Site Visit Report to SurakshaPriya C. BhatSeptember 7, 20061 Site Visitor's Information:Name: Priya C. BhatAddress: 208, West Fowler Avenue, Apt 2EWest Lafayette, IN- 47906Phone Number: 1-765-418-6687 (m), 1-765-494-3451 (o)Email: p bhat�purdue.edu, priya bhat�gmail. om2 Visit InformationDate: June 19, 2005Name of Proje t: SurakshaAddress: Aasara Girls Crisis Center,Thamote Village, Neral(West)Proje t Supervisor: Chan halaConta t Number: +91 93269 93112 (m)Name of NGO running the proje t: AasaraThe site visit was surprise.3 Primary Proje t Conta t:Name: Madhuri ShastriPhone Numbers: 91 98814 73582 (m), 91 20 40101709(o)Email: madhuri_shastri�yahoo. om, madhuri.shastri� ognizant. om1

4 About the Proje t:4.1 HistorySuraksha is a Girl's Crisis shelter that is run by an NGO alled Aasara. As of now, Aasara has the following proje tsrunning under its various arms:1. Digha: a day and night shelter for boys2. Kalyan and Thane: Day Care Centers3. Kurla: A day and night drop-in enter4. Neral: Girl risis shelterAasara started a risis enter in a pla e alled Digha near Mumbai, Maharashtra in 2001. This enter was movedto Neral after the onstru tion of a 3 story building there in 2004 and named Suraksha, while the Digha enter was onverted to a boys shelter.4.2 Proje t PhilosophyThis proje t a ts as a temporary full-time shelter for girls in risis situations, mainly in the age group of 3 to 18.Most of the girls here have either been abandoned by there family or ome from families where the parents are (dueto si kness, drug-addi tion et ) in apable of looking after them. These girls are referred to the enter either by thepoli e or organizations like the Child-line.Most of the girls who I met here had been through very traumati experien es. There were rape vi tims and girlswho had been for ed into begging and pi k-po keting ra kets. Some girls had simply been abandoned on railwayplatforms by relatives. Understandably, the girls who ome to Suraksha are usually emotionally unstable and needproper medi al and psy hiatri attention. Also, most of these girls have had little or no s hooling and therefore theNGO has the daunting task of �guring out exa tly what sort of an edu ational environment ea h girl is �t for.To summarize, this shelter provides emotional and medi al support to girls who have been in risis situations andsimultaneously tries to look for the best sort of edu ation or training that the hild an be given to make her selfreliant.4.3 Proje t Infrastru tureIn 2004, the risis shelter for girls was moved �rst to temporary a ommodation and then to a full �edged 3 storybuilding in Neral, Maharashtra.4.3.1 Building:The Suraksha building in Neral is a permanent onstru tion owned by the NGO. It is lo ated at a ten minutedwalking distan e from the Neral railway station on the Central line. The ground �oor has the re eption area, thekit hen with the atta hed dinning area, a entertainment room whi h has a TV and 3 omputers and two store rooms.The �rst and the se ond story are identi al ea h having a guest room, bath rooms and two large living rooms. Thebuilding is surrounded by a on rete wall and re ently, two gates and a permanent shed for the wat hman havebeen onstru ted.The building has been designed to house a maximum of 50 girls at a time. The limited water supply in the areawas not enough onsidering the requirements and therefore the NGO has started buying water from two separatesour es. So far, the shelter does not have a telephone or Internet onne tion. A muni ipality hospital is lo ated 10minutes from the shelter and is used for most medi al requirements of the shelter. There is also a Marathi-mediumgovernment s hool very lose by where the girls go while they are there.2

4.3.2 Sta�The sta� urrently employed at the shelter are:1. A supervisor: She is a erti�ed so ial worker and is the one who oordinates the a tivities between the AasasaO� e and Suraksha. She ame a ross as a very ompassionate and ompetent lady, in that she has su essfullymaintained a very organized and pea eful atmosphere in the shelter. She is in the shelter during the day. Hermain duties in lude :(a) maintaining detailed re ords of all hildren, in luding their month to month a ademi performan e,health ondition, emotional state, et (b) maintaining detailed re ord of every expenditure of the shelter and getting the funds from the AasaraO� e( ) A quiring ne essary supplies for the shelter like gro eries, lothes, books, shoes et .(d) Taking the hildren to the lo al hospital when ever ne essary.(e) Re ruiting new sta� as an when ne essary and possible.2. A vo ational tea her: She is a lo al resident who has some vo ational training, and basi knowledge of omputes. She tea hes the hildren drawing, sewing, raft, reading and using the omputer. She also helpswith other day to day a tivities of the pla e. She works only during the day.3. A ook: The ook is also a day time employee who ooks three meals and also leans the shelter on e everytwo days. On weekends the older kids are asked to help in the kit hen while the younger kids help in leaning.4. Two night time are-takers: These women ome during the night, and are only there to make sure that thegirls are safe during the night.5. Wat hman6. A psy hiatrist: She is an employee of Aasara and visits all their enters on e a week. She omes to Surakshaevery Saturday and talks to the girls both individually and as a group as and when required. She alsomaintains a detailed re ord of the state of ea h girl.4.4 General regimeAs already mentioned, Suraksha a ts as a preparation ground for girls. They are kept here till they feel safe, on�dent and motivated enough to ta kle the formal or informal edu ation system. The hildren who ome toSuraksha are not ready to start s hooling be ause:1. they have never attended s hool and are too old to be sent to the �rst grade: In su h situations, Surakshaeither tries to tea h the hildren in house till they are �t for formal s hooling, or goes about �nding s hoolsthat provide vo ational training like tailoring, ooking, et .2. they are from a di�erent medium s hool: Some girls know how to read and write Urdu, Kannada or Tamilinstead of Marathi. For su h hildren, Suraksha tries to lo ate other institutions whi h an provide edu ationto the girls in their own language.3. they are emotionally too disturbed: Suraksha provides the girls with a safe and positive environment to helpthem ope with the past. When they ome, many of these girls are used to violen e, stealing and un leanliness.and it takes a lot of ounseling and training on the part of workers at Suraksha to make them realize thebene�ts of edu ation. I personally feel that the sta� is doing a ommendable task of making the hildrenadjust to the new surroundings and at the same time en ouraging them to be ome independent and selfdependent.When a new hild is brought in the �rst task is to get her fully examined by a medi al do tor. The detailedreport of the hild's physi al and mental health is made and all tests,in luding the test for HIV are done. Girls areprovided with a new set of lothing, happals, omb, hair oil and other basi amenities. They are en ouraged tostart parti ipating in the various a tivities that take pla e in the shelter and mix with other hildren. Depending3

