EmpowerHER: Rights, Protection and Hope

Over the past 12 months we assisted 217 girls through our safe house and in community. We trained over 1500 community members on issues surrounding child marriage, domestic violence and child labour. 77 girls at risk of child marriage started their education with us. Over 30 of those girls will be starting regular school or vocational training with us shortly. The rest will follow in the next few months - they are still receiving full time transition classes with us. 

All this has been possible thanks to very hard work of our amazing Sabita, Kushalta, Junu and the rest of the team. They never seem to stop, they always react to any calls for emergency support, even in the middle of the night. We feel they truly deserve medals for all this. 

This year we are planning to help many more girls and train more community members to ensure that our work is sustainable and not only provides immediate assistance to those that need it the most, but also prevents more families from forcing their daughters to marry early. We will continue to train the families on impacts of domestic violence and on the importance of education.

I would like to finish the report with a quote from one of our girls, 17 years old Kahani (name changed): ‘Surviving something so horrific felt like losing a part of myself. But through counselling and the unconditional love and support of Our Sansar Didis [sisters], I began to piece together a new version of me. Our Didi at the shelter says that whatever happened wasn’tmy fault. Didis taught me to speak up and most importantly to ask for HELP. I find strength when I ask for help now.’

Thank you for all the support, it means so much to us and to our girls.