Fourteen year old Poonam recently became the sole breadwinner in her family when her father had surgery and became unable to work.  In order to support her younger siblings and parents, Poonam hauls a heavy bundle of old clothes over her shoulder and attempts to sell them in the market despite dwindling demand for used clothes. She typically leaves the house at 8am and works into the late afternoon so that her family can eat their evening meal, earning a total of about Rs 2,000 ($45) per month.

Recently, Poonam joined AIC’s Basic Tailoring Class in the hopes that she can one day earn a living through the tailoring skills she acquires in the class. In addition to enjoying learning to sew, Poonam also feels inspired by the women’s literacy component of the class and has said that she would like to go back to school next year if her parents will permit it. She feels confident that, with her new tailoring talents, she will be able to attend school as well as earn money for her family and she is determined to work hard so that she can have the brightest future possible!

Your generous donations, Scott and Daniela (x5), will enable AIC to bear the cost of Poonam’s tailoring course.

Your support will ensure that Poonam learns  a marketable skill that will hold her in good stead and provide for her family!

Sunita is currently pregnant with her third child. Her husband sells clothes and cloth items in a stall on the side of the road, while Sunita stays home to tend to her two children. Monthly, her husband earns about $60, which goes towards household expenses and educational costs for their children, leaving little left over for medical expenses or nutritional needs beyond the bare minimum.

Therefore, Sunita is receiving support from the AIC Health Centre to ensure that she has the healthiest pregnancy possible. Through this program, she receives benefits such as regular counseling, monthly check-ups and medical care for the duration of her pregnancy, nutritional supplementation (mid-day meals and vitamins) and assistance during the time of her delivery. Sunita’s husband is also grateful for the extra help that his wife is receiving during the pregnancy and looks forward to welcoming their new baby into the world.

Your generous donations, Laurent, Sheba, Vijendher, Bill and Colleen, Lesley, Bill.B, Dean and Julie and Bill.S, will ensure that AIC can provide the best possible antenatal care, and do everything possible to ensure that Sunita welcomes a healthy and happy baby into the world.

Sunita’s pregnancy is progressing well, and she is looking forward to becoming a mother for the third time.

Dear David, Greg and Monica, Akiko, Lee, Kandace, Luke and Ani, Paul, Gillian, Vidya and Fleming,

Nine year old, Sanjay is the second-oldest of five siblings. His parents trade old clothes and cloth and his mother often begs on the streets in the evenings to support the family, earning a combined total of about Rs 2,000 per month ($45).

On weekends when he is not in school, Sanjay’s mother sends him out to beg as well, so that the family can eat. Sanjay now receives breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack at the Ashraya Initiative for Children’s Education Outreach Centre. All of the food served is healthy, fresh and balanced to meet Sanjay’s nutritional needs.

He is especially appreciative of the fact that he now can take a packed lunchbox to school and doesn’t have to face the teasing and embarrassment of going without one. With the nutritional support he receives, Sanjay has been doing extremely well in school, and his teachers predict he will go far!

Thank you so much, David, Greg and Monica, Akiko, Lee, Kandace, Luke and Ani (x2), Paul, Gillain (x2), Vidya and Fleming for helping Sanjay continue to excel in school and receive nutritious meals so that he will one day be able to achieve his dreams.

Thank you all, for coming together in support of Sanjay!

After marrying at a young age Jyoti became a housewife and a full-time mother to her son. Since it is not considered acceptable for women in her culture to leave the house without being accompanied by their husbands,  she rarely left the house while her husband was out working to support the family. Quite naturally, she was not able to learn any new skills, and this frustrated her, because she wanted to contribute to the family income.

When she saw other women and teenage girls in the surrounding area participating in AIC’s Basic Tailoring Course and proudly showing off the clothes they had sewed themself, she decided to join the next batch of Tailoring Classes. After convincing her husband to allow her to sign up, Jyoti has recently begun attending the class every day.

She loves that the tailoring teacher is patient and teaches in such a way that even the illiterate women in the group (including Jyoti) are able to take and record measurements for their sewing projects. Jyoti is already talking about signing up for the Intermediate Course once the Basic Course ends in six months, because she is really enjoying the challenge of creating her own clothes and the camaraderie among the young women in the class.

Your generous donation, Laurent, will enable AIC to bear the cost of Jyoti’s tailoring course fees. In a few months, Jyoti would be able to supplement her family income, and help raise the living standards of the entire family.

Poonam has just found out that she is pregnant with her second child.

Since getting married, she has lived in a joined family with her husband and her in-laws, all of whom work in the old clothes trade to earn a living. Poonam stays home to take care of the housework for her extended family and watch her toddler.

