Dear Friend,
From all of us here in Seva Mandir we wish you and your family Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the New Year bring to you lots of love, laughter, and joy.
Your generosity is bringing cheer and hope to so many. Thank you! from Seva Mandir on behalf of 500,000 villagers whom we work with in Southern Rajasthan.
Mona (name changed) came in contact with Seva Mandir’s shelter home during the second wave of Covid-19 lockdown. She was not able to sustain herself and was not able to get back home. When she came in touch with Seva Mandir she was found extremely depressed, confused and numb. During her initial days she would not speak at all, was having sleep issues and would often break down crying during the day.
Initially Seva Mandir provided Mona with a simple routine for her day to keep her engaged. Mona in a span of 6 months then had completely submerged into her daily routine, where she particularly enjoyed cooking food and organising meals with other women and the TV watching hours where she felt lightened.
Mona was then initiated into counselling and given medication for her sleep issues. She was showing steady improvements in her mental and physical health. Her personal hygiene and habits also improved and she was able to protect herself from Covid-19 virus.
She then started to communicate with Seva Mandir staff members and after some inquiry of few months it was found that she had her family in Lucknow (1,000 kms away from Shelter home). Her husband, who was a fruit seller there, was contacted and it was found she was also mother of two children. During the lockdown she was unable to return home to her family and got stuck in Udaipur.
After 14 months of staying at Seva Mandir’s shelter home Mona finally made her journey back home to her family and reached safely. She is in contact with Seva Mandir through telephonic follow up and she often recalls about her time spent there and she tries to keep herself busy as she likes to have a routine for the day. She feels healthier and doesn’t feel distressed with her life situations and talks about hoping to have a food stall sometime in future in Lucknow.
This new life for Mona has only been made possible because of the support Seva Mandir receives from well-wishers like you. However, there are many more like Mona who are still remain vulnerable and need your support.
This New Year, you can give the gift of life to many more women in need. $10 from you will cover the cost of 15 day’s food, clothing and other personal hygiene products for 1 victim of abuse.
We would like to thank you from the bottom of our heart for joining hands with us. Once again wish you and your family a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Best Wishes,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team
Links:
Dear Friend,
Recently, Seva Mandir was elated to welcome 2019 Nobel Laureate Prof. Abhijeet Banerjee, Economist, Director J-Pal (The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) and Mohammad Abdul Latif Jameel, Chairman and CEO, Abdul Latif Jameel Group and J-Pal team. This visit was a special visit for both parties due to the exciting exchange of thoughts and ideas shared on the mutual interest in the development of rural communities in Rajasthan.
Prof. Banerjee and Seva Mandir have had a longstanding and strong relationship since 1996. The Nobel laureate has worked extensively on studying various development problems and has helped in contributing to their solutions.
The few days of their Udaipur visit were jam-packed with visits and productive discussions. The J-PAL team, along with Seva Mandir’s team, traveled to remote villages Jalpaka and Jhabla; where they were formally introduced to Seva Mandir’s initiatives including natural resources, early childcare and nutrition, women empowerment and education.
A notable highlight of the visit was Prof. Banerjee’s enthusiastic discussion at a women’s Self Help Group (SHG) regarding the growing challenges of poverty and need for climate action in vulnerable regions and communities such as theirs.
During the community discussion, Prof. Banerjee vocalized, “Climate change and water scarcity are global challenges, and it will worsen in future. In India, the rural community has vast knowledge of water related challenges and its solutions. I look forward to understanding community perspectives and suggestions on tackling the future challenges and its solutions. This democratic approach will enable us to find collaborative solutions to the future challenges.”
Thank you so much for all your faith and continuous support to our programme.
Best Wishes,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir team
Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir
Links:
Bhumika (name changed) got married when she was around the age of 16. Her husband was an alcoholic and used to beat her often. Bhumika refused to tolerate this violence and returned to her parents' house after a year. She then sat the 12-grade exam and passed. Her husband came to her and convinced her to return home. But things didn't improve much. He continued to behave violently so she came once more to her parents' house. She then had the opportunity to attend a five-day training course on gender and life skills conducted by Seva Mandir. As her husband continued to harass her she decided to not to return to his house. Bhumika then contacted our Shelter Home staff, who helped her and also started looking for a job for her. She has then found a job and is currently working in Udaipur. Today, she is not dependent on anyone for her survival and is living a dignified life. She is one among the many women who were victim of domestic violence and are supported by Seva Mandir.
