Educate and Shelter Children in Red Light District

 Dear Donor,

Thank you for your support in the past. With all of the NGOs to support, we are honored that you chose New Light.

Why is New Light so extraordinary? In a word, Urmi Basu. Urmi set up a small NGO in 2000 with very little seed money. She called the program New Light because it was a new day and it brough light into the lives of those who lived with abuse and without hope for the future. 

Today, New Light is a comprehensive community development project that provides shelter, education, health care, nutritional support, HIV care and the opportunity to live a life free of abuse, violence and stigma to more than two hundred children of sex workers and more than two thousand women  in the Kalighat red light district. Urmi was featured in the documentary Half the Sky based on the novel by New York Times columnist Nicollas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn. Urmi lives in  Kolkata, India and fights for social justice for the marginalized community of sex workers / women in prostitution and survivors of trafficking every day of her life.

All of this activity puts huge strain on fundraising but the success stores are nothing short of little miracles for the children who are studying and are no longer caught up in the cycle of intergenerational prostitution and desparation. For the most part, the community does’t consider that children born in those areas deserve equal opportunities, so Urmi is their champion to provide education and guidance in career building.  

The strain on Urmi is something I've witnessed as her friend and partner and yet her passion for justice is for all of us who witness her work, stunning heroism. 

Please join me in supporting this wonderful program. We are hoping that even a small monthly subscription will add up to give Urmi the support she so desparately needs to create a world of opportunity to so many precious women and children. 

Thank you!

Shana