Dear all,
With some help from a few women's rights activists, we have managed to institutionalise a Trust that will help in rehabilitating the victims/survivors of gender violence and their families.
This Trust is called Himmat Mahila Samooh (rough translation in English: Women and Courage. It’s based out of Rohtak, Haryana, 150 km from the Indian national capital, Delhi. Here is a link to the website (though, it is incomplete, yet functional) http://himmatngo.org/
We have formed a small three member committee that includes:
1. Akhila Singh, women's rights Activist, All India Democratic Women's Association.2. Nakul Sawhney, Independent Documentary filmmaker.
Recent film: Immoral daughters in the Land of honour. It explores gender violence, the role of religious sub-groups called caste and honour killings in North India. Here is the link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oP4aw_lAlc3. Me, Neha Dixit. I am an independent journalist and cover development, gender and conflict in South Asia. I am based out of New Delhi. http://neha-dixit.blogspot.in/We plan to use the donations you make in a step by step manner.As far as Gudia's rehabilitation is concerned, Gudia has been admitted to a well known school in NCR on September 25. The school has promised her and her younger brother free education till class 12th. Her younger brother will be admitted next year when he is four. The school has also been kind enough to offer a job to her father in the school. Accordingly, a place of stay has been organised for them near the school. They have moved in. We will send you the details as soon as money starts coming in. We will keep you updated and also seek your suggestion to plan this. Read more; http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/after-rape-and-neglect-a-survivors-family-fades-into-oblivion-in-delhi/?_r=2Apart from Gudia, we have also identified an eight year old girl who lives in a slum in the industrial area of South Delhi. She was raped by a 25 year old neighbour in March. Bright and intelligent, she has got adequate family support. Her father repairs pressure cookers for a living. Though, she was brilliant in academics, she has stopped going to school. The government school she was enrolled in is close to her rapists' house. For the last six months, she has been sitting at home. Funds are required to help her get admission in another school, which is a private school that costs Rs 3000 as admission charges and Rs 750 per month (USD12) as tuition fees. We intend to help her with this. Her case is an epitome in the sense that her parents have been very supportive and a girl like her must be encouraged to set an example for other rape survivors who seek rehabilitation.
The third case we have identified for now is for the medical treatment of Vedpal's father. In 2009, Vedpal, 22 was lynched by police and goons of religious sub-groups in North India for marrying a girl of his choice. His wife, Sonia, was forcefully married off to someone else. 'Honour' killings of this sort are rampant in North India. They are intrinsic in fueling gender violence and misogyny. Self-choice marriages by young women are often seen a violation of patriarchal norms here. Since Vedpal was the only earning member, his family is witnessing days of acute penury. Since his is a Below Poverty Line family, his father has no means to pay for his own medical treatment. He has been diagnosed with cancer.
You can read more about this case here:
More about this case in the documentary: Immoral daughters in the land of honour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV6qIOMZsEQHere are the account details:
Bank Account DetailsPlease note: Sharing of PAN CARD no. is mandatory for all donations above Rs.5000/-Please share your details with us along with scanned copy of bank deposit slip.
Since we are yet to get FCRA (Foreign Contributors Regulation Act) approval, those who are transferring funds from abroad can transfer the money to their friends’/relatives’ accounts in India, who can then get in touch with us.Do write for clarifications and more. Nakul can be contacted at nakulss@gmail.com and Akhila can be contacted at akhilasingh@gmail.com.
Much thanks,
Neha Dixit
Neha Dixit is an Indian freelance journalist, covering politics, gender and social justice. She is a visiting faculty at Ashoka University and has been awarded with the Chameli Devi Jain Award (2016) as well as CPJ International Press Freedom Award (2019).