She has just signed up for antenatal care at AIC’s Health Centre and is looking forward to receiving benefits for herself and her unborn child for the next eight months. Poonam feels good knowing that she can rely on the support she will receive through this program because her household’s low income from selling old clothes and husband’s alcohol habit make it difficult for her to make ends meet to pay for medical care.

The program includes regular counseling, monthly check-ups and medical care for the duration of her pregnancy, nutritional supplementation (mid-day meals and vitamins) and assistance during the time of her delivery. Knowing that she will be supported throughout her pregnancy, Poonam is very excited about having her second child!

Your generous donation, Laurent, will ensure that AIC can provide the best possible antenatal care, and do everything possible that Poonam welcomes a healthy and happy baby into the world.

Poonam’s pregnancy is progressing well, and she is looking forward to becoming a mother for the second time.

Twenty year old Aarti was recently diagnosed with tuberculosis. To treat this illness and prevent transmission to her baby and husband, she receives government-provided DOTS medication every day at the Ashraya Initiative for Children’s Health Outreach Centre.

There the AIC doctor oversees the medicine administration and talks with Aarti regarding her health and treatment. In the event that Aarti does not come for her medication one day, an AIC health worker makes a trip to her house to check in with her and ensure that she does not miss a single dose.

Aarti also receives daily nutritional supplementation in the form of a mid-day meal and daily vitamins, because she and her husband have a combined income of only Rs 2,000 ($45) per month and she is unable to afford more than one meal per day. Any additional medical tests (x-rays, blood tests) recommended by the doctor are also provided by AIC’s Health Outreach Program, so that Aarti can recover fully as soon as possible.

Thank you, Laurent, Dennis, Bill, Craig, George and Gillian. Your donations have made it possible for AIC to give the best possible counselling and care to Aarti, to supplement the DOTS treatment. In a few months, Aarti will be completely cured of tuberculosis and can resume her normal life.

Thank you for giving good health back to Aarti!

Dear Jackson, Kenneth, Laurent, and Leo,

Renuka is one of her parents’ six children. Her parents sell old, used clothes on the side of the road, and although she is only 13, Renuka helps them. She carries bulky, heavy bundles of cloth for long distances in the hot sun, putting strain on her back and neck and causing her to have health problems.

Recently, she persuaded her parents to allow her to join AIC’s Basic Tailoring class so that she can learn a skill that will allow her to eventually earn a living without taking such a toll on her young body.

Renuka has just started the class, and arrives every afternoon after long mornings spent selling clothes on the streets, famished and very grateful for the lunch that AIC provides to all of the women and girls in the course! She also loves the adult literacy component of the class, as she dropped out of school after the 4^th grade five years ago and misses learning. Maybe in time, her parents can be persuaded to allow her to rejoin school as well, we shall see!

In the meantime, however, Renuka is thrilled to be participating in the class, and her teacher says she shows a great deal of potential and a knack for sewing.

Your generous donations, Jackson, Kenneth (x3), Laurent and Leo will enable AIC to bear the cost of Renuka’s tailoring course.

Thank you so much for your support that will ensure that Renuka continues to learn a marketable skill and also receives nutritious meals at AIC!

Fourteen year old Nisha has just joined AIC’s Basic Tailoring class.

She is the youngest of four children who were orphaned when Nisha was just a baby, so she has grown up with her grandparents who struggle to provide for her and her siblings.

She was able to study in school until the 5^th standard, but dropped out three years ago to contribute to household income by selling old clothes on the street. Now Nisha has been granted the opportunity to learn a new, marketable skill through the tailoring class, and she couldn’t be happier.

Participating in the adult literacy component of AIC’s Basic Tailoring Class has also given her the determination and self-confidence to continue her formal education, and she hopes to go back to school in June, though she certainly plans to continue sewing to earn extra income to help her family on the side!

Thank you so much Rob for your generous donation, thereby allowing Nisha to learn a skill which can be her main source of income after she completes her education!

Eighteen-year-old Kavita completed AIC’s Basic Training class in the fall and has just started the Intermediate Tailoring course.

Kavita was forced to drop out of school after the 4^th grade because her parents did not think it was valuable or important to educate their daughters. Her quest for knowledge, however, remained, and she was eager to learn a new skill and loves the opportunity it provided to socialize with other women.

Kavita has already created some beautiful salwar kameezes and is now working on learning intricate beading, a skill that only a few professionals have. Since she lives with her six siblings and her parents, she is confident that it would help her to contribute substantially to the family income.

The tailoring course has empowered her in more ways than just providing her with a marketable skill. Though many of her friends have already had children, she is determined not to marry and start her family for several years. She realizes the importance of being economically independent, and is going to concentrate on growing as a professional before having children.

Your generous donation, Elizabeth will enable AIC to bear the cost of Kavita’s tailoring course.

Your support will ensure that Kavita learns  a marketable skill that will hold her in good stead and provide for her family!