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History:
New Life came into existence in the year 1993 with the help of philanthropists from various fields like agriculture, engineering, medicine, and banking. The specialists from different fields came together to bridge the gap between the services rendered and the deserving beneficiaries. The mission of New Life is to bring to mainstream the women who are far behind their counterparts in socio-economic status
The organization complies with all the statutory requirements of the land. It is registered under the Societies Registration Act on 24.06.1993. The registration number is 324/1993. It is also registered under FCRA, 1976. The FCRA registration number is 010140146 and the date of registration is 04.01.1995. It has exemption under 12A and 80 G of the Income Tax Act.
The organization has a governing board comprising of seven experienced and committed individuals. New Life is involved in various developmental activities and rehabilitation works, the main focus being women and children.
VISION:
Empowered civil society in marginalized community ensuring human rights
To bring the poor women and their children into the main stream of economy and thereby make them participate in the process of nation building. New Life is committed in building up a civil society based on equity and social justice where women, children and youth are the leaders of social change.
ACTIVITIES IN THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2009-2010:
In its endeavour to develop the socio-economic status of women and children, New Life undertook the following activities:
Specific issues addressed:
Preethi is a victim of child sex trafficking. The victim girl, Preethi @ Preethi Tamang is from Nepal.. She is 16-17 years old. Preethi never went to school and she is illiterate. She has a very limited knowledge of many things including name of the places and time.
Preethi ran away from home and came to Kathmandu where his brother’s family live due to the urge to escape from the tedious household and allied works. She worked in a rich family for 2 years sweeping and washing the premises and cleaning vessels in Kathmandu. She was hopeful the rich lady would pay her something but did not receive any money for her work. ‘Supayee Tamang’ along with two other persons whom she already knew approached Preethi when she was in the search of other employment, who said they would take her to India and find out her a good job. She left the rich lady looking for a better life.
When Preethi got there in Calcutta, Supayee and Maiju engaged her in prostitution. Preethi stayed along with Supayee and his wife in Calcutta for 2 months. Preethi along with another girl Sushmita was later taken by Sailee Maiju and her husband to ‘Batlagundu’ in Dindigul district of State of Tamil Nadu and left her there at the brothel home. She was there for the last 3 months where she was arrested along with other 5 girls during the raid by the Batlagundu police. Preethi never got any medical treatment during her stay at the brothel home. Being the youngest girl she was also physically abused. Preethi felt that she could not return to Nepal anymore and was in despair. Preethi was arrested on charges under Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act and sent to prison.
Foundation for Human Rights and Development (FOHRD), human rights NGO along with a Faith based organisation filed a case (Criminal Original Petition) in the Hon’ble Madurai bench of Chennai High Court and taken custody of Preethi. She was extended all possible support including comfortable shelter and initial relief support as well as medical and counselling services. She is tested HIV negative. However, her family believes that she works in Calcutta. Preethi believes that it would cause her family shame if they knew she is a victim of sex trafficking. Preethi wants to return home.
New Life had contacted NGOs in Nepal and MAITI Nepal (NGO working on human trafficking) had traced the parents of Preethi. MAITI had deputed its staff Advocate.Uma and Mrs.Rajani to India and they had produced the brother of Preethi in the court and arranged repatriation of this minor girl back to her home in Nepal on16-09-2009
Abhishek Bansal (Age 20) of Kolkata, India, suffers from the rarest of the rare and extremely difficult disorder of Visceral Myopathy / Pseudo-Obstruction. This disease neither has any cure, nor any form of treatment and causes patients like Abhishek the following sufferings:
- The intestinal muscles do not function
- The patient is incapable of eating or drinking anything
- Weighs only 33kgs (73 Pounds) with a height of 5ft10
- Hospitalized several times and operated thrice in the last 2 years without any result.
- Kept alive on TPN (Total Parental Nutrition) feeding through a tube inserted near the heart, costing Rs. 4000 ($85) a day.
