In March of the year 2000, a group of young people and committed social workers, with support from ActionAid India, came together under the banner of Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA).
The initiative was set up to support homeless people in Delhi. Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan currently runs 12 regular shelters in buildings provided by the Delhi government.
Photos by Stuart Freedman.
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Glyn Duke, Head of supporter care
In Lilongwe, Malawi, street children are routinely beaten and abused. In this extraorinary video, social worker Ireen tells us how, with support from ActionAid, the Chisomo Children's Club is bringing a little hope to this terrifying world.
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Which one is your favourite? 'Like' your picture of the year on the ActionAid UK Facebook page and the one with the most likes will be our profile picture as we head into 2012!
Deborah Baker, Supporter Care Team
I wanted to share with you a truly inspiring story I read this week about Celina Tirkey. Celina lives in Amdangi Village in Siliguri in West Bengal in India. ActionAid has been working in this area in partnership with a local organisation called North Bengal Council for the Disabled (NBCD) since 2005.
We imagine how difficult life is for the poor and vulnerable in these countries but somehow it never occurred to me how poor people with disabilities coped. I don’t think I could explain things any better than Celina, so in her own words here is a glimpse into her life:
“My name is Celina Tirkey. I am living in Amdangi Village and I have cerebral palsy. I studied up to class eight at school but then dropped out because my parents saw it a waste of an education for a girl with disabilities.
My family members felt I was a burden to them and asked me to leave the house. I feared managing myself outside of the family home, so inspite of constant insults, I continued to live with them.
One day, I met with NBCD staff and expressed my troubles at home. I became a member of the disability group they formed along with ActionAid. Within this group, I was encouraged to apply for housing under a government scheme called Indira Awas Yojna.
ActionAid and NBCD helped me pay regular visits to the local government office, and finally I received enough money to build my own house from brick and tin.
ActionAid and NBCD went even further to help me too! They assisted me in getting a job within a school as a clerk. I work in the office, filing records and preparing important information. I enjoy this job a lot because all the teachers and students cooperate in my work and I feel it’s something I can be good at.
I am so happy with my new life. I shall be an example to other women with disabilities in our village, and motivate them to lead their own lives with dignity."
Like Celina, 16 women have now been able to build their own homes and become more independent. We shall be carrying on this work with the local community, and look forward to updating you with more results in the future. Together with NBCD we are helping to bring about a more dignified life for over 3,088 people living with disabilities.
>>You can change a life too! What you can do
Joseph Mutinda, Kitengela, Kenya
I was sponsored by ActionAid way back in 1981, when I was in class one. This sponsorship went up to 1989 when I was just joining secondary school.
My sponsorship number was K16005, and my sponsor’s name was Mr. Thomas. He was a native of Wales and lived around 150 miles from Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.
We were definitely poor. My parents were not working. So definitely when you got someone to sponsor you it was really good. It helped a lot, because if you looked at the situation at that time, we hardly even had enough to eat.
But when we were sponsored we would have lunch at school. And if you had lunch at school then you were okay, if you didn’t eat at night. So if you didn’t eat at night you are sure that you were going to have food the following day.
And that transformed our lives.
Twice a month we would write letters. We used to have a session for reading our letters; they would bring the letters from our sponsors. We would read them and then reply to them. They would come with writing materials – pencils and rubbers.
We would write to them (the sponsors) and tell them how we are doing. The last time that he wrote to me – in December 1988, was the time that he retired. So he told me that he had retired but busy doing some things at home. That was the last communication that I have received from him.
Through sponsorship I got a solid education foundation that propelled me to secondary where I got well wishers and government bursaries and onto university. I graduated in 1999 and currently I work as an account with Serena Hotels Kenya, based at Nairobi.
I would really like to meet him, because what he did for me is what even my father could not do. And when somebody does that for you – and has given you a strong foundation especially with education. I am somebody who needs to say a lot of thanks to him.
So I am very happy and I am sure that he will be very proud when he hears that I am doing well. He must be happy to hear from me and that’s why that I wanted to communicate with him and tell him exactly what has happened.
Deborah Baker, Supporter Care Team
We often talk about what can be achieved through the knowledge of a few basic skills and I wanted to share with you what I think is a wonderful example of just that!
Rekha’s story shows how giving people basic literacy and numeracy skills can be the first step to changing their lives forever.
Rekha Rani, 45, is a single mother from Sheealmari village in Chuadanga, Bangladesh. She said: “My husband left a few years ago to find work in India and never returned. Since then I have been living with my parents struggling to support and feed my daughter. But life changed in 2008 when I joined an ActionAid Reflect circle.”
Reflect is ActionAid’s innovative adult learning programme. Not only do the participants learn basic literacy and numeracy skills but they also work together to discuss the problems they face and come up with solutions to those problems.
Rekha explains how Reflect changed her life, “I was in a group with 80 other learners. We all learned to read, write and count. By 2009, I had even learned how to keep basic accounts and was interested in starting my own business. At the end of the year, I took a loan from the circle to start my own grocery shop.
"I sell rice, biscuits, cooking oil, lentils, soap etc in my shop. Women in my community come to my shop every day. I earn 250-350 Taka [£2-3] a day and I can now afford to support myself and my daughter.”
Rekha is one of 60 women in her community who, in 2010, learned the skills needed to start their own businesses in shop-keeping, sewing and tailoring.
If you would like to support a community and help other women like Rekha or find out about our work in general then see what you can do to help. You can also call us on 01460 238 000 - all this and more is possible through child sponsorship.
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