritional support, recreational facility, HIV/AIDS care, income generation opportunities for the women and residential care for many of the young children from the community. Legal aid and advocacy against gender based violence are other thrust areas of New Light`s operation.  

Over the years New Light has set up multiple facilities to cater to the needs of children and young adults at risk. New Light Shelter for children not only from the red light district but from the Dalit community with the children of municipal crematorium and sanitation workers who have traditionally been treated as untouchables. All of these children live in equally precarious circumstances, exposed to violence and subjected to discrimination and sociial stigman. In New Light, the children receive support to continue formal education, remideial education, nutrition and healthcare. 

The residentail facility, the Soma Memorial Girls Home is located un the southern fringe of the city to protect adolescent girls at rish. Thrity-seven girls from 6-18 years reside and are cared for by dedicated staff recruited within the community. There is a boys home set up in 2014 with the same dedication to boys who were vulnerable in the influences of the red light district. Outstanding performances in school and in the arts is normal for children from challenging backgrounds who are given a chance their parents didn't have in life. There is also an adult home for students taking their education to the next level. 

Last but not least is Operation Starfish. They meet the growing demands to strenghten care for toddlers who needs are laregly neglected. The preschool follows traditional as well as Montessori system of teaching and accommodates around 50 children up to five years of age to stimulate and nuture. 

Explaining the important work of New Light is our way of saying thank you and to demonstrate the ongoing need to break the chain of oppression by providing children a way forward.  

Thank you,

Shana Greene

Links:

• To volunteer at New Light contact Village Volunteers.

Dear Donor,

It is every child’s right to grow up in a world that’s safe and nurturing in every aspect, a right that is often snatched away at an early age. In Kolkata’s red light district in Kalighat, where New Light is based, the needs of children of sex workers are largely neglected. And for New Light, the needs in Kalighat are urgent. Since its inception, New Light has championed programs that extend safety, shelter and education for the most vulnerable children on the streets of Kolkata.

New Light’s child shelter programs provides comprehensive welfare to children of women in prostitution.  They work with the mothers to assist them to strengthen support for their infants and children whose needs are often neglected. The Jhinuk shelter, for example, doubles as a Montessori preschool in the morning hours in keeping with the shelter’s aim of preparing the children for mainstream schools when the time is right.

What is equally important is that several of New Light’s shelters address the health needs of these children through nutritious, meals, regular health check-ups and vaccinations.

In 2012, the compelling Half the Sky movement awarded funds to New Light to start another shelter, Operation Starfish, that provides safe shelter, preschool, health, nutrition and loving care for vulnerable children between the ages of 3-6 years. 

Your help is always so appreciated. If you could also tell friends and family about New Light, we would be very grateful

Best regards,

Shana

Links:

• video of New Light

Dear Supporter, 

The girls have run the course and passed their exams! There is no secret to their success. It was the result of preparation, hard work and the opportunity that you provide them through your support. Applauds go to Lata Supriya and Mamoni. Lata scored an impressive 87% marks in Accountancy in her High School Examinations. Two of the girls are ready to get a university education in Accountancy and Hospitality Management.

The gift of receiving an education for these lovely girls thrills us. The fate of these girls would have been sealed by their proximity and relationship to the Red Light District where their mothers have been enslaved since they were very young. Education is the most significant socio-economic factor that influences and determines the development of any society. India as a nation has been struggling to create a uniform system of education. Despite many efforts, the country is stratified by caste, class and economic position and it remains unable to create an inclusive system for all. Communities as marginalized and challenged as those in the red light districts are the most vulnerable and are left out of the most important tool in empowering the socially challenged. 

At New Light, all children in the various safe shelter programs of New Light attend formal schools. Extensive remedial support by dedicated teachers for preschool and all grades is provided with an emphasis on mathematics, science and language skills. With each student their individual victories provide a miraculous opportunity to change the tides for the children of the red light district.

Thank you for you support. 

Shana Greene

Executive Director