Projects – Community Centres – El Shaddai Charitable Trust, UK

HELPING COMMUNITIES BECOME SELF-RELIANT

Working with these children in the Shelters, we realised the need to also transform their communities to create lasting change. That’s why we began Community Centres in the communities we work with.

Through the Centres, we reach out to families living in slums and undeveloped rural areas. Here we conduct health and hygiene awareness camps, pre- and post-natal care, educate men and women on the importance of family planning. We also run slum schools for children unable to attend regular school.

Women and youth can learn skills to help them set up their own enterprises in tailoring, beauty salons and other skills.

We run Shelters and Community Centres in the major cities of Goa. Most of these families are migrants from neighbouring states, who come to Goa in search of employment and better futures. Seeing this, we felt the need to improve conditions in their villages, so families are not compelled to migrate. Our Community Centres in neighbouring states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala help local communities build better lives through primary education for the children and entrepreneurship and skills training especially for women.

Through our Shelters and Community Centres, we integrate the children into society and help families break out of the cycle of poverty. Over the years, El Shaddai has reached out to thousands of children and families through these shelters and community centres.

The Story of Tremara

Anita was in our “shop” at the weekly Wednesday flea market in Anjuna; whilst there she meets hundreds of tourists on holiday and it’s a splendid source of talking and informing folk of El Shaddai. A couple came up and said “Hello Anita”; She recognised them at once as they also live in Devon. Mary wanted to raise some money and asked what we needed. Anita said she wanted to build a Community Centre at Chimbel on the outskirts of Panjim, the capital of Goa. She looked up in horror saying “well I was just thinking of doing a coffee morning!” Her partner Trevor muttered something in her ear and she said “I will do what I can”. They asked what it would cost. Within several months, they had raised the money and when it was built, they came back to Goa for the inauguration to cut the ribbon. We named it ‘Tremara’ after Trevor and Mary.

Very sadly, on their return to the UK, Mary had a heart attack and passed away as they were leaving the flight at Gatwick. But what an amazing legacy she left; she will never be forgotten and in her memory, so many lives have been helped and changed for the better.

COMMUNITY CENTRES WE SUPPORT

ASHRAYA COMMUNITY CENTRE

The Ashraya Community Centre is situated in Birla, Zuarinagar-Vasco and has more than 2000 poor people living in the slum. We provide formal and non-formal education to hundreds of needy and deprived children along with extra-curricular activities to build community and personality skills. Our aim is to bring drop-outs back to school, help and fulfil their dreams. Currently we help over 300 children.

Contact Info:
Ashraya Community Centre,
H. No.188/13 Behind Kiran Niketan School
Housing Board Colony, Vasco
Ph: +91-9307251779
Email: ashraya@childrescue.net

MUNGOD PROJECT

Each community centre in Karnataka helps an average of 100 underprivileged children with food and extra coaching classes from Monday to Friday. The centres provide nutritious meals, remedial classes and counselling. The centres conduct women empowerment projects that help the women with income generating programmes and distributes goats and chickens to the families who are from financially poor areas. The other projects being implemented are digging of bore wells in the community to facilitate the availability of clean and fresh drinking water for the people.

PROJECT RENA

Project Rena is a project of El Shaddai based in Mumbai has been started to fight against victims of human trafficking among the red light district of Turbhe Navi Mumbai for the development of women and children who are living under captivity. Turbhe Navi Mumbai, a red light district has a majority of women who are HIV positive. These women have been trafficked from different villages, cities of India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. A lot of injustice is done to the women and children who are living a demeaned life.