Old age home for 300 abandoned elderly women

"Widows in India no longer throw themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. But life for them can still be hard. " - Anthony Denselow, BBC News

Thousands of widows continue to make their way to Vrindavan in north of India. Discarded and abandoned by their families, they lead a life of destitution and humiliation miles away from their home.

Maitri India with support from your donations to the Old Age Home for 100 abandoned elderly women is working to provide respect and dignity to widows by taking care of their wellbeing as they live the sunset years of their life in Vrindavan .More than 100 widows in Vrindavan are being permanently sheltered at Maitri Ghar in 2 co-located old age homes. Efforts to complete construction of the second shelter is underway and the roof of the 1st floor currently in place.

• All widows are being provided with a daily mid day meal, nutritional supplements, biscuits tea and fruit as part of our nutritional programme
• Further more, cotton saris have been distributed as comfortable Indian apparel to brace the summer heat. In addition, cans of talcum powder have also been given to each widow to keep themselves cool 
• Maitri collaborated with Shroff Eye Centre to hold an eye camp for widows. The camp provided eye check ups for all widows and necessary general treatment
• Maitri has been able to open 15 zero balance bank accounts for widows so they may accumulate savings, and 13 Universal Identification cards have been distributed respectively. More over, we continue to help widows understand their rights and raise awareness of their government benefits
• Maitri has facilitated our 2nd old age home with a fridge and water cooler
• Maitri is ensuring the development of an Ageing Resource Centre within the existing old age home. This centre will serve as a training and education hub for geriatric care. We are also networking with other institutions in order to better equip Maitri in this aspect
• As the monsoon season began in Vrindavan, the solar system installed in one of our old age homes was destroyed. Maitri has recently been able to replace this system which helps in ensuring stable electric supply at Maitr Ghar.

Maitri is happy to inform you that we completed 10 years of serving abandoned and destitute widows in Vrindavan on the 4th of July 2015. More over, It has been a joy to see that the widows enrolled with us no longer have a need to beg in order to sustain themselves. In addition, their safety and health has greatly improved and they now live with dignity and respect.

Moving forward, Maitri is working towards a widows economic empowerment programme that can provide them with dignified earning opportunities. Your committed generosity and support is making sure that sustainable help reaches widows in need and IS making a world of a difference in their lives. Thank you!

Sarla got married at the age of 14 to Chunni, a 40 year old man. He was extremely agressive in nature and was an alcoholic as well. Under the inflence, Chunni was often violent towards Sarla even after the birth of their only daughter. Due to the domestic violence she was suffering Sarla left her husband with her daughter a year later. She came to Alwar and started working in a shop as a helper. Unfornately a few months after she left, her husband found her wherabouts and took their daughter along with Rs 10,000 from the shop. Later, after working for three years at the shop Sarla married the shopkeeper who was a father of 1 son and 3 daughters. He was very good to to her and treated her well. Out of his love for her, he bought a house in Sarla's name. To Sarla's surprise, a few years later, her daughter came back and convinced her to go and be with her in Jaipur. Being her only daughter, Sarla decided to go. How ever, in Jairpur Sarla’s daughter took all her money and threw her out onto the streets. After this humilating incident, Sarla had no choice but to return back to her hometown. On returning, she fell sick and to make matters worse, her step daughter made her sell the house to pay for her treatment. Now, Sarla was left with no place to stay, nor did she have her husband later as he had passed away. On the death of her husband, the step children refused to allow her to stay with them. A well wisher, fortunately introduced her to Maitri a few months back. She now lives here and feels secure and happy at heart. 

Lastly, Maitri is pleased to inform you that 2 of our photos from this project has been selected as a finalist in GlobalGiving's 2015 Photo Contest! Voting will begin at 12pm EDT on August 3rd and end at 12pm EDT on August 7th.  During this time, we urge you to vote for our leading photo so that Maitri can win a $1,000 prize and the opportunity to be featured in social media promotions. You can vote here.  Please share the link with family and friends so that we can gain as much support as possible. All funds won will go towards the old age home for 100 elderly widows.

Links:

• Vote for Maitri's photo on Global Giving's photo contest