New Day – for women and girls in crisis across Asia

New Day organised a very successful visit to Kalki in Pondicherry, India from the 23rd to the 25th of September.  Nine volunteers from Linklaters and 5 New Day members visited the Girls’ Centre that Linklaters and New Day are now funding for the second year in a row.  It was a packed trip with outreach activities in the streets and slums, a visit to the Kalki Drop-In Centre, a meeting with three graduates from the New Day-funded Kalki Hospitality Program at the hotel where they now work and a busy day-and-a-half at the Girls’ Centre.  Our aim for the visit was to spend time with the girls and engage them in art activities and games as well as to transform the inside of the shelter with a coat (or two!) of fresh paint and some colourful decoration.  It was a fantastic and meaningful trip for everyone involved.  We’d like to thank Linklaters for their great support and hard work and the ADMCF and Kalki staff for all the organisation and assistance they provided.  Thanks also to the children from New Day who sent their beautiful drawings to the girls at Kalki!

Musical statues Bollywood style!

New Day children's drawings decorating a dormitory.

Outside the new KALKI Girls' Centre.

New Day has approved a second grant for the KALKI Girls’ Centre to be co-funded by Linklaters.  For all the details you can read our funding proposal prepared for Linklaters here:

KALKI proposal for Linklaters 2010

New Day members Chris and Liza Green visited KALKI and met with Panjali and her staff.  They visited the Drop-In Center and the new night shelter (‘Girls Center’).   For photos and details of the visit have a look at this slide show: KALKI pres to members Oct 09

You can read the site visit report prepared for Linklaters here: ND Visit to KALKI

The New Day Working Committee has approved a request from KALKI to co-fund their new training initiative along with ADM Capital Foundation.  KALKI is seeking USD25,602 to set-up and run a comprehensive training program involving both educational support for girls attending school and vocational training.  The program will be run out of the Night Shelter premises which New Day funded in March 2009 with a generous grant from Linklaters.  New Day will donate USD13,000 to KALKI in June 2009 for their Training Program.

Please have a look at the funding request proposal for all the details of the program and its budget: KALKI Proposal for New Day

Around 150 girl children and adolescents live in the streets of central Pondicherry, at constant risk of sexual abuse and trafficking. Another 250 live in the city’s slums with no privacy and often at risk of being abused by relatives or neighbours.

Piloting a new approach, in June 2008 KALKI Welfare Association opened a Drop-In Centre for street children in Pondicherry, India. The facility is a community space with an accessible full-range of services. KALKI offers home-cooked food, clean, secure shelter, health services, remedial education and recreational activities.  KALKI is the vision and work of Panjali who herself grew up in the slums of Pondicherry and found an escape route through an informal education offered by NGO’s and then a career working for them.Panjali – on the left – the founder of KALKI

Panjali - on the left - the founder of KALKI

To avoid abuse and nights on the streets and in brothels a number of girls are currently sleeping at the Drop-In center.  To better cater to these girls and others at immediate risk of abuse, KALKI plans to set up a safe night shelter. This shelter will operate as a transitional house where girls can live for up to one year, while socialorkers help them plan for their future.  Girls will access the education program at KALKI, while older ones will be supported in vocational training activities. All will receive medical care and counseling. In some cases girls can be referred to extended families or to long-term residential homes when they have been abandoned and a safe placement within their extended family cannot be guaranteed.  The night shelter will be located outside Pondicherry, in order to ensure the safety of the girls and avoid relatives claiming them back from KALKI in order to exploit and traffic them – this is at the moment a serious problem since the drop-in centre is located in the centre of town.

The total budget for the running of the Night Shelter for 1 year is US$19,946.  This includes rent, food, medical supplies, furniture, utilities and salaries.  ADM Capital Foundation is heavily invested in all aspects of the KALKI project and will be monitoring the roll-out of the project alongside New Day.  Linklaters has generously agreed to sponsor the project in it’s entirety for the coming year.  Panjali is finalising the premises for the shelter and it should be operational in April 2009.  Thank you to ADM Capital Foundation and Linklaters for their support!

You can download the presentation on KALKI to members here KALKI Night Shelter-ppt