Purnata Provides A Home
On Monday, February 3rd, Purnata officially moved a few women who are learning at the training center into the new safe house. This new house is conveniently located close to the training center, making it easier and safer for the women to travel everyday.
The women who are staying in the safe house shared their excitement over having a place to call their own. They love being able to cook their own meals and have their own bed to sleep in. We even were able to put together some care
packages for the women filled with essential toiletries.
Shift For Amoli Production Unit
Amoli Handicrafts, the for profit business created by Purnata to help employ women who are victims are human trafficking, has changed location! Before, Amoli was based in the training center but now we have moved to a bigger gala, closer to the main road. We have made sure to create an aesthetically, friendly atmosphere for our employees to work in. We also have bought more machines to be used for production purposes. We are excited for this new phase of Amoli and hope it will bring about new clients and more orders.
The Restarting of Teen's Club
Teen's club, that happens weekly at the center in the red light area, is getting revamped! We called the teens that participate in teen's club to discuss and have them participate in the designing of the new program for them. We had 12 boys and 8 girls attend. We spoke with them about the new children's center we are starting and they are highly looking forward to it.
The girls meet every Wednesday while the boys meet on Fridays.
Steps Forward In Foster Care
Purnata has now become part of the Mumbai Suburban Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committee. We will be helping the District Officer of the Women and Children Department in creating a database of children and foster care families. We also have been asked to host a consultation workshop for capacity building on foster care for NGO’s and CCI’s in March. We are hoping the training goes well. We'll be funded through the Collector's office or CSR's opportunities for the workshop. This is a big step in moving forward with our dream to pioneer foster care within Mumbai as an alternative form of child care.
Purnata Attends National Consultation
At the end of January one of the Purnata staff from the Kolkata branch attended the Voluntary National Review Consultation on Bonded Labor and Human Trafficking with members from the International Justice Mission (IJM). Purnata was invited as an esteemed partner in West Bengal. A panel discussion was held where various dignitaries were present. After this panel, two leaders who survived the ordeal of bonded labor and human trafficking shared their first-hand experiences and gave recommendations from their perspective to the panel. There was a group discussion about the issues and challenges faced in these fields. Various issues facing sex trafficking cases were also discussed.
