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. Also, as their mothers work through the night as sex workers, they wake up late in the afternoon and their children invariably miss meals and become malnourished. Perishing in hunger, neglect, illiteracy and hopelessness, these children long for the day their childhood would be theirs again.

Four year old Aliya hails from the Ghatkopar red light area, one of the innumerable poverty stricken red light pockets in Mumbai, India. Her father, Imran, works as a driver and her mother, Zarina, is a house wife. Aliya has one brother. Her parents did not receive a strong formal education.

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 Aliya hails from such a disadvantaged background, she can dream of a stable future because she studies at the Ghatkopar Study Center run by the Sahaara Charitable Society. The foundational pre-primary teaching provided at Sahaara’s balwadis (Indian pre-schools) will enable Aliya 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.

Aliya is a smart, quiet child with good recall skills and a hunger to learn more. She can recite alphabets, numbers, and nursery rhymes. She loves playing indoor as well as outdoor games and enjoys expressing herself artistically. She is very sociable with the other children and loves sharing her toys with them.

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 Aliya a firm educational base that will help them break out of their vulnerable existence in the red light area and step into a safe and secure future.

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

Thank you, Venkat and Linda, for your gift to Aliya!

Anisha used to live in the red light district of Mumbai, India. Anisha’s mother was a victim of the sex trade in Mumbai. Her mother placed Anisha in one of Sahaara’s homes for such disadvantaged children so she could have a better life.

Children in red light areas live in severe physical and psychological peril, vulnerable to abuse, trauma and second generation prostitution. Sahaara values the lives and educations of children in Anisha’s position. The organization provides them with schooling, a new home, and much more. Anisha is only four years old and should not have to suffer because of her parent’s financial standings.

Because of your support, Sahaara can provide Anisha with six months of school, where she lives a happy, normal childhood. Thank you for your donation to support Anisha and aid Sahaara in this war against poverty. You have improved her future immensely. Anisha is a bright child and has a hunger to learn. Thank you for enabling her to pursue her dreams.

Children in red light areas live in severe physical and psychological peril, vulnerable to abuse, trauma and second generation prostitution. Here is the success story of one more child rescued from the sex trade.

The mother of five year old Muskan (The name means “smile” in the Hindi language) was a victim of the sex trade and worked in the Bhandup red light area in Mumbai, India. Sahaara staff met the mother for the first time around 2006. We counseled her to exit the trade and start a new life. In 2009, with our help, her mother exited the trade and was referred to a rehabilitation home in Pune. Simultaneously, Muskan was brought to Anandalay, ­ a shelter home run by Sahaara, for daughters of trafficked women. Anandalay houses these children as they are brought up by house-parents in a loving and conducive family environment. Muskan was welcomed into Anandalay in March 2009.

Initially when she came in to Anandalay, Muskan was a slow learner, withdrawn and very passive in nature. Over the years, there has been a turnaround in her social and academic skills: she has become expressive, smiling, talkative, interactive. She has blossomed into an extrovert, become proactive in making friends, and has shown significant improvement in her grades.

Currently she is enrolled in one of the top schools in the locality (St. Xaviers’ School, Airoli, a branch of Ryan Schools). Ryan Schools operate nationwide with nearly 200,000 children enrolled guided by eight thousand educators focusing on child-centered qualitative learning. The syllabus covers English (alphabet recognition, reading, writing, and sentence formation), numeracy, extracurricular activities such as sports, craft and drawing etc

Muskan has now emerged confident in skills like story narration and poem recitation. She particularly enjoys song and dance as well as crafts and drawing. She feels at home in Anandalay and loves to welcome the new girls who come into the home. As for her character, she is honest about her mistakes, tender and sensitive — she is a child who yearns to receive and give out love.

Anandalay has been a boon to Muskan. She now enjoys her childhood and has a hope and a future afforded by education!

Your generous donations, Nanda and Dale, will enable Sahaara to bear the cost of tuition for Muskan for half an academic year.

Thank you!

Jubhad is four years old and lives in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, India. This area is infamous for being a red light district of Mumbai. Jubhad faces hardships of living in extreme poverty with her parents. Jubhad’s mother has been subjected to the harsh market of their neighborhood and her father works as a taxi driver.

Sadly, Jubhad’s parents cannot afford to send her to school because of their minimal incomes. Jubhad suffers from a poverty trap caused by the lack of affordable education. Jubhad’s parents cannot earn sufficient incomes because they have little education experience, meaning they cannot afford to sent her to school. Sahaara is a foundation based in India that works to support children like Jubhad break this cycle of poverty.

Thanks to your donation, Dale, the cycle will be broken. Sahaara can support Jubhad throughout her first year of school because of your help. Now, she will not be subject to repeating the fate of her parents and can happily attend school with children her age. Jubhad now loves to share her toys and play outdoors with her classmates.
Thank you, again, Dale, for your care and support.

In the majority of Mumbai’s slums, quality and accessible education remains a pipe dream. The Sahaara Charitable Society believes that a helping hand and a continuum of services and opportunities is key to make the dreams of the poor a reality. Sahaara helps fulfill the dreams of four thousand marginalized people every year.

Five year old Gufran is a student in Sahaara’s balwadi (Indian pre-school) in Reay Road, Mumbai, India. His father, Nizamuddhin is a shopkeeper, and mother, Naima, is a housewife. Gufran has two brothers and one sister as well. The family barely makes enough money to support themselves.

Sahaara’s balwadi is situated near Gufran’s house and this is a boon to Gufran because majority of slum children are deprived of quality and accessible education.

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.

Farhin loves to attend the balwadi as, apart from classes, they offer several playtime activities to engage the children. Farhin is energetic and loves to spend time doing active things.