- Suffering from life threatening complications associated with administering TPN
The only possible and urgent treatment indicated by doctors is a rare Intestine Transplant which happens in US primarily at University of Pittsburgh, UPMC by Dr. Abu-Elmagd Kareem. New Life mobilized donations from people and an amount of Rs. 176158/- has been given to Abishek Bansal to undergo treatment. He was treated in the Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.
Logitha:This 5 months old female child’s name is Logitha. She lives in Thuraiyur, Trichirappalli District; Tamil Nadu. Logitha has breathlessness and vomiting /swatting of her feeds. Her father is selling masala mix on streets. Her mother is a housewife.
The gynaecologist found some abnormality in Logitha at the time of birth and sent her to the pediatrician. He diagnosed that she may have some heart problem. So the child was taken to heart specialists. It was found out that she has a hole in the heart and she was given medicines. She was taken to Dr.K.M. Cherrian, a famous cardiac specialist in Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Chennai. And he diagnosed that she has Large AP Window with LR Shunt, Severe PAH, and PFO with LR Shunt, Dilated LA, LV, Right Aortic Arch, Good Biventricular function. She is advised to undergo an OPEN HEART SURGERY (AP WINDOW CLOSURE).The total expenditure for the above mentioned surgery in a General Ward accommodations will be approximately Rs.2,50,000/-. We have mobilized an amount of Rs. 29,500/- so far. We approach the good hearted who see this message, to save the life of this poor small baby, by contributing whatever they can and help us raise Rs.2,25,000/- for the open heart surgery and for post operative health care.
Gypsi Community: New Life is also supporting the children of gypsy community (narikuravars) who live in the habitation in Devarayaneri. Support is provided in the form of coahing classes, day care center, financial support for school education, etc. Staff are engaged from the same community. The first girl who passed out her twelfth standard is appointed to motivate the other children to complete their school education. The gypsies who have not heard of insurance were also covered by health and life insurance due to the efforts of our team.
Ensured Childhood to the Children of People in Conflict with Law in Trichy District:
The programme is implemented since 2004. As on date six Early Learning Centres (ELCs) are functioning in Ariyamangalam, Uppuparai, Kaja Pettai, Vamadam, Kodappu, and Sathiyamoorthy Nagar, the urban slums of Trichirappalli District, Tamilnadu. These slums were identified as crime prone by the Trichy Police. The programme aims at bringing up the children in these vulnerable areas as the best citizens of the country.
A holistic approach is adopted to work with the 1602 families in these six slums. In the ELCs, nutritional supplement is given to the children. Learning is made enjoyable to the children by adopting a syllabus of topics encountered by the children in their day-to-day life. Physical and mental health of the children, mothers and pregnant women in the target community are taken care off. The target population is given awareness on sexual infections, family planning, child care, child psychology, legal rights, etc. The women in the area are organized into groups and are trained on various income generation activities. Youth clubs were formed to encourage the youth to come together and participate in community development. Besides this the target children between the ages of 6-18 are financially supported to continue their studies / undergo vocational trainings. During the current year 2899 women and 1742 children are benefited.
Its ensured that all the 1602 Households in the 6 target areas are happily drinking safe water, and 150 children are safeguarded from water borne and fecal borne diseases. 6 Water collection points are checked this year for chemical contamination and people are advised not to use the unsafe water for drinking. 142 Households have developed the habit of using household or community toilets. 135 children are free from water borne and feacal borne diseases. 290 children are free from vitamin and mineral deficiency.
25 couples have undergone family planning surgery while 654 fertile couples from 6 target areas are practicing other family planning methods and are happy with their small families with improved child health and education. 7 were cured of addiction to alcohol. 79 children in 6 target areas are counseled and are relieved from the mental stress they face due to custodial violence of their parents/relatives. 45 broken families were counseled and in 6 cases the problems were solved and reunited them.
Rehabilitation of Prisoners:
New Life strongly believes that imprisonment is meant to reform the individuals who are being separated from their families and the community for the crimes committed by them or for the crimes they are blamed for. Rehabilitation of prisoners had been one of the noble cause for which we have been working since 1997.
