DISHA had big news this month with the confirmation of a three-year grant from the Oak Foundation.  The grant will fully cover DISHA’s activities (with the stipulation that DISHA also raise a certain amount from outside sources) and will allow DISHA to expand services and the staff. The grant came at the perfect time, as DISHA was going through a rough phase under the current economic climate. Many aspects of the programme were suffering due to lack of funds. The news was received with great jubilation from all our staff and a “happy dance,” from our key fundraiser Rujuta who was working on the grant proposal.  As a result of this grant, DISHA will be able to continue with the crucial work of making Tadiwala Road and Ramtekdi model communities in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Also, DISHA will be able to host the much loved and needed “Celebration of Life,” on World AIDS Day this year.  Some new fieldworkers will be hired to form a complete team to execute this project.

DISHA held an awareness session and lunch with 12 people from the MSM community (men who have sex with men). Many MSM face banishment from the community - people refusing to talk to, sit near, or touch them. DISHA has always made an effort to embrace the marginalized and work to educate and support those who are at higher risk for HIV transmission. While the turn-out was lower than expected, the response was tremendous. The twelve participants vowed that with our support, they will continue to participate in and be an active part of DISHA’s work, attending bi-monthly meetings to discuss pertinent issues to their community and hopefully expanding our reach within it.

103 HIV tests were given; 3800 condoms were distributed; 7 clients improved their weight; 4 increased their CD4 count; 68 clients were treated for Opportunistic Infections; 1 client passed away from OI’s.

Many thanks to all of the kind and generous supporters who contributed to the Donate Tees campaign organised by SheepStop for the beneficiaries of Deep Griha Society.

We received an overwhelming response and collected more than 1000 T-shirts and the donations are still coming in.

Today, Deep Griha organised a small informal event when Bhagyashri Dixit and Parag from SheepStop gave away the T-shirts to the beneficiaries. Representatives from couple of donor companies and a few individual donors were also present at the event. The T-shirts were handed out to more than 60 beneficiaries. And rest of the T-shirts will be distributed at different centres of Deep Griha Society in the coming weeks.

A T-shirt designing competition was organised at the event. All the beneficiaries right from a 2 year old to 50-something year old participated in the competition. The winning designs received brand new T-shirts from SheepStop.

Thank you SheepStop for coming up with the idea and coordinating the drive. We at Deep Griha really appreciate all the efforts and time put in by you.

Below is the list of all the companies who participated in the Donate Tees campaign.
Cummins
Extentia
Cerillion
ZS Associates
Hitachi Consulting
MphasiS
SunGard

For pictures and more details click here

 

This month Women’s Empowerment celebrated World Literacy with several events. First, a team – including the team leader and 4 graduates of the adult literacy programme attended the launch of Sakshar Bharat Mission in Delhi on September 8. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, other government officials and neo literates from projects all across the country attended this event. The team brought the excitement back to Pune where they celebrated the graduation of women from the literacy programmes in Bibvewadi, Ramtekadi, and Tadiwala with 65, 70, 55 people in attendance respectively. The celebrations included cultural programs which included song, dance, and testimonials from women who had completed the program. On the September 22, the two literacy teachers attended an event at the Prime Minister’s house in Delhi for a special event honoring those who work to empower the uneducated.

In cooperation with Care India they hosted awareness sessions regarding cancer; focusing on breast, ovarian, and mouth cancer. At Ramtekadi 40 women and at Bibvewadi 50 women were educated regarding early testing and given resources regarding prevention and treatment.

Women’s empowerment also hosted their monthly Legal Aid session where professors and lawyers from India Law Society Pune advise women on their rights and assist in any pending cases regarding domestic violence. Seven cases were handled this month.

September was full of celebrations for the children of Aadhar Kendra. Outfits were distributed to the children as a gift for Eid ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Gifts and sweets will also be given next month for Diwali. On September 26, all of the September birthdays were celebrated.

6 new children have been enrolled and the programme. Two new sponsors have expressed an interest and will continue to support the child they sponsor for a long time. 25 children received medical check-ups.

