By Sonal Shukla | Trustee
Hello friends,
Vacha’s project of empowering girls thru training in hard and soft skills is doing well in 17 slums in Mumbai. Of these girls in three communities are supported by your invaluable contributions. Our sincere thanks to all of you for this.
Sabah’s Story: Sabah lives with her family in a large slum. To reach her one room home you have to climb up a badly maintained ladder. Sabah as well as her brother have lost one third of a finger each negotiating the climb. It is a two storied tenement. They have no water tap and must carry all water from a public water tap in the street. Her skills in use of English, computers, in speak outs, in publishing a community newsletter etc. thru Vacha’s program have helped develop her potential. She passed her class 12 very well and is now in an undergraduate college studying Finance.
The college environment was a bit daunting initially. Most students were from affluent families and had well educated parents. But she was determined to make a mark. She heard there was going to be a seminar on Role andContribution of SMEs- Small and Medium Enterprises - in Indian Economy. Sabah studied the topic seriously and wrote and submitted a paper that got selected for publication in the college journal. Sabah was invited to make a presentation at the seminar. She would have to speak in an auditorium full of teachers, scholars and national and international dignitaries and in English too! Not one to be defeated, she prepared to present her thesis to the audience. Sabah explained her thesis about the importance of government support to SMEs, micro scale innovation, women entrepreneurs, and challenges in employment growth with proposed solutions. She ended saying, “We must encourage girls and young women to study and run their own small businesses, they do manage their households, don’t they?.” Mr. Wahrenburg, Head of Environmental Engineering group in Berlin congratulated her personally.
Sabah wants to continue with her community work and not just meet her personal targets. We feel this is a real triumph for her and for all of us who have contributed to her progress.
An Urgent Request: We can qualify for more support thru GlobalGivings’ Girl Fund campaign if we get donations from different individuals before March 15 . It is an opportunity for projects dedicated to women and girls to gain support and funding and to compete for a chance to earn a spot in the Girl fund for all of 2017. The campaign runs from March 1st 2017 to March 15th 2017 with a matching day on March 8th to celebrate International Women’s Day. It will help us grea if you and your friends make a contribution during this period.Here is the link: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/life-skills-training-for-poor-girls-in-slums-in-india/
Links:
By Sonal, Medhavinee and others in Vacha Team | Vacha Team
By Medhavinee Namjoshi & Yagna Parmar | Chief Project Coordinator, Project Coordinator
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