Naazarine is a smart student! – Sahaara Charitable Society

The 2.8 million sex workers in India are highly marginalised, vulnerable and unreached due to the burden of severe stigma, the commoditization of personhood, forced poverty and debt bondage. Doubly disadvantaged, their children face even worse consequences in these red light areas, including physical danger, vulnerability to violence and sexual exploitation. Many of these children are kept drugged under the very beds upon which the trade is carried out.

Four year old Naazarine hails from the Ghatkopar red light area, one of the innumerable poverty stricken red light pockets in Mumbai. Her father, Aksar, is an electrician and her mother, Afsana, is a trafficked woman working in Ghatkopar red light area. Naazarine has one brother and two sisters. Both of her parents are uneducated and barely make enough to support their children.

Children from red light areas face educational deprivation, such as generational illiteracy and a physical lack of access to a quality education. Due to the social stigma and poverty associated with red light areas, these children are not put in school, which further compounds their present and future challenges.

Though Naazarine hails from such a disadvantaged background, she can dream of a stable future because she studies at the Ghaktopar Study Center run by the Sahaara Charitable Society. The foundational pre-primary teaching provided at Sahaara§s balwadis (Indian pre-schools) will enable Naazarine to step into a bright future through enrollment in a good school.

Sahaara§s balwadi has a systematic curriculum wherein children are equipped in the following subjects over the period of a year: English and Hindi; alphabets and poems; writing skills; general knowledge such as colors, animals, flowers and personal hygiene; and games and activities such as counting and recognition.

Naazarine is a live wire filled with bubbling enthusiasm and energy. She is a smart student with good recall skills. She knows numbers 1-10 and the alphabets as well. She is sociable and enjoys sharing her toys and things with other children. She loves singing nursery rhymes and performing action songs. She loves to play with colous and enjoys drawing exercises as well!

Sahaara Charitable Society believes that every person has a dream, and their work centers around ensuring that marginalized persons are able to articulate and work towards achieving their dream. Sahaara§s early childhood education program gives children like Nabisha a firm educational base that will help her break out of the poverty cycle and fulfill her dream of a stable future.

Your generous donation will enable Sahaara to provide a year of pre-primary education to Naazarine.

Thank you so much for your gift to Naazarine!