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| Status |
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current / ongoing
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| Project Steward |
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Sri Sridharan
infinisri AT gmail DOT com |
| Project Partner(s) |
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Ajeet Singh
guriaajeet AT rediff DOT
com |
| Additional Contact |
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Sriram Muthukumar
mosaic90 AT cox DOT net |
| Project Address |
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S-8/395, Khajuri Colony
Varanasi, Shivdaspur, UTTAR PRADESH 2
India
Tel: 91-542-2504253 |
| Funds Disbursed |
| ??? | 2003 | CentralNJ | $3,750.00 | | Feb | 2003 | CentralNJ | $4,000.00 | | Feb | 2003 | CentralNJ | $2,400.00 | | ??? | 2004 | CentralNJ | $5,000.00 | | Apr | 2004 | Arizona | $5,000.00 | | Mar | 2006 | Work an Hour | $5,200.00 | | Dec | 2006 | Work an Hour | $8,820.00 | | May | 2007 | DC | $1,122.00 | | Jul | 2007 | Silicon Valley | $22,500.00 | | Dec | 2008 | Berkeley | $7,000.00 |
Total = $64,792 |
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Funding Details |
| Chapter Contact |
| Berkeley |
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Project Description
NOTE: If you would like to make a donation to this project, click on 'Donate' on the left.
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The project is implemented in the red light area of shivdaspur(Varnasi). Before GURIA started the Balwadi 90% of the children remained exposed to the surroundings of the red light area and also contributed a bit by bringing pan, tea, etc. for the customers. Even today only 20% of the work seems done since there are number of exposed children who need to be motivated. There are several schools around the redlight area but the mothers are ignorant and are difficult to be motivated. This also happens because the middlemen do not attest to the work done by Guria because of economic interests. There are almost 300 women and hundreds of family members. Mothers and children also have to face social ostracism which keeps them busy from the schools in the vicinity.
The goal of the project is to construct a night shelter for the already ongoing balwadi cum non-formal education centre in the red light area (shivdaspur) for children of women in prostitution. It enables Guria to begin late night tuitions for the school going children (atleast 50 children) because it becomes difficult to followup the children who return late in the evening from school. One of the rooms will serve as a library, counseling centre, medical centre and office.
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OTHER SOURCES OF FUNDING
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Vibha made a donation of $10,000 in 2004.
AID, Tempe made a donation of $5,000 in 2004.
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Guria - works mainly in Varanasi, the holy city on the banks of the river Ganges. Nearly 300 women in Shivdaspur area work in the sex trade. Under the humanitarian vision of Ajeet Singh, several volunteers have been working for over a decade aiming to mainstream these workers, especially their children.
By educating their children and assisting them in entering mainstream schools and careers the second generation prostitution can be reduced and even averted. By channeling spare time of the prostitutes into handicrafts and cultural programs, Guria offers a lucrative alternative and life choice. About half the women come from Uttar Pradesh state (from far flung villages of UP) and the rest are trafficked from dirt-poor villages in the foothills of Nepal via Calcutta. The aim is to restore dignity and rebuild humanity and self-esteem.
VISION: End of forced prostitution & creation of a humane world where all beings co-exist in harmony with the entire creation.
MISSION: Education to children & rehabilitation, end child prostitution, stop second generation prostitution in Varanasi UP
Purpose / Goals
The proposal is to build and run a balwadi and non-formal education center in the red light area of the Mau district in Uttar Pradesh that models the successfull project in Varanasi.
Organization Description
Guria has come a long way since it�s origin in 1993, which came about through the adoption of three children of women in prostitution (WIP) at Shivdaspur (Red Light Area ), Varnasi U.P. The Bedia tribe have been involved in the traditional family base prostitution, at Karar village, Raisen, M.P.
Activities:
Balwadi and nonformal Education center: Balwadi and the NFE center are the means to reach the WIP and motivate children to a better future. It also serve as as the base for the immediate legal and medical requirements for the children and women in prostitution(especially STDs/HIV/AIDS awareness, referral cases and weekly doctor's visit). The balwadi helps in grooming up children (between the age group of 3 to 5 years) to be admitted to the regular formal schools instead of an exclusive school(isolation ward) for the children of WIP. Children should be allowed to join the mainstream by interacting with various sections of children to get exposed to the outer world and investigate pros and cons for themselves instead of Guria giving them sermons of morality. The NFE centre caters to the children who cannot attend formal schools. The children are occupied in play activities, concept formation, personality development, value education, counseling, hobby classes (music,art drama) and are taken out for picnic..etc.
Guria Festival: Apart from awareness, the first ever festival of WIP is also an important means of rehabilitation through their ready made classical and folk song and dance traditions-drawing minimum suspicious eye from the vested interests. Moreover they have been keepers of traditional form of music and dance in this era of extinction which has survived since ages. In this era of various T.V. Channels, orchestra the demand for the traditional music is dwindling at a very rapid pace-thus putting pressure on the source of their livelihood and substituting it with the increasing demand for flesh trade.
Their talent was attested by B.B.C. Star T.V., Zee T.V., DD I, DD II, Sahara T.V. etc. several times. Now the festival is managed by the WIP themselves and Guria is in the process of making economically sustainable cultural teams.
Each year participants from M.P.(Morena, Sagar, Raisen, Ujjain, and Chhatarpur), U.P. (Varanasi, Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, and Banda), Bihar (Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Saharsa and Munger), Maharashtra(Mumbai), Karnataka(Belgaon), W.B. (Calcutta), A.P. (Tirupati).
Public Awareness Campaign: In order to built up a backup support and sensitize the society about the fact that a woman in prostitution is not a criminal but is herself violated, Guria has formed women and youth groups in the villages through cultural programmes by Women in prostitution (WIP). It is not an isolated problem, the solution of which cannot be left entirely to bureaucracy, police or a few voluntary organisations, Society's role is important in prevention and rehabilitation. If it ignores it certainly perpetuates prostitution.
Greeting Cards: Children have been making cards in their hobby classes which has recently helped us to mobilise funds. The success of the sale of these handmade greeting cards has motivated Guria to undertake it as an important fund raising activity which has also economically supported few elderly women.
http://www.guria.org/ - guriaajeet@rediffmail.com
Project Type: One Time / Infrastructure
(description)
Primary Focus: children of sex workers
(description)
Area: Urban
Number of Children: 120
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