The prisoners in the Central Prison, Trichy were given training on various income generation activities. This year training on vermin-compost manufacturing, kundan work, and two wheeler mechanisms and polybag nursery were given to 121 inmates. Psychological counseling is given to the prisoners and their families. 2416 persons were counseled.
The inmates of the prison were also given awareness on legal rights and human rights on aspects such as
- Right to freedom of protection against arrest.
- Right to freedom of protection against illegal detention.
- Right to freedom of certain protections in respect of conviction of offences.
- Right to freedom of practicing certain profession.
- Right to equality before law.
401 families gained knowledge on Human Rights and Childs Rights. 293 families gained knowledge on Basic Legal aspects.
Poonjolai: (The home for children)
Poor, deserving children who are orphaned, semi-orphaned, deserted, and extremely poor or whose parent is inside the prison are taken care of in the home run by New Life since 2008. Children are provided with health, education and psychological support. The children are made to feel at home by the affectionate and tender care given to them by the team of New Life.
22 children are in the home this year. The children above the age of six are admitted to the Higher Secondary School in Somarasampettai. The children below the age of six are sent to the nursery.
In addition to the formal education, the children are taught dance, music, and artwork. They are also taught Karate as a self defense measure. They are trained in making greeting cards, candles; embroidery works and other job oriented arts so that they may stand on their own legs when the time comes for them to leave the home.
During the year 2010 the organization has started constructing three rooms (one for girls, one for boys and a hall) for the children from the donations mobilized. As of now the children are living in a 600 sq.ft. house which is not sufficient for them.
Go to School Programme:
This programme is for the children between the ages of 6-14. The programme gives support to the children to educate them by financially supporting them. This year 51 children were supported in primary level, 26 for high school and 14 for higher secondary and 2 for college education. It mainly concentrates on children who are vulnerable to drop out, and continuous follow up is made to see that they complete their high school studies.
64 drop outs were identified and 10 were admitted in schools through NFE centres. 162 children completed pre-primary school and 48 of them are from our ELCs. 87 children completed primary education and moved to secondary level of education. Coaching classes were conducted for the children who are in the age group of 9-16 to facilitate them in successful completion of their education.
Read to lead Project:
New Life’s Read to Lead project is designed to support the education of 10,680 students of Standards 1 to 8 in the Trichirappalli district of Tamil Nadu. This project was started on 12 January 2009 and has been approved by the ‘ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth’ and ‘Give India’.
10,680 children, who were supported by earlier projects and screened on the basis of their vulnerability to poverty situations, are supported by this project.
The students selected are admitted to our coaching classes with the specialist teacher, which was conducted after school hours. The project’s innovation rests within the identification of problems associated with the students’ learning processes according to both the subject being studied as well as the individual lessons with each subject. As previously mentioned, these problem areas were then identified by model tests and examinations conducted at the district level. The integrity of the examination was strictly maintained, with external examiners being engaged for the purpose of upholding this level of integrity. Tests were conducted frequently and aimed to strengthen students’ confidence levels in competition at a district, state or national level in preparation for entrance examinations and enrolment into higher education courses. 11145 children were benefited through this programme.
Economic Empowerment Programme:
The poor women from the BPL category and their wards, irrespective of caste, creed and religion are the target segments in the multi-various activities being carried out by New Life. The total number of members benefited by the various programs of the organization as of March 2010 is 25643 from Trichy, Karur, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruvarur, Pudukkotai and Cuddalore districts.
Realizing that every individual has an enterprising capacity – a spirit within them that strives to improve their lives, 489 women were given financial support for economic empowerment.
Over 1310 groups with membership of 25643 and residing in urban slums and rural areas have mobilized savings of over Rs.3065.23 Lakhs and have absorbed over Rs.4407.23 Lakhs as financial support for various opportunities for improving their standard of living, supported by various development institutions and nationalized banks. Out of this, as on March 2010; the direct assistance by the organization is Rs.47.33 Lakhs.
New Life, through its community owned association structures known as Affinity Association of Self Help Groups (AA of SHGs), plays an active role in promoting and providing assistance to motivated, capable womenfolk. The AA of SHGs is community based group comprised of women leