Tarika Vaswani a GiveIndia team member is working with MoneyLIFE magazine on their Beyond Money column.
In this article, Tarika profiles Ashadeep, a NGO that works with mentally ill women in Assam. Ashadeep is compliant with GiveIndia’s rigorous due diligence and Credibility Alliance’s norms for NGOs.
Like many girls in India, Mitali was married as soon as she reached the legal age. But in a matter of six months, her marriage fell apart and she was divorced. With neither a roof over her head nor anyone to turn to for support, she lost all hope and attempted suicide - not once, but thrice. Soon after her three failed attempts, she started showing signs of abnormal behaviour. Doctors at the Guwahati-based non-profit organisation, Ashadeep, who checked her, realised that she was suffering from manic depression.
India where she received extensive medical support and also learnt block-printing at the organisation’s sheltered workshop. Individuals in the final stages of rehabilitation learn life skills at this workshop to help them earn a living and regain their self-confidence. This generates income for individuals as well as for Ashadeep which produces pillows, cushions, block-printed clothing, file covers and Ashadeep also provided family-level counselling to help Mitali overcome her mood fluctuations. All these efforts have paid off and Mitali leads an independent life today producing block-printed saris and sheets at the workshop and earning her living with dignity.
The organisation has grown over the years and now has 28 full-time and nine part-time staff and several volunteers to fulfil its mission. This has meant raising funds to meet its growth needs and to counter inflation. It spent Rs34 lakh in 2006-07. Its income fluctuates - it was Rs42 lakh in 2007 - a good year - and only Rs19 lakh in the previous year. So funds remain a key challenge.
How can you help?
Sponsor food and medicine for one woman for one month, for Rs1,305 or appx US$30
This is some wonderful news that these kind of helps and charity are there for poor girls, just like Akshayapatra's "Food For Thought" campaign, it certainly helps poor children in growing their interest in education as well as sustaining their family's budget problem...
Keep up the good work...
Yes, with Girl Child Day around the corner, it is heartening to know that people are making efforts to care for girls and give them hope for a better future.