Providing Life Skills to 300 Girls living in Slums

Friends,

Hello. In this report we would like to share about the activities that were undertaken in context of International Girls’ Day on October 11. Film screenings and art competitions were held to share the empowering experience through celebrating girlhood, something that most girls are denied in the all prevalent traditional son preference.

The third activity was in form of a Health and Gender fair. These fairs are part of a broader programme of health training for girls. It creates awareness about local health resources such as free health centres and State supported hospitals, nutrition and diet and the tabooed subjects of menstruation and sexual attraction in simple languages and through games and quizzes. It covers the age group 10 -16 mostly. A total of 538 girls were covered through Girls’ Day programme that lasted a week actually. These were conducted in the 3 of the 4 centres in slums that are supported through your donations. Originally GG donations had helped us start this programme of life skills for girls in 2 such areas. So thanks for your generosity and support. Vacha implements the programme in 18 such centres and all support is always welcome.

December is an important month for us as we receive more donations during it. GG has just informed us that any recurring donation that we receive in December will be fully matched by an anonymous donor. We hope you will encourage many to start at least a recurring donation on https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/life-skills-training-for-poor-girls-in-slums-in-india/?show=recurring $ 10 or more will contribute towards keeping at least one girl in school until class 12 and help her access learning materials and nutritional inputs. Recurring donations will also strengthen our programme of life skills for girls in various ways. Please do visit our website www.vacha.org.in 

Dear Friends,

On the Occasion of 15^th August, India’s Independence Day, girls from Vacha Centresreleased their 13^th Edition of Newsletter titled ‘Hamari Battein’ (Our Voices) in their bastis.

Newsletter is an opportunity for the girls to practice and display the skills they have gained through the centre activities. Girls formed committees for news gathering, typing, fund raising, and editing. They covered various issues such as availability, safety and hygiene issues related to community based toilets, girls’ access to public spaces, and safety in public spaces, advantages and disadvantages of internet, sexual harassment and sanitation in bastis. Girls also wrote poems, puzzles, and riddles to add fun to the newsletters.

Along with the release, they held various events such as photography exhibition that emerged from the photos taken by girls as part of workshops, songs, speeches, street play and rallies. One of the centres held a programme to dispel myths about superstitions. These events were attended by community leaders, Community Based women’s groups, parents and teachers. The girls went door to door to sell copies and get feedback of the newsletters.

Vacha has a council of young people across its centres in Mumbai. The representatives for this council are elected through democratic process. First meeting of the newly elected representatives was held post Newsletter Release and function and the representative exchanged their learning, experiences and feedback with each other.

Events and exercises like newsletters help our girls to practice their computer skills, social skills as well as marketing and negotiation skills. Parents get firsthand experience of the new confidence of their girls to speak in public or dealing with peers in a group.

We thank you for your support to this initiative and hope to have a continued engagement in girls’ empowerment.