Educate and Shelter Children in Red Light District

Dear Supporter,

I just returned from a two and a half week trip to New Light in the Kalighat, red light district of Kolkata, India. This was not just a site visit but an intimate understanding of the interworking of this extraordinary program and the loving staff that keeps the program going.  New Light is not a place that warehouses kids who are the children of the red light district (children of prostitutes) but a place for children to go with all the love and care that is needed to take children out of a living hell. 

At the shelter during the day, there was a parent/teacher meeting with the mothers.  While it was all in Bengali, I could understand that most of Urmi's conversations to the women seemed a little like scolding but always for the children's welfare. The children were at either of two preschools run like a Montessori style program. At night when the mothers were working, the children would come in for a meal, to play, go to the library that just opened up for the kids, and then often slept overnight on the mats on the floor. Some of the children were total orphans. One little girl, Pia, is over three but was very tiny. She and her sister were there together and were darling. I was sitting at the preschool and Pia came over and looked at me with those big eyes. I picked her up and within a few minutes she was curled up fast asleep. Their mother had committed suicide in one of the villages nearby and they were fending for themselves. As imagined, Urmi went to scoop up these two precious little girls. They are very eager to learn and New Light will give them every chance. 

Walking around with Urmi Basu, the founder and director of New Light, was like being with a stern aunt on occasion, a staunch supporter on another but always a loving mentor who deeply cares.  At ten years old the children are in danger of being nabbed into the sex trade, they are taken to another "boarding" situation but its large boarding homes with  house parents, time for homework, and lots of extracurricular like sports and traditional India dance. 

The issue I was very aware of is what it takes to run New Light. Since the results are so stellar and I saw nothing but hope and future for these children, I am asking for your assistance to perhaps do a monthly subscription of any amount. 

Thank you for your support.

Shana