Enablement and Empowerment
Enablement and Empowerment
About Us
Our mission is to raise funds to provide sustenance through food, shelter, health, hygiene & other necessities for the sex workers in Kalighat and other ostracized and marginalized women & children in Kolkata. This will be a continual effort that will extend to education, empowerment, self-sufficiency and rehabilitation in the future.
Our effort was originally conceived during the devastation caused by the initial onslaught of COVID-19 in India last year. Subsequently we realized that these women, mothers and children, who are very much neglected in our society, will need our help for some time to come. The second wave of Covid has hit India and these women have no source of income now and in the foreseeable future. We need to help them with food, medicines and other necessities to weather this storm, and continue to provide sustenance for them.
History
During the Durga Puja of 2020, we learned that the sex workers and their children in the Kalighat red light district of Kolkata were suffering from massive unemployment, business closures and hunger.
It was not easy. We started collecting donations from local friends and families, and sending the money to our trustworthy friends in organizations like Kids Centre (a children’s school) and New Light (a voluntary group serving the community) in Kolkata, who are our boots-on-the-ground in that red-light area. The Kids Centre and New Light members took up the challenge to help the helpless with their daily necessities, with passion and untiring hard work. Together, we succeeded to see smiles on those hundreds of weary, starving faces of mothers and children.
Milestones
Progress over the years
2020
REGULAR SUPPLY OF ESSENTIALS
Provided essential food and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
EXPANDED SUPPLY OF ESSENTIAL
Expanded efforts to provide regular food rations, daily necessities, and school supplies.
2022
MEDICAL CAMPS; EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
Medical camps providing access to doctor consultations for diagnosis and treatment.
We also offer emergency relief during outbreaks of diseases such as dengue and malaria.
2023
EDUCATION & HEALTHCARE PROGRAMS
We operate from our own rented space, offering after-school tuition for children and ongoing medical drives to screen critical health risks like cervical cancer with referrals.
2024
DIGITAL LITERACY FOR CHILDRENS
Structured and organized tuition classes, introduced extracurricular activities such as art and festivals, and added computers with digital literacy classes for middle and upper school children.
2025
OUR COMMITMENT CONTINUES
Continuing our commitment with regular food drives, educational support for children, and ongoing medical initiatives throughout 2025.
Our Organization
We are incorporated as a non-profit organization in New Jersey and are a tax-exempt public charity per section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code. We are not a membership organization but welcome all volunteers who wish to work with us.
