Serving local communities for 21 years. Benefitting more than five million people in over 600 villages and 100 slums directly and indirectly. Seeing value through contribution of hundreds of volunteers associated with different projects. Initiating a strong international presence with the opening up of a special US chapter in 2016. A growing list of patrons, mentors and partners.
This is a snapshot of where Sukarya is today, in 2020.
Pursuing cricketing aspirations along with studies : Basheer’s story
When the Education on Wheels project team explored one of the odd slums located in Sector 57, Gurugram, there were many out-of-school children who had their own different aspirations. Their dreams ranged from becoming a teacher to a doctor, scientist and dancer. Basheer was very clear he wanted to turn his hobby of playing cricket into a profession and scale heights of success like his idol, MS Dhoni.
When his family moved from West Bengal to Gurugram in hope of a better livelihood, he had to discontinue his studies and help his parents in eking out a living.
The Remedial classes as part of the EOW progamme came as a blessing giving a drop-out student like him a chance to catch up on studies. Observing his sharp aesthetic sense and keen interest, the teachers motivated him to be regular and to get good grades in exams. They also engaged him to participate in extracurricular activities. They guided him on his cricket coaching and told him to pursue his passion seriously but also to continue with studies and give them equal priority. He is extremely grateful to Sukarya for providing direction and tools to plan his future. He soon joined a Cricket Academy and began to play local matches. Meanwhile, he was also doing well in studies. He was referred to as the boy with a golden smile.
He is now ready to appear for the 5th grade Open Basic Education examination being conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). He says with a twinkle in his eye, “from a rolling stone I am on way to becoming a chiselled diamond.”
“Why look for a leader, when I can be one?”: Laxmi’s story
“We are fortunate to have such a training session in our slum locality as there is hardly any opportunity here to talk about adolescent health”, shares Laxmi, 19, from JJ Bandhu Slum pocket in Delhi. The batch has just started in this locality with adolescent girls and Laxmi was the first to hear about it and enrol herself.
Once she learnt about the curriculum, she was very excited and in no time had mobilised a dozen more girls to sign up. Her enthusiasm and people skills were not in vain. Nasim Ahamad, Coordinator, field operations at Sukarya who was also the facilitator of the training programme, immediately nominated her as the batch leader, much to Laxmi’s delight.
This further encouraged her to extend herself in supporting the group and spreading the key messages in her community.
The project team had observed that she had the potential to be groomed as a leader and resource person. With some gentle handholding and training she could be a torchbearer in her community and a change leader. They had seen girls like her inspire others and give them hope and courage to deal with life.
Laxmi says emphatically, “I always knew I would never stand up to injustice or atrocities committed on women particularly. But now I know how to win my battles and what to do to make a difference. The trainings at Sukarya and all our conversations on gender, empowerment, equity and justice have made me stronger because I can now confidently step out in the world and protect myself from exploitation of any kind.”
Varsha successfully beats her low haemoglobin score
Weakness, lethargy, mild fainting spells and irritability marked Varsha’s early stages of pregnancy. Little did she know that all this was due to anemia and malnutrition. She lived in the slums of Sector 53 Gurgaon. It needed a visit by Sanjeev Kumar, Programme Coordinator at Sukarya who was visiting her for a follow-up visit, to identify her condition. “I found Varsha was not taking iron and folic acid supplements. She was hesitant to talk about her anemic state. Her husband too seemed oblivious of his wife’s condition. As a family, anemia was not a priority issue for them, even if hunger and poverty were.”
She was requested to visit the health centre where a Community Health Worker counselled her and make her go through a comprehensive health assessment. A rapport was struck and follow-up visits and attendance at several health camps helped bring about a perceptible shift in her approach towards diet, nutrition, anemia and overall health.
She began to make the connection between being anemic and demonstrating lower productivity, concentration, energy levels and morale. She realised that living in a slum had made her more vulnerable and that she had to make a very strong and conscious effort to monitor her condition. Regular intake of nutrition supplements further improved her condition. She could complete her household chores easily and was in a more cheerful frame of mind.
Dr Kriti Mathur, a women's counsellor at Sukarya’s health camp says, “it is difficult to convince women to recognise anemia as a disease and even more challenging to change their perception towards the need for treatment. The intergenerational neglect of women’s health has made it hard for them to acknowledge their own deficiencies. However, this situation can be reversed. All it needs is guidance, consistent handholding and appropriate referrals.
If you want to extend a helping hand to other anemic girls like Varsha, donate to Sukarya.
Where there is a will there is a way
All stories of struggle don't end the same way. Vijay Laxmi’s story was not an exception.
This is the story of a woman, 37, from KHADKHADI Village of Mewat, the poorest district in the industrially rich state of Haryana. She has been struggling for a long time to meet the basics needs of her family of 6 with her husband and four children. Her husband used to work as an electrician without much income to support either. It has always been her dream of doing something big in terms of earning a livelihood in order to provide better education, health & nutrition to her kids.
Vijay Laxmi began to search for work in nearby areas but she didn't have anyt skillset required to have a stable job. Finally, she joined a Self Help Group in her village with the purpose to improve her socio-economic status but the income was not enough. Her case came to light during an intervention & community survey of Sukarya in her village and she was asked to work in Sukarya’s livelihood program: “AapkiSaathi Masala Kendra [Spice & Cereal processing unit]. At first, she hesitated to work as she had to commute at least 50 km from her vllage to Gurugram where the Masala Kendra was located. But she was inspired by the Sukraya team which had built self confidence& determination in her.
Vijay Laxmi was a quick learner. The training provided at the centre making Spices, pickles & other food stuffs helped her to enhance, technical knowledge in food processing, packaging, sales, accounting and overall understanding about micro entrepreneurship.
After more than one year, Vijay Laxmi is working and learning effectively and has become quite perfectly skilled to manage a spice and cereal processing unit on her own. Thanks to the hard work and determination displayed by Vijay Laxmi, She is very happy to le to make a valuable contribution to her family’s financial well being. Now she is a respectable member of her community and leads a healthy life with dignity and self-respect.
Now she has put a request to open a small spice and cereal processing unit in her area of neighborhood& very soon she would be able to do that as she is quite determined and confident. “Where there is a will: there is a way”. Sukarya always looks for more such needy women and supports them under its Women Empowerment Program who ultimately set examples for all of us.
