Project Sanjivani (Centre for the Rehabilitation, Education and Training of Girl Street Children)

For many years now, VOICE has felt the need for a center that could house female street children while giving them the benefits of VOICE’s tried and proven programs in education and vocational training. This center could also provide much needed space and auxiliary support for VOICE’s current programs. This dream came true on February 18th 2007, when Sanjivani opened its doors to house upto a hundred girl children and provide the space and staff necessary for them to receive a total education that will allow them to truly become successful and self-reliant citizens. The three aspects of housing, education, and vocational training in relation to this proposed center have been addressed separately below for the sake of simplicity, but it is important to remember that these three areas are deeply intertwined and truly inseparable in this project. Also, the center’s proposed farming activities designed to make the center partially self-sufficient have been detailed below as a subsidiary project.

The Felt Need
Over the years, VOICE has been able to build meaningful and long-lasting relationships with street children and the communities in which they live. VOICE has discovered that although its educational programs are successful and rewarding that for many street children this can only be a partial solution. Without the safety and support of a caring family and a structurally sound home education becomes more difficult, if not impossible. This is especially true for female children who must face the devastation of sexual abuse on the streets. Furthermore, female children must work harder than boys to make a living on the streets. VOICE has found it difficult to retain young girls in recent years even though they are often bright students because they are forced into childhood marriages or, even more horribly, sold into prostitution. It is from VOICE’s young girls themselves that we have heard the urgent cry that something must be done to help them. Although VOICE has attempted to place young girls into homes for street children in the Mumbai area it has found that these homes are overfilled .

Center’s Housing Goals
Sanjivani will be able to house will be able to house up to 100 female children and provide them with total care. They will be given all the emotional and academic support necessary to develop a healthy body, mind and spirit to become self-reliant and contributing citizens.

The center will also provide all their physical needs. Furthermore, adequate clothing, a comfortable place to rest and laundry facilities will be provided. The director, his or her assistant, and house parents will all live at the facility to be able to provide quality 24-hour care for the entire year.

Center’s Educational Goals
In providing these girls with housing, VOICE is in no way moving away from its foundations of stressing the primacy of education, but instead strengthening its position to provide an even better education than it currently is able to. This center will be able to provide a safe environment so that these girls may be able to have a supportive environment in which to study and learn free of the distractions of the street. By the age of 18, these girls will have received all the tools necessary for them to become self-supportive and self-reliant young women. It will also be a space available to supplement the academic activities for VOICE’s other students who do not live at the center.

After assessing the need for education of the girls living at the center they will be enrolled at local schools for a formal education. When they return home they will be able to benefit by learning from VOICE teachers, house parents, and their fellow housemates, and a curriculum that has been especially designed by VOICE to be beneficial for children coming from backgrounds such as theirs. This extra support in this type of non-formal education is what will allow them to truly flourish. They will not only receive help with the three R’s and their homework, but also be involved in value education, indoor and outdoor games, music, educational field trips, yoga, pottery, and garden and kitchen work. All of these programs are designed to help make complete individuals and will undergo periodic evaluation periods to make sure they are accomplishing this goal and fitting well into the lives of these students who are coming from many different backgrounds.

The center’s auditorium will also be able to host large events such as drama or presenting speakers.

Center’s Vocational Training Goals

VOICE has always stressed on the importance of vocational training in a child’s education so that they will have the skills they need in order to make a living once they set out on their own. The girls who live at the center will be exposed to this type of training also. Screen-printing, diya making, sewing, tailoring, pottery, soap making, and computer skills will all be learned under the guidance of trained instructors with new skills being continuously added. VOICE has had great success in teaching the techniques of skills such as these and has found that many can also be a source of income for the organization. VOICE plans to use some of the products produced by the children, particularly in diya making and screen-printing, to provide a steady source of income to help make the center financially self-sufficient. All raw materials are available locally and a strong market has been found locally, nationally, and especially internationally for these types of goods. All students will be encouraged to pursue a trade that fits their talents best and then periodically evaluated to ensure they are making progress in learning the trade.

• May be from any religious background
  
• Must be either an orphan or from a single parent
  
• Must be from the street
  
• Must be below 7 years of age when accepted into the center, or to 10 years of age if in true distress
  
• Must leave the center by age 18-20
  
• Must abide by rules of the institution

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