Emergency Housing for Survivors

In the last six months, Smarita and I have both accommodated several survivors at our homes. This was due to lack of any other opportunities - there are no emergency shelter homes in Kolkata for victims of abuse. Women would show up at our office, having been beaten nearly to death, saying that they need a place to stay. The first time this happened, Smarita allowed the young woman to stay in her home. The next week, another woman came, having been beaten and kicked out of the house by her brother. She stayed with me for a while, and then Smarita's mother, slowly opening up to a life of safe shelter. There were other cases like this, and we were lucky to make arrangements with a hostel for working women. But it took almost three months for the admission process, and in those three months the women had to stay with us. 

There will be more emergency situations in the future, and it's something that has stressed Smarita and I for a while. We want to be able to provide the women a place to stay for a few months until they can make other arrangements, either living in a working women's hostel or finding a place of their own to rent. We had thought about renting a small house in the future, and charging a small rent for the women to stay there, but we have no funds for this. 

Last month, our landlord informed us that the flat across the hall from our current Destiny office would become available on May 1st. Paul, who is heading up our jewelry program, was interested in this flat to expand the jewelry training and offer the training to more women. So we went in to have a look and to our surprise, found that it was HUGE! There are several rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and balcony. As we were looking at it, we noticed that the current tenants had set up one room as the bedroom, another as an office space, and another as a living room/eating room. Paul and I had the same thought - what if we kept the bedroom as a bedroom and used the other two rooms for jewelry training? The idea took more shape when Smarita pointed out that the kitchen and bathroom were both in excellent condition and that someone could live here. Could it be a solution to our emergency housing problem?

Over the next week, we discussed everything and eventually decided to take the flat on a year's rent. We will use the two big rooms for jewelry training and keep the smaller room as a bedroom for both emergency housing needs. We also will use the bedroom to host trainees from far away villages who come to take training for a week or two. 

So starting May 1st, we will be prepared for those crisis situations when women show up with no place to stay that night. And we'll have a new space to offer jewelry training to even more women! It's extremely exciting, but we do need support. We'd like to get the place furnished and ready for the training and living accommodations, so please think about making a donation for this new flat. With your help, we can make it a comfortable working and living environment for these survivors who are on their way to independence!