Your generous donations will enable Sahaara to provide an entire year of education to Gufran, thereby ensuring that he has the opportunity of a stable future!

Thank you, Sumair and Vijay, for your support of Gufran!

In the majority of Mumbai’s slums, quality and accessible education remains a pipe dream. The Sahaara Charitable Society believes that a helping hand and a continuum of services and opportunities is key to make the dreams of the poor a reality. Sahaara helps fulfill the dreams of four thousand marginalized people every year.

Five year old Shirin is a student in Sahaara’s balwadi (Indian pre-school) in Reay Road in Mumbai, India. Her father, Ansari, is a shopkeeper, and her mother, Naima, is a housewife. Shirin has two brothers as well. The family income is barely enough to make ends meet.

Sahaara’s balwadi is situated near Shirin’s house and this is a boon for her because the majority of slum children are deprived of quality and accessible education.

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.

Shirin loves to attend the balwadi as, apart from classes, they offer several playtime activities to engage the children. She is a live wire that is energetic and lively in class! She thoroughly enjoys physical activities like running, hopping and playing catch!

Your generous donation, Sumaira, will enable Sahaara to provide an entire year of education to Shirin, thereby ensuring that she has the opportunity for a stable future!

Thank you for your support of Shirin!

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 and half year old Mohammad hails from the Ghatkopar red light area, one of the innumerable poverty stricken red light pockets in Mumbai, India. His father, Sufiyan Shah, works as a tailor and his mother, Samima Banu, is a house wife. Mohammad has one sister and two brothers. Both his parents are poorly educated and they struggle to make enough money 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 Mohammad hails from such a disadvantaged background, he can dream of a stable future because he 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 Mohammad 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.

Mohammad is a smart child with good recall skills. He loves playing indoor as well as outdoor games. He knows how to recite nursery rhymes and loves performing action songs. He also loves painting and drawing sessions. He is very sociable with the other children and loves sharing his toys with them. He knows to recite alphabets and numbers 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 Mohammad a firm educational base that will help them break out of their vulnerable existence in the red light area and step into a safe and secure future.

Your generous donations, Sheila, Abhishek, and Soumya, will enable Sahaara to provide a year of pre-primary education to Mohammad.

Thank you so much for your gift to Mohammad!

Children in red light areas live in severe physical and psychological peril, vulnerable to abuse, trauma and second generation prostitution. Here is the success story of one more child rescued from the sex trade.

Eight year old Pallavi*’s mother was a victim of the sex trade and worked in the Turbhe red light area in Mumbai, India. Sahaara staff knew Pallavi’s mother since 2008. Pallavi was a student in the Sahaara balwadi (pre-primary school) as well. After receiving counsel from Sahaara officials, Pallavi’s mother decided to admit her child to Anandalay for a better and safer future. Anandalay (Home of Joy) is a shelter run by Sahaara for daughters of trafficked women. Children in Anandalay are brought up by house parents in a loving and conducive family environment. Pallavi was welcomed into Anandalay on the 1st of April in 2009.

Upon arrival, Pallavi was very aggressive in her language and did not show respect to others. This was natural because she hailed from an environment of violence and abuse in the red light district and she was unfamiliar with a family environment. The house parents in Anandalay engaged with her, assured her with love and instructed her in good behavior. Observing the other children and heeding the guidance of the house parents, Pallavi social skills began to mature. Pallavi is now respectful and loving in speech and conduct with the other children in the home as well as her houseparents.

Pallavi feels at home in Anandalay and loves to help the other children catch up with their studies. She naturally enjoys sharing with others and is proactive in helping the houseparents.

Your generous donations, Jeff and Sumair, will enable Sahaara to provide fresh and nutritious meals to Pallavi, thereby ensuring that she remains healthy and continues doing well in her studies.

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 Mohammad hails from Ghatkopar red light area, one of the innumerable poverty stricken red light pockets in Mumbai, India. His father, Mohammad, works as a carpenter and his mother, Gulshan, is a house wife. Mohammad has one sister and two brothers. His parents are not well educated and the family income is barely enough to make ends meet.

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 Mohammad hails from such a disadvantaged background, he can dream of a stable future because he 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 Mohammad 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.

Mohammad is a smart child with good recall skills. He knows the alphabet and is skilled at reciting numbers. He is a quiet child with a hunger to learn more and more from the teachers. He knows how to recite nursery rhymes and loves performing ‘action’ songs. He also loves painting and drawing sessions. Mohammad is very sociable with the other children and loves sharing his toys with them.

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 Gayarthi a firm educational base that will help them break out of their vulnerable existence in the red light area and step into a safe and secure future.

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

Thank you so much, Abhishek and Kowsilliya, for your gift to Mohammad!

Six year old Sania hails from Mankhurd, one of the innumerable poverty stricken slum pockets in Mumbai, India. Both her parents are illiterate. Her father, Kalimula, is a mechanic and her mother, Sairabanu, is a housewife. They are a family of seven that includes Sania, her two sisters, two brothers and parents.

Children from slums like Mankhurd face educational deprivation, such as generational illiteracy and a physical lack of access to a quality education. Though Sania hails from such a disadvantaged background, she can dream of a stable future because she studies at the Mankhurd Study Center run by the Sahaara Charitable Society. The foundational pre-primary teaching provided at Sahaara’s balwadis (Indian pre-schools) will enable Sania to step into a bright future through enrollment in a good school. Located near Sania’s house, the balwadi is a potent vehicle for transforming her future through quality education.

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.

Sania loves to attend the balwadi apart from her studies so she can participate in the several playtime activities available to her there. She is an energetic girl and lively in class! She is talkative and thoroughly enjoys physical activities like running and hopping.

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 Sania 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 Sania.

Thank you so much, Kowsilliya and Sumair, for your gift to Sania!