Sambhali Trust

 A new milestone in fight against Covid 19

We achieved a new milestone in our fight against Covid 19 pandemic, when the Trust-designed awareness campaign, christened as “Toko, Corona Roko” (Intervene and Stop Corona) and “My Mask, Pride of My City”, found endorsement with the City and Municipal Administration.

Under this campaign, which was designed by us to take our fight against Covid 19 down to the masses, the Trust roped in 4 vehicles equipped with a public address system and banners bearing messages to make the public aware about use of masks and taking other precautions.  

Divisional Commissioner Mr. Samit Sharma and District Magistrate Mr. Indrajeet Singh along with senior officials from Municipal Corporation, flagged off these vehicles from District Collectorate on Tuesday morning with some vehicles of the Municipal Corporation. Trustee Virendra Singh and volunteers of the Trust in anti-Covid 19 campaign Saurav, Ranveer and Praveen took responsibility for this campaign. All these vehicles have been taking rounds across the city with masks made by our women at our sewing center.

The Municipal Corporation, which is a nodal agency for awareness about masks among the people, has also given place to the activities of Trust on its social media page on Facebook as a gesture of acknowledgement of our endeavors.

We have, so far, distributed 9500 masks including those, donated to the Administration, Police department and Mask Bank of the Municipal Corporation. 5500 more masks are under process of sewing at our sewing center employing our women in this difficult time.

The partnership of Trust with the administration in anti-Covid 19 drive has brought tremendous recognition and appreciation for the Trust for its sensitivity and concern for public life. This has provided an important platform for the city officials to have a deeper understanding about the Trust and its activities.

Girls observe International Day of the Girl Child

The girls and women also celebrated the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11. We know that the world is home to more than 1.1 billion girls. Many of them have no access to education. Due to COVID19, the situation has been getting worse for girls around the globe. So, with a view to acknowledge the importance of the occasion and supporting the girls through education, the participants of the Trust designed their own beautiful posters to mark this special day, prepared short presentations and wrote poems expressing their sentiments and vision about the issue. We are very proud of their enthusiasm in participation and expression. We all agree that Girls can do anything! Below is the glimpse of their solidarity and creation :

Meanwhile, the empowerment centers and sewing center have started buzzing with activities with all 8 centers in Jodhpur and 1 center in Setrawa reopened on 1 October. Due to the restrictions, the class is sub-divided into 3 groups attending 2x per week, each center being open on Monday-Saturday. Tutors have been well-prepared in all the safety and hygiene precautions as well as discussing their revised curriculum with the Head of Vocational Training, Rashi Kwatra and Head of Educational Services, Rajshree Rathore. Most centers are learning Hindi, Maths and English as well as Sewing and Embroidery.  

Sambhali Nirbhaya Project

The pandemic and consequent lockdown had brought to mankind some harsh experiences based upon their socio-economic conditions and gender orientation. One of them is the noticeable rise in violence against women, who were compelled to be in homes constantly with their partners, mostly abusive, and family. The National Commission for Women (NCW) received 2,043 complaints of crimes committed against women in June, the highest in the last 8 months.

With this surge of violence against women, the Trust has expanded the purview of its Nirbhaya Helpline to include the women and girl victims of violence/atrocity/exploitation of any kind under its Sambhali Nirbhaya Project. During this 3-month pilot, started on 1 October, our aim is three-fold: to provide psychological and legal support to the afflicted women through our telephone Helpline, to provide improved crisis management channels of referral with the local police and hospitals to enable survivors to receive Sambhali’s support and to create, publish and distribute educational material on legal rights in an awareness campaign. This project is led by 3 new members of our Sambhali team, a psychologist Abhilasha Chouhan and a legal expert Shivani Singh, who are providing the women in need with much-needed advice and counseling and assisting their long-term rehabilitation. 

write-up by Ajay Parmar (Mr.)