Educate and Shelter Children in Red Light District

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

Dear Donors,

We are pleased to report that Khela-Ghar the boys home at New Light is open. We have always worked mainly with the education and shelter of girls in the red light district however it was apparent that the boys needed a place to call home and for guidance.

The house was filled with laughter and happiness as the young boys ran up the stairs into their rooms deciding on which bunk to occupy.The opening of this home for boys, encourages the boys to have dreams and ambitions. Their mothers were victims of trafficking and human slavery and the children live in one of the oldest red light districts of the city.

New Light operates a night shelter and several residential homes for girls. The need for a boys home was to establish positive male role models in a program that works to save girls from becoming victims of sexual exploitation and to improve the lives of the children of sex workers. Without this support, they too would fall to the only way they could make a living in the streets. New Light has so many success stories and particularly the college students that we so proudly support. 

There is never doubt in our mind that donating towards the education and shelter of the child of the red light district is life changing.

Thank you,

Shana

Dear Donors,

New Light is a nonprofit charitable trust that protects and educates young girls, children and women who are at high risk in their community by providing safe shelters, educational opportunities, recreational facilities, social enterprises, healthcare and legal aid.

Thank you for your  donations in the past and even small sums of money can make a big difference in the lives of victims of traffiking, vulnerable women forced into prostitution and their at-risk children.  Village Volunteers is the fiscal agent for New Light through the Half the Sky Foundaiton.

Through the important work that is being done for girls with a night shelter for the little ones, and three safe homes for girls and young women where they go to school, the need to help the boys was appartent. These young men roam the streets of the red light district and have no hope for the future. Recently they opened  Khela-Ghar, a residential home for boys.

New Light Boys’ Home, Khela-Ghar, is a part of New Light’s efforts to provide young boys of women who are in prostitution, the opportunity to grow up in a safe and secure environment and realize their full potential. The boys’ home will help remove the male children from the violence filled environment of Kalighat, primarily, where they are exposed to crimes and other socially undesirable practices.

The Home’s aim is to bring and retain as many children and young adults as possible into the mainstream by providing formal education; job oriented training and different vocational activities so that they can choose a life with dignity.

Thank you for all your assistance.  

Shana

Dear Donor,

Since a program like New Light needs ongoing funds to support the children in the shelter and in school, they try to set up social enterprises that help women to make an income to support their children. The newest progject that will be scheduled to be set up in January of 2015 will provide income to women and the profits should be able to provide the funds to educate 12 girls a year. The project is called "Empowering Women Period" and is a Village Volunteers' Initiative..

The project will give them the opportunity to make sanitary pads from an invasive species, water hyacinth. This pad is fully biodegradable and will be provided to girls in school who have no means to buy pads themselves. In India, one in four girls drops out of school when they begin menstruating due to many factors. 

We thank you for your continual support and welcome any inquieries to this new project that will be a boost to educating and sheltering children in the red light district in Kolcata.

Thank you,

Shana Greene

Links:

• Sanitary Pad Project