Educate street children in rural India

As part of the celebrations to honour the work of education activist, Malala Youszafi, we’re pleased to tell you that all donations made to our project today are eligible for 50% match-funding, meaning for every $1 donated we receive $1.50!

Our organisation and projects are rooted in campaigning and acting to empower children at risk and education plays a key role in this. When as a teenager, our founder Girish approached female sex workers to ask how he could help them they pointed to their children. Resigned to their own fates they wanted better for them, they wanted them to have the education that they had missed out on in the hope that it would give them brighter futures.

From that day, when Girish started Snehalaya by teaching two children, education has been at the heart of our work in tackling the broader issues, such as commercial sexual exploitation of children, facing our society.  As a donor to our cause we know you believe in the value and power of education. We established our Balbhavan projects to stop slums from being the recruitment grounds for pimps and brothel keepers and we are proud to report that by promoting ad providing educational support there are no longer underage sex workers in our district. Previously too many girls like Deepa, orphaned when her mother died of a HIV-related illness, were forced into prostitution. She was 15 when we rescued her from a brothel and re-enrolled her in school, today she is a fully-trained nurse.

“Educate a girl and you educate a whole community”
Malala Youszafi

Through last year’s #StandwithMalala campaign we reached a staggering 27,000 people, including the uneducated girls and local leaders in the city slums you are supporting. One of the girls who joined us on the Malala campaign trail to share her story is Saba. She lives in a predominantly Muslim slum with her widowed mother and four siblings. When her father’s family started applying pressure on her to get married it was our team she approached. As our staff are drawn from and based in these communities they are best placed to understand and address culturally sensitive issues and provide solutions. They counselled and helped Saba convince her family that she should be allowed to pursue her dream of studying engineering. She has just entered her second year of a degree course and has become our own personal Malala, a peer mentor inspiring others to stand up for their rights to a full education.

Thanks also to you, last year our team was able to conduct 4,505 home and 2,100 school visits to help more girls like Saba. They also identified and counselled 50 school drop-outs to return to education, helped another 308 pupils with their admissions to good schools and colleges and awarded 130 of our brightest evening class students scholarships of financial support for education materials.

There are still many more children who need our support, stand with Malala and Snehalaya today and help us to give them 150%.

Links:

• Visit our website