Uma was a Class 10 student when she lost her parents and turned out to be a cause of worry to her underprivileged and ailing grandmother. Her teacher, realising the trauma she was going through, suggested her to shift to Abhayashrama, an organisation that works for the holistic rehabilitation of women and children. The organisation has now been her house for seven years. "Staying here, I completed PUC and my higher studies too. Abhayashrama not only funded my education and took care of my day-to-day needs, but also gave the warmth of family love and inculcated moral values in me. I don't know what my life would have been had I not been a part of this organisation. I aspire to work as a lecturer and mould the lives of my students just like Abhayashrama," she says.
Rani, who is a resident of Abhayasharama since nine years, cannot find words to thank the organisation. "Facing poverty at home, I was referred to this non-profit organisation. Abhayasharama not only welcomed me with open arms, but also guided and funded my education. I am now in search of a job and I am confident of making it big," she says.
These are a few of the many girls, whose lives have been shaped by Abhayashrama, which has been rendering selfless services to the destitutes for over 80 years. Several other girls, who were once sheltered here, have found a foothold in their fields of interest.
Some love & care
Realising the need for a movement to eradicate unethical vices against women in India, a group of social reformers started Association for Social Health in India (ASHI) in 1926. The Karnataka branch, which is the first residential unit of ASHI, (Abhayashrama) was started in 1935.
In appreciation of the yeomen service rendered by the organisation, the late Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, gifted land to build the present building in 1954 in Wilson Garden, Bengaluru. From a humble beginning with just seven residents, Abhayashrama has now grown into an established organisation giving shelter, protection, medical aid, education, vocational training and other rehabilitation programmes to women and children.
Abhayashrama runs six schemes to cater to the needy. One among them is Vatsalya — a home away from home for girls who are orphans, destitutes and in moral danger. The home provides opportunities for children to get quality education and also training in arts and music. Mamtha Creche is a free creche for children whose mothers work as labourers. The children are provided with nutritious food, medical care and recreation among others.
Swaadhaar is a short stay home, which provides shelter to women in distress and their young children for a period of six months to two years. One of the prime motives of this wing is to reconcile a woman with her estranged husband and family members. "In the lower strata of society, a single woman is vulnerable to several atrocities. In this view, reconciliation with her family plays a vital role in reshaping her life," says Sreelatha Sharatchandra, president, Abhayashrama.
Professional help
As counselling plays a pivotal role in this process, the organisation runs Abhaya Family Counseling Centre, where free counselling is offered with the help of a panel of expert counsellors, doctors, psychologists, advocates and social workers to people under emotional stress. While reconciliation is the primary mantra, the residents are also provided with vocational training, especially in tailoring and beautician fields, so that they are self-dependent. The organisation has so far reunited hundreds of families and made women self-dependent, thereby giving them a new lease of life.
Annually, the organisation houses about 200 people and caters to all their needs. However, lack of financial resources has affected the services rendered by the organisation. "The government funds are enough to cater to just about 20% of the total expenditure," Sreelatha rues. The organisation seeks public help in continuing its legacy of changing the lives of its residents for good.
For further details, log on to www.abhayashrama.org.
(Names of all the beneficiaries mentioned in the article have been changed upon request.)![]( "home away from home Kids at Abhayashrama, Association for Social Health, Bengaluru;")
Uma was a Class 10 student when she lost her parents and turned out to be a cause of worry to her underprivileged and ailing grandmother. Her teacher, realising the trauma she was going through, suggested her to shift to Abhayashrama, an organisation that works for the holistic rehabilitation of women and children. The organisation has now been her house for seven years. "Staying here, I completed PUC and my higher studies too. Abhayashrama not only funded my education and took care of my day-to-day needs, but also gave the warmth of family love and inculcated moral values in me. I don’t know what my life would have been had I not been a part of this organisation. I aspire to work as a lecturer and mould the lives of my students just like Abhayashrama,” she says.
Rani, who is a resident of Abhayasharama since nine years, cannot find words to thank the organisation. "Facing poverty at home, I was referred to this non-profit organisation. Abhayasharama not only welcomed me with open arms, but also guided and funded my education. I am now in search of a job and I am confident of making it big,” she says.