Since 2004, Seva Mandir has been running shelter home to support women and their children in distress. The Shelter home offers support and rehabilitation, legal and financial counselling, legal aid, medical and psychological care, skills development, and also take care of education of their children during their stay.
We are deeply grateful to you for your support towards helping women in distress.
We are happy to share that we are participating in GlobalGiving’s September Little by Little Campaign which will last 5 days, from from September 12, 2022, at 00:00:00 EDT to September 16, 2022, at 23:59:59 EDT. All eligible donations of up to $50 USD will be matched at 50% for the duration of the campaign. So, this is the chance to take one small action and it will have more impact on the lives of many women and their children. We hope that you will once again support our programme.
Thank you,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir team
Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir
Links:
Jaya, who was staying in Seva Mandir’s Shelter home, was finally reunited with her family after 5 years.
She, along with her two children, a 6 year old and a new born, were found at the railway station and somebody informed Seva Mandir about them. She was in depression and one of the main barriers was communication as no one was able to understand her language. She was then brought to our shelter home, where she spent 5 years.
We tried various counsellors, language specialists, etc. but could not understand her language. During these years Seva Mandir had taken care of all her medical and other needs. The education needs of her children were also taken care of. With regular efforts, Jaya has now improved a lot.
After continuous efforts by Seva Mandir finally with support from the Police and Women’s Right Department we finally found her family. After a long time when she saw her family, tears of happiness came to her eyes with a big smile.
Thank you so much for all your faith and continuous support to our programme. We are happy to share that we are participating in GlobalGiving’s July Bonus Day Campaign. Donations of $100 USD and up will be matched on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, starting at 9 a.m. ET. The higher the amount, the higher will be the match. So, this is the chance to take one small action and it will have more impact on the lives of many women and their children. We hope that you will once again support our programme.
Best Wishes,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir team
Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir
Links:
Wishing all of you a very Happy Women’s Day!
8th March, considered as International Women’s Day. This day brings many things for women – a cause for celebration, a reason to pause and re-evaluate a remembrance, an inspiration and a time to honour, loved and admired. The day celebrates the achievements and contributions of women in different spheres.
Seva Mandir is working from last 53 years in the southern part of Rajasthan for the upliftment, safety and development of women. But changing the mindsets of the people is not easy and it takes time. In Seva Mandir’s work area women play a major role in sustaining families and communities, in addition to their domestic responsibilities, but then also the situation of women is not very good in this region.
Covid-19 pandemic has further impacted women the most as the migrants returned to their villages which affected the family income, and it has also increased additional work for women. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, data and reports have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, have increased. So, Seva Mandir’s work becomes more important here.
Our team at Seva Mandir is regularly monitoring the situation in rural areas and putting all the efforts to stop any kind of violence and is also helping women those who are in need. Women and their children currently living at our Shelter Home are all fine and our team is making all the efforts to keep them happy, engaged, and physically & mentally fit.
Recently, in celebration of the “International day to eliminate violence against women” a fortnightly campaign was organized by Seva Mandir. The purpose of this celebration was to sensitize communities and staff on how violence affects women and men.
As part of the celebrations, webinars, solidarity events and village-based campaigns were conducted. 4 webinars were done on the topics - Building Better Relationship, Threat to Women and Young girls in the age of Covid, Protecting Children in Digital era, and Masculinity and Violence. 8 solidarity events and 131 campaigns around this issue were done. 4,270 women participated in the fortnightly campaigns on gender and violence.
A talk was also organized with the Deputy Superintendent of Police (who is also a woman) to motivate the women staying in our Shelter Home. She also shared her personal experiences.
We would like to thank you for all your help and support to our programme. Without the supportfrom friends like you none of this had been possible. So, a big applause for you. The world can only progress if women are respected and given equal opportunities for their growth and development. Seva Mandir is continuously working for the upliftment and betterment of women in this part of the world.
Once again thank you and Happy International Women’s Day.
Best Wishes,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