Time A tivity6:00 -7:00 am Waking up and morning abulsunions7:00- 7:30 am Prayer and Breakfast7:30- 1:00 pm Attending the lo al Marathi medium s hool1:00-3:00 pm Lun h and nap3:00-5:00pm Reading newspaper, learning sewing, omputers, raft and art5:00-7:00pm playing and homework7:00 -8:00pm Dinner8:00-9:00pm Television9:00- To bedTable 1: The daily a tivites of the hildren on a s hool day.Requirement Cost/ hild/annum (Rs.)Uniform 700 lothes 600Towel 100Trunk/S hool bag 500Plate/Glass 50Oil/Brush/Soap 300Blanket/Mat 600Chappals/Rain oat 200Travel 1000Table 2: Expenses per hild per year for Surakshaon any previous edu ation that the hild might have had, she is provided with books and writing material andinstru ted in the same. If the sta� feel that the hild is ready, she is sent to the lo al Marathi medium s hool tore eive for formal edu ation. This s hool is only till the middle se ondary level, and girls who pass out of there orare too old for it are sent to other residential s hools in Kalyan, Aurangabad, Nagpur et .While the girls are living in suraksha a detailed re ord of their progress is maintained, in luding their a ademi performan e, general state of health, parti ipation in other a tivities and general behavior.The daily regime of the girls on s hool days is given in table1:On holidays, the hildren spend the mornings revising their ourses, and working on various other a tivities withthe vo ational tea her. I was impressed by the e�ort put in making the hildren omputer literate. The elder hildren had made detailed notes on how to work on windows.4.5 Finan es:Currently, Suraksha is being funded by the Aasara entral o� e. A re ord of last months expenses and proje tedrequirement for the oming month is to be sent to the head o� e on the 15th of every month. This requirement isa fun tion of the number of hildren being sheltered at any time, whi h has varied from 7 to 40, with an average of15 girls at any given time.The major expenses of Suraksha per hild per year are given in table 2. Taking an average of 15 hildren at anygiven time, this omes to a total ost of Rs. 60750/- per year. . Apart from this, the umulative expenses on food,water and ele tri ity per month are given in table 3 . This omes to a total of Rs 30000/- per year. The total ostfor the maintenan e of the shelter per year Rs 90750/-.The people working in Suraksha are urrently employees of Aasara. The monthly salaries of the sta� are given intable 4. 4

Requirement Cost/month (Rs.)Gro eries 2000Ele tri ity/water 500Table 3: Expenses on food, ele tri ity and water per monthEmployee Salary/month (Rs.)Superviser 5000Vo ational Tea her 1500Cook 1600Wat h Man 15002 Night Care-takers 2500Table 4: Monthly salaries of the sta�4.6 Immediate Requirements:The supervisor told me that given the resour es, the immediate requirements at Suraksha (in the order of urgen y)are the following:1. Visiting do tor is needed.2. Telephone Conne tion.3. Clothes drying room, as the lothes do not dry up in monsoons.4. Play ground.5. More sta�: There is an urgent need for another professional so ial worker (with at least a Ba helors in SW)to be employed.6. In rease salaries of existing employees.7. Internet onne tion4.7 Su esses:The present shelter of Suraksha started in 2004. Last year about 15 girls were sent to a middle and higher se ondarys hool in Aurangabad, all expenses paid by Suraksha. Two of these leared the matri ulation exam and are nowstudying in the Junior College there. Three others are going to appear this year. 7 girls with language problemswere sent to institutions in their own state.5 Final Notes:There are a number of things that I noti ed about Suraksha that though annot be quanti�ed, are non the lessimportant, and therefore need to be mentioned here. First of all, the atmosphere there and the attitude of both thesta� and the hildren was extremely positive. The hildren were happy to be there and showed a promising desireto do well in life. The fa ilities provided are very good and shelter is lean, spa ious and omfortable. The girls ommuni ate freely with both the tea hers and were ontinuously en ouraged to think independently and not takethis shelter as their last hope.6 Photographs:5

Figure 1: The Suraksha building lo ated 10 minutes walking from Neral railway station.

Figure 2: The hildren with the Supervisor, Vo ational tea her and ook.6

Figure 3: The Entertainment room has 4 omputers, some games and a TV7

Figure 4: One lo ker is given to ea h hild. There is also a sewing ma hine on whi h the elder hildren learnstit hing 8

Figure 5: Kit hen and Children having their meal in the dining area.

Figure 6: The Trophy in the enter was awarded to the �rst girl who passed the matri ulation exam from Suraksha9