These are a few of the many girls, whose lives have been shaped by Abhayashrama, which has been rendering selfless services to the destitutes for over 80 years. Several other girls, who were once sheltered here, have found a foothold in their fields of interest.
Some love & care
Realising the need for a movement to eradicate unethical vices against women in India, a group of social reformers started Association for Social Health in India (ASHI) in 1926. The Karnataka branch, which is the first residential unit of ASHI, (Abhayashrama) was started in 1935.
In appreciation of the yeomen service rendered by the organisation, the late Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, gifted land to build the present building in 1954 in Wilson Garden, Bengaluru. From a humble beginning with just seven residents, Abhayashrama has now grown into an established organisation giving shelter, protection, medical aid, education, vocational training and other rehabilitation programmes to women and children.
Abhayashrama runs six schemes to cater to the needy. One among them is Vatsalya — a home away from home for girls who are orphans, destitutes and in moral danger. The home provides opportunities for children to get quality education and also training in arts and music. Mamtha Creche is a free creche for children whose mothers work as labourers. The children are provided with nutritious food, medical care and recreation among others.
Swaadhaar is a short stay home, which provides shelter to women in distress and their young children for a period of six months to two years. One of the prime motives of this wing is to reconcile a woman with her estranged husband and family members. "In the lower strata of society, a single woman is vulnerable to several atrocities. In this view, reconciliation with her family plays a vital role in reshaping her life,” says Sreelatha Sharatchandra, president, Abhayashrama.
Professional help
As counselling plays a pivotal role in this process, the organisation runs Abhaya Family Counseling Centre, where free counselling is offered with the help of a panel of expert counsellors, doctors, psychologists, advocates and social workers to people under emotional stress. While reconciliation is the primary mantra, the residents are also provided with vocational training, especially in tailoring and beautician fields, so that they are self-dependent. The organisation has so far reunited hundreds of families and made women self-dependent, thereby giving them a new lease of life.
Annually, the organisation houses about 200 people and caters to all their needs. However, lack of financial resources has affected the services rendered by the organisation. "The government funds are enough to cater to just about 20% of the total expenditure,” Sreelatha rues. The organisation seeks public help in continuing its legacy of changing the lives of its residents for good.
For further details, log on to www.abhayashrama.org.
(Names of all the beneficiaries mentioned in the article have been changed upon request.)
Rani, who is a resident of Abhayasharama since nine years, cannot find words to thank the organisation. "Facing poverty at home, I was referred to this non-profit organisation. Abhayasharama not only welcomed me with open arms, but also guided and funded my education. I am now in search of a job and I am confident of making it big," she says.
These are a few of the many girls, whose lives have been shaped by Abhayashrama, which has been rendering selfless services to the destitutes for over 80 years. Several other girls, who were once sheltered here, have found a foothold in their fields of interest.
Some love & care
Realising the need for a movement to eradicate unethical vices against women in India, a group of social reformers started Association for Social Health in India (ASHI) in 1926. The Karnataka branch, which is the first residential unit of ASHI, (Abhayashrama) was started in 1935.
In appreciation of the yeomen service rendered by the organisation, the late Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, gifted land to build the present building in 1954 in Wilson Garden, Bengaluru. From a humble beginning with just seven residents, Abhayashrama has now grown into an established organisation giving shelter, protection, medical aid, education, vocational training and other rehabilitation programmes to women and children.
Abhayashrama runs six schemes to cater to the needy. One among them is Vatsalya — a home away from home for girls who are orphans, destitutes and in moral danger. The home provides opportunities for children to get quality education and also training in arts and music. Mamtha Creche is a free creche for children whose mothers work as labourers. The children are provided with nutritious food, medical care and recreation among others.
Swaadhaar is a short stay home, which provides shelter to women in distress and their young children for a period of six months to two years. One of the prime motives of this wing is to reconcile a woman with her estranged husband and family members. "In the lower strata of society, a single woman is vulnerable to several atrocities. In this view, reconciliation with her family plays a vital role in reshaping her life," says Sreelatha Sharatchandra, president, Abhayashrama.
