Support Abused Women in India

by Seva Mandir

Project Report | Nov 1, 2021
Spreading the Lights of Happiness

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

This is Nidhi’s (name changed) story.

In 2018, as Nidhi felt troubled, she finally decided to leave her house. With her five-year-old daughter and many months pregnant stomach, she went straight to the railway station.
She had boarded the Ananya Express train, and somewhere in the middle of its route to Rajasthan Nidhi had her labor.

It was finally in Udaipur, Rajasthan that she received medical care.

Unable to find her family or well wishers in town, the police decided to contact Seva Mandir’s Women-Shelter. Vinita (name changed) from the Shelter, took her in.

The organization tried to speak with Nidhi several times, but she did not understand Hindi or English. She also had a speech defect, the words unclear. Most of the communication with her took place through hand gestures and basic sign language.

Her trauma had clearly affected her speech and expression. Her deteriorated mental health needed professional help. The organization helped her for the same.

The team speculated the accent to be of a Bengali origin, but Nidhi’s response to the language confused the team. It became even tougher to locate her initial whereabouts.

People in-charge of the shelter went out of their way to call several experts, dialed NGOs that worked for women in the cities that Ananya Express train passes through. Neither could they find the language, nor were they able to locate her town.

Nidhi has been living for three years in the shelter since. Therapy has definitely worked for her. She is very active with her chores and routine, keeps herself clean which at one time seemed all impossible. She is also a loving mother despite all odds.

Under the aegis of Seva Mandir, her daughter is enrolled for education as well.

We hope Nidhi can start her life afresh for her children and herself, become independent, and maybe be able to visit her community. Some day!

Till that hopeful day, Nidhi finds a home in this shelter and has been living safely with her two little kids.

We are so very thankful to you for helping our project. Lives of many women and their children are changing every day because of the people like you.

We are excited to share with you that our project is participating in GlobalGiving’s Giving Tuesday Campaign. The campaign will last 24 hours, from 00:00:00 EST to 23:59:59 EST on November 30, 2021. Please help us win the Incentive Funds by donating again to our project.

Thank you once again for all your help and support. From all of us here in Seva Mandir we wish you and your family a very HAPPY DIWALI, the Festival of Lights.

Warm regards,

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Jul 12, 2021
Protecting and Supporting Women during Pandemic

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

COVID-19 impacted us all in a spectrum of ways and it has impacted every single person on the planet. As COVID-19 continues to spread, the future has never felt so unpredictable. India has just seen the devastating effects of the second wave and the loss it has made to the lives of hundreds of people. Unlike last year, this time the rural region has been hit hard and large numbers of patients are reported from the villages. These are challenging times for all of us!! Undeterred by the present situation and have learned our lessons from the previous year, Seva Mandir is ensuring an extended hand of support to the families during emergencies and also maintaining a continuous dialogue between communities.

Seva Mandir is responding to this situation by undertaking the Covid Relief Work 2.0 in the rural communities which were hit hardest during the second wave.

Last Year, with the support from friends like you we had distributed 52,200 kits (Sanitation Kits 37800, Sanitary Pads 2500, Food Kits 3200, Storage Kits 4200, Safety Kits 4500).

This year our approach was different and was not only on only distributing kits. In the second phase we reached 415 villages and our awareness outreach was 2.3 lakh people, we reached 978 covid affected families, a total of 2910 food kits; 3880 sanitation kits; 678 safety kits; 64 monitoring kits were distributed.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, emerging data and reports have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, have increased. Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation. One in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly by her own partner.

While the world’s attention is focused on COVID-19, this other scourge is growing. Lockdowns and stay-at-home orders may be crucial in limiting and preventing the spread of COVID-19, but they also have a devastating impact on women and girls living with the risk of violence. 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 girls currently living at our Shelter Home are all fine and our team is making all the efforts to keep them engaged, and physically and mentally fit. During the recent lockdown period, we had planned and organized some activities for these women:

A six days training on Self Defense was given to the residents of our Shelter Home with the support of Police Administration.
A plantation programme was organized at our Shelter Home with the women, by the senior officials of Government’s Social Justice Department. They were also provided information on various useful Government schemes available.
On 21^st June- on the occasion of International Yoga Day, Judge and other officials from District Legal Services Authority visited the Shelter home to have a discussion on their issues and problems. The judge also shared the importance of yoga and suggested the residents to regularly practice it for their physical and mental wellbeing.

All the women and their children at Shelter home have a feel safe place while they cope with their personal problems. This certainly has not been possible without your support. We greatly appreciate your trust in Seva Mandir and for supporting our project.

We are also happy to share that we are participating in GlobalGiving’s July Bonus Day. GlobalGiving is offering big matching funds on donations made on Wednesday, July 14^th, starting at 9:00 a.m. ET and while the funds last. The donations between:

$100 to $499 will be matched by 15%,

$500 to $749 will be matched by 30%,

$750 to $1,000 will be matched by 50%.

This means that your support will have deeper impact, which is much needed during this difficult time.

We hope that you will continue to support our project and help us in making a positive change in the lives of hundreds of women in need.

Thank you again for your generous support. Stay safe and well.

Warm regards,

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Mar 11, 2021
Uplifting Rural Women Through Your Support

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

A general photo from Seva Mandir's working area

Tanu (name changed) got married when she was around the age of 16. Her husband was an alcoholic and used to beat her often. Tanu 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. Tanu was then persuaded by our youth leaders and Seva Mandir staff started looking for a job for her. She has now found a job and is currently working in Udaipur. She is one among the many women who are supported by Seva Mandir.

Last year, because of the support and all the help we received from well-wishers like you, we achieved the following:-

The Home gave support to 107 women along with their 71 children through shelter and counselling.
78% of the registered women were rehabilitated. 65% women re-joined their marital and natal families through counselling, 20% women left the home voluntarily, 11% started to live independently with employment, and 4% were referred to other organisations.
To address the health needs of women, weekly health camps were held in the premises by a gynaecologist.
26 women were aided to get employment.

A big thanks goes to you for these achievements. Seva Mandir is continuously trying to improve the lives of the women living in this part of the world. We hope that you will continuously support us for this much needed cause.

We are happy to share that we are participating in GlobalGiving’s Little by Little Campaign. All donations up to $50 per donor per organization will be matched at 50% by GlobalGiving till March 12^th. So, you have the chance to take one small action and it will have more impact.

Once again thank you for all your help and support.

Best Regards,

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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