1m meals for excluded women & children

    The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Cyclone Amphan, and floods have been disastrous for excluded women, victims of sex trafficking, and their children. This campaign spearheaded by Apne Aap Women Worldwide was launched on March 24, 2020, by Ruchira Gupta, Founder of Apne Aap, and is long from over. This project aimed to distribute 1 Million Meals to excluded women and children, especially victims of sex trafficking across India. Apne Aap’s impact has exceeded this target 12 times over and has surpassed the number of women and girls by five times, and is only accelerating even after 745 days.           

    Victims of sex trafficking and their children need food now, more than anything. Over the last few weeks, more than 85% of women report finding it hard to earn their daily wage, families are starving due to no income, and children are cut off from learning and unable to find food. Many women in our areas of focus, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bihar, live in caged rooms with families as large as 11, with no windows, running water, or fresh air. Apne Aap has identified and supported a network of 29 NGOs and community leaders all over India to distribute food, sanitary supplies, education, and housing to their communities. We have provided over 13 million meals and sanitary supplies to more than 530,000 excluded women and children in 8 states of India. In addition to food and sanitary supplies, we provide hygiene packs, masks, and basic medicine.             

    With schools and classes suspended due to COVID and ongoing lockdowns, parents have urged Apne Aap to help restart activities and classes to ensure their children are fed and educated. There is considerable pressure on older children who have managed to complete the 10th or 12th grades, to graduate, get a job and start earning for their families due to the lack of food and resources. With few resources, no access to tuition, no counseling, or places to study, Apne Aap has provided laptops, mobile phones, and internet facilities to ensure they can complete online classes with ease.     

    Apne Aap’s classes provide a mid-day meal for the children whose schools are closed due to ongoing lockdowns. Apne Aap connected 748 children to educational programs from 2002 to 2022. Many have finished college, like Poonam, who studied hard for her BA and is now studying for law exams. Many of the children and young adults are working to support themselves and their families using the education they received on behalf of the efforts of Apne Aap.        

    The #1MillionMeals project is a life-saving initiative that continues to feed exploited women, women, and children stuck in prostitution and their families. A lack of education due to few resources has only exacerbated the issue of starvation as schools are not feeding children. Without education, the children may never be able to have a dignified job to pay for food and supplies for themselves and their families. #1MillionMeals prevents women and girls from entering prostitution to pay for basic necessities. On behalf of Apne Aap and the network of 29 NGOs and community leaders, we thank you for your donations that have allowed us to save the lives of many vulnerable women. It has been 745 days of this life-saving work, and we are far from done. With your help, we can continue to increase our goal and eradicate the system of prostitution by empowering, supporting, and feeding vulnerable women and children across India.

Links:

• #1MillionMeals
• Apne Aap Website

As new Covid variants run rampant worldwide, it is important that we continue our Covid relief program, 1 Million Meals, to help those most vulnerable in India's red light areas. 

From September to November 2021, we have been working to provide food, menstrual hygiene products, school supplies and education support to women and children from red-light areas and slums in Delhi, Kolkata, and Bihar. 

These women and children were impacted by the Covid pandemic due to loss of livelihood, debt burden of disease and death of a family member. Many children also lost access to education, as schools were closed, and these children do not have phones or laptops or data plans. Some of the women who had transitioned to daily wage business like selling vegetables or running teashops were no longer allowed to do so due the fear of the spread of Covid. They fell into the clutches of moneylenders to keep their families alive or to pay for medical treatment. Some were asked by traffickers to sell their children for food.

Apne Aap has also helped fund the following project startups in an east Delhi slum which is in the Covid red zone of migrant workers:

1. A Food Kiosk run as an income-generating program for women and food source for children
2. Preschool Education and Home-Based Learning and Government Aanganwadis
3. A Children’s Library

The children in this area are severely underweight, as per WHO standards, whose growth is monitored by the project in partnership with ICDS. They are in the 'red zone' of the WHO's growth monitoring chart. 

The primary school children have been out of school for almost 1.5 years now and their education has taken the worst hit. Specifically, the funds were used to provide meals and education to children during the period of October 2021.

The library funds allow for a children’s section in the existing government library, with the addition of materials like books, pens,paper, and learning activities for children. Academic support is crucial as schools are mostly closed.

The food kiosk will provide meals and a safe space for these vulnerable, malnourishedchildren in Nizamuddin, with the added advantage of their experiencing the local and popular cuisines of Nizamuddin. 

Additionally, during the month of October, Apne aap has helped fund a school program while classes were closed in the red-light area of Najafgarh, Delhi.  The support helped vulnerable children take classes like mathematics, writing, and social studies; have computer access; pay for hostel fees; and stay out of harms way. 

One example is Veena (name changed) who wrote, “We used to find the area very unsafe and would always be fearful of any mishap occurring to us. As we were tired of this, we reached out to and requested Ms. Ruchira -founder of ‘Apne Aap’ Organization- to help us."

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and new year!