Impact Stories
Positive impact
Strengthening Women’s Participation: From Dependency to Self-Sufficiency
In 2021, one of the remote villages in Katihar, Bihar wrestled with the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermaths. As villagers struggled to return to their normal life, another disaster, the annual flood, struck them hard, submerging their houses, agricultural lands, and crops. Many families were left without jobs or any means of livelihood. These families mostly belong to Dalit and Mahadalit communities, one of the poorest communities in India.
In response to this, Ashray organized a one-day livelihood training program on ‘Candle-making’ with 70 women. Candles are one of the necessities in rural setup since the electricity connectivity is very poor. It was a timely intervention as one of the biggest festivals in India ‘Diwali-festival of lights’ was just around the corner. Some of the participants started their small businesses after attending the training.
Aarti Devi, who was part of the training, sold candles worth Rs. 2000/- in a day during the Diwali festival. Her husband used to work outside of the state and during the nationwide lockdown had lost his job. Since then, the family has been helpless and lived hand-to-mouth. Because of Aarti’s training, now the family is running a small business and need not be anxious for their daily food. She has become an entrepreneur in her own rights with a humble income which is sufficient for her family.
Building Champions: Rescued through Whistle-blower
Prakash Soren, aged 18, was one of the participants of our Youth Training program held in Bihar was inspired by our vision of taking responsibility and saving one’s own Community from trafficking.
Prakash became a whistle-blower for his community when he identified and realised a trafficking situation where traffickers talked and convinced some families.
Nine girls were sold by their families to traffickers. While they were in the process of transporting and re-selling them to Brothels, Prakash acted quickly and informed the situation to Ashray.
Ashray team, with the help of local police acted upon it and were able to rescue the 9 girls.
We praise God and thank him for Voices of youth who are recognising the issues and are becoming champions within their own community.
Aware community rescued
a minor girl
In the state of West Bengal, there is a remote village where Ashray had trained and equipped the community on issues of human trafficking. This small aware community rescued a minor girl from child marriage.
Rupa Kumari, a minor girl was forced to child marriage by her father as they were in despaired condition from the loan that they took during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since Rupa’s father lost his job, he has no work and has no source of income. He could not think of any solution to solve their burden. It is hard to believe that the only way out he could think of was to sell his daughter, Rupa Kumari, a 16-year-old girl to an old man. Accordingly, the wedding date was set and planned.
On the day of the wedding, when the community heard about child marriage was being solemnized in their own village, they raise their voice and collectively informed us. Our team then immediately notified the incident to the local police.
The police, along with Ashray team and our volunteers were able to stop the marriage and legal action was taken by the Local Police. The girl has been restored and her parents, along with the old man were charged under the Child Marriage Act, 2006.
Saving life
Ashray had the opportunity to reached out to many young girls in one of the biggest slums in Patna and trained them on preventive measures from human trafficking and how to response to it.
Shikha Kumari, one of the attendees of our capacity training programs had volunteered to assist us and became a whistle-blower for the community. When she was notified about a young Muslim girl who had been missing by her mother, she informed us and shared the necessary information about her daughter.
Ashray team along with the local Police launched the rescued operation and rescued the girl. The girl testified how she was trafficked and then was planned to transport to another state for Domestic Servitude.
Opening a way to fulfil dreams
Through the timely intervention of Ashray Literacy Centre, an orphaned named, Pradeep Kumar Manjhi (13) was rescued from child labour and opened the way to make his dream come true.
Pradeep, dreamt of studying like his peers and become an engineer one day, unfortunately, he never had the opportunity to go to school due to extreme poverty. Instead, he was forced to work in a poultry farm since the aged of 7 outside his village. He worked barefooted for 9-10 hours daily without any safety measures.
One of our Child advocate informed Ashray team about Pradeep’s condition and our team rescued him. After providing him with proper counselling, we rehabilitate him in Ashray’s Boys Shelter Home in Jharkhand and admitted him in a school where he is now pursuing his dreams.
Self-Help Group
Alice Lakra, one of the group members of the Self-Help Group, shared that they were able to sustain themselves after the pandemic and not be trafficked, lured, or migrated. Because of the skills provided by Ashray, she was able to support her family by selling a good number of her traditional handmade shawls at our display center which was much appreciated by customers. This has prevented her family from migrating to another state as her husband lost his job, and they were on the verge of migrating and reduced her vulnerability.
Now, Alice is earning at least 3000/- INR per month to meet the basic needs of her family. She is also helping many more women to rise together in strength.