Professional help
As counselling plays a pivotal role in this process, the organisation runs Abhaya Family Counseling Centre, where free counselling is offered with the help of a panel of expert counsellors, doctors, psychologists, advocates and social workers to people under emotional stress. While reconciliation is the primary mantra, the residents are also provided with vocational training, especially in tailoring and beautician fields, so that they are self-dependent. The organisation has so far reunited hundreds of families and made women self-dependent, thereby giving them a new lease of life.
Annually, the organisation houses about 200 people and caters to all their needs. However, lack of financial resources has affected the services rendered by the organisation. "The government funds are enough to cater to just about 20% of the total expenditure," Sreelatha rues. The organisation seeks public help in continuing its legacy of changing the lives of its residents for good.
For further details, log on to www.abhayashrama.org.
(Names of all the beneficiaries mentioned in the article have been changed upon request.)
Uma was a Class 10 student when she lost her parents and turned out to be a cause of worry to her underprivileged and ailing grandmother. Her teacher, realising the trauma she was going through, suggested her to shift to Abhayashrama, an organisation that works for the holistic rehabilitation of women and children. The organisation has now been her house for seven years. "Staying here, I completed PUC and my higher studies too. Abhayashrama not only funded my education and took care of my day-to-day needs, but also gave the warmth of family love and inculcated moral values in me. I don’t know what my life would have been had I not been a part of this organisation. I aspire to work as a lecturer and mould the lives of my students just like Abhayashrama,” she says. Rani, who is a resident of Abhayasharama since nine years, cannot find words to thank the organisation. "Facing poverty at home, I was referred to this non-profit organisation. Abhayasharama not only welcomed me with open arms, but also guided and funded my education. I am now in search of a job and I am confident of making it big,” she says.
These are a few of the many girls, whose lives have been shaped by Abhayashrama, which has been rendering selfless services to the destitutes for over 80 years. Several other girls, who were once sheltered here, have found a foothold in their fields of interest.
Some love & care
Realising the need for a movement to eradicate unethical vices against women in India, a group of social reformers started Association for Social Health in India (ASHI) in 1926. The Karnataka branch, which is the first residential unit of ASHI, (Abhayashrama) was started in 1935.
In appreciation of the yeomen service rendered by the organisation, the late Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, gifted land to build the present building in 1954 in Wilson Garden, Bengaluru. From a humble beginning with just seven residents, Abhayashrama has now grown into an established organisation giving shelter, protection, medical aid, education, vocational training and other rehabilitation programmes to women and children.
Abhayashrama runs six schemes to cater to the needy. One among them is Vatsalya — a home away from home for girls who are orphans, destitutes and in moral danger. The home provides opportunities for children to get quality education and also training in arts and music. Mamtha Creche is a free creche for children whose mothers work as labourers. The children are provided with nutritious food, medical care and recreation among others.
Swaadhaar is a short stay home, which provides shelter to women in distress and their young children for a period of six months to two years. One of the prime motives of this wing is to reconcile a woman with her estranged husband and family members. "In the lower strata of society, a single woman is vulnerable to several atrocities. In this view, reconciliation with her family plays a vital role in reshaping her life,” says Sreelatha Sharatchandra, president, Abhayashrama.
Professional help
As counselling plays a pivotal role in this process, the organisation runs Abhaya Family Counseling Centre, where free counselling is offered with the help of a panel of expert counsellors, doctors, psychologists, advocates and social workers to people under emotional stress. While reconciliation is the primary mantra, the residents are also provided with vocational training, especially in tailoring and beautician fields, so that they are self-dependent. The organisation has so far reunited hundreds of families and made women self-dependent, thereby giving them a new lease of life.
Annually, the organisation houses about 200 people and caters to all their needs. However, lack of financial resources has affected the services rendered by the organisation. "The government funds are enough to cater to just about 20% of the total expenditure,” Sreelatha rues. The organisation seeks public help in continuing its legacy of changing the lives of its residents for good.
For further details, log on to www.abhayashrama.org.
(Names of all the beneficiaries mentioned in the article have been changed upon request.)