At Ramtekadi many classes are beginning, ending, and underway. Henna classes begun this month with 15 girls on the roster. 8 students graduated from the computer class, with 14 set to start next month. English classes will begin next month for staff and youth.

The DISHA team reached nearly 1000 people this month with awareness sessions, workshops, street theatre and demonstrations across the city with a great diversity of people. TVS, a tyre company, as a part of their CSR activities hosted an event for auto-rickshaw drivers and invited DISHA to do awareness sessions, condom demonstrations, and to encourage voluntary testing. Over three days they reached 668 drivers.

DISHA partners with Sahara on Take The Wheel – Truckers Programme funded by Eaton India. Under this project, numerous awareness sessions were organized for truck drivers, a high-risk group, where DISHA was able to reach well over 100 drivers. The DISHA team ran five programmes for Tadiwala residents, two for Sure Start programme in Ramtekadi and Bibvewadi, and two for Financial Literacy Training groups under Women’s Empowerment programme.

This month DISHA also focused on the MSM and TG communities, meeting with Tadiwala contacts within the respective communities to organize awareness sessions. They expect between 15 and 20 for both sessions.

In client news, four PLHIV increased their CD4 counts, four increased their BMI, and one client was empowered with an improved economic condition.

This month 69 children received medical check-ups from doctors from Armed Forces Medical College. Most seemed to be in good health with only several sinus infections and two children who were discovered to have heart issues. This is part of the regular medical check ups that are organised for children on a regular basis. Since this year, AFMC will continue their support to DGS and be actively involved in this activity.

The clinic experienced a rush of concerned clients this month as daily reports of H1N1 filled the airwaves and newspapers. Dr. Prakash responded with workshops on prevention measures and guidelines for Deep Griha’s crèche and balwadi teachers as well as for various other members of the community. When asked if the panic was warranted, Dr. Prakash responded that the threat of H1N1 was overblown by the media and that when compared to the risk and prevalence of tuberculosis and HIV, H1N1 is a minor threat. There have not been any cases of H1N1 in the Tadiwala community.

The clinic continued its effort at education with numerous workshops. 52 local teachers were given resources regarding proper nutrition and H1N1 prevention. Deep Griha also circulated information pamphlets and inform people from the communities we work in about various precautionary measures. In Ramtekadi, MOMs (Monitoring of MNH Status) committee received a workshop on HIV prevention and treatment. HIV/AIDS awareness workshops were also hosted for parents from Tadiwala Road.

September 8 is celebrated as World Literacy Day. This year, the women’s empowerment team of Deep Griha Society attended a function on the occasion of the World Literacy Day at Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the Sakshar Bharat mission at this event.The objective of the mission is to reduce illiteracy especially among the women. Participants from all over India were present at the event.

Also present on the occasion were D. Purandeswari, Minister of state for HRD, Kapil Sibbal, Union Minister – HRD and Meira Kumar, Lok Sabha Speaker.

Speaking on the occasion the Prime Minister said although good progress has been made to make India literate, one third of the population still continues to be illiterate and half of the women cannot read or write. He said that the number of illiterate people in the country is the highest in the world. Singh said that empowering the disadvantaged groups with literacy is a big challenge for the government. He expressed the hope that the Sakshar Bharat Mission will involve the community, Panchayati Raj Institution and the women self help groups in its endeavour.

Roshni Devi ,one of the neo-literate representatives from Silloti village of Haryana shared her story of how her being literate helped her to become a school librarian and then also help other women from the village to educate themselves.

Four beneficiaries of the adult literacy programme and the team leader of the women’s empowerment programme attended this event as representatives of Deep Griha Society. These participants were selected by Dr K N Bawale, Director, Maharashtra State Resource Center – Education, Pune. Another group of 5 participants from Aurangabad attended this programme. To know more about the adult education programme of Deep Griha Society click here. Being able to attend such a big event was a great opportunity for the beneficiaries. As one of the beneficiaries said, it was truly a memorable and motivational experience for them.