Project History and Mission

In the remote village of South 24 Parganas of West Bengal, girl children and women were often deserted and became victims of exploitation, torture and violence. Very few of them could get a chance to go to school. In the year 1974 five women of this village were thrown out of their in-laws' houses and two other women committed suicide because of torture at their in-laws' houses. This prompted Mrs. Pritilata Das and some other sensitive women to form a group called Nishtha. Their aim was to empower women and children. This current project particularly focuses on the children of sex workers of that area. They run a school for children of sex workers in the Baruipur red light area. Nishtha also provides night shelter, food and health facilities to these children.

WAH Budget Proposal

More on Nishtha

In the community Nishtha is active in, very few of the fathers of these children are concerned about them. The mothers earn very little and much of that meager earning is used for room rent, bribing the police and the pimps and paying for the country liquor which is an integral part of their profession. The children obviously cannot stay with their mothers during the night, so they roam on the streets and are exposed to all kinds of addiction, sexual abuses and other kinds of harassment and ailments resulting from such abuses. To supplement the mothers' meager income children often do menial work for the clients and others. Held in contempt and ostracized by the mainstream society, these children lead a miserable existence.
Nishtha provides food, educational materials, special coaching and health care support etc. to these children. Above all they provide them with a secure place where they can spend their time without any threat. In this WAH proposal, we are seeking funds to establish a permanent house for the night shelter of these children.

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