Support Well-Being of Women in South Rajasthan

Dear Friend,

As part of the Indian government’s Swadhar scheme, Seva Mandir runs a Short-Stay Home, located in a secure facility in Udaipur. Currently, 27 women with 17 children who have fled from domestic violence are housed in the facility. Women come here due to our staffs extensive outreach activities spreading across the area. Our staff attend village community meetings, go on door-to-door visits and post information to ensure women are aware of our work. This work is essential to combating the domestic violence epidemic across India as only 14% of women who have experienced physical or sexual violence have sought help to stop the violence.

According to Government data, in India, 30% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 years old have experienced physical violence and 6% have experienced sexual violence. This statistic rises to 33% for married women as 83% reported violence been given by husbands while for unmarried women violence came from mothers (60%), fathers (32%), brothers (26%) and teachers (15%).

Yet, not all cases involve domestic violence at the Short-Stay Home and require our employees to cooperate with state officials on a case by case basis. In one such case, a woman was seen begging for food and living on the streets for 1 month in Badgaon, an area next to Udaipur. Locals noticed, and as they were aware of the Short-Stay Home, they brought her to the centre. However, communication was difficult as she spoke no Hindi. The staff found a number of translators that could identify her spoken language, finding that she was from the distant state of Bihar – nearly 1,500km away. It became clear that the women had some mental health problems that prohibited her communication and memory, as she couldn’t remember how she had left her home village. After many counseling sessions with a translator she was able to convey her home address and asked the staff to call her husband and bring him to Udaipur. Our employees called the local Bihar police station, who looked through their reports and found a report for a missing person fitting her description. The police called the family and talked to the village Sarpanch (elected head) who confirmed they were searching for a missing woman who was also suffering from mental-health problems. Her husband and family came to Udaipur and happily reunited with the lost women.

Seva Mandir and the local state police were able to coordinate this search safely in order to return her home while keeping her housed and fed within the Short-Stay Home. Due to the wide variety of cases, the Short-Stay Home requires constant staff commitment and extensive use of its facilities. With the help of your donation, Seva Mandir will be able to continue to provide these women with security, medical treatment, counseling and legal as well as financial advice. They will learn new skills and it will also help them gain self-confidence.

Thank you so much.

Regards

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Links:

• Seva Mandir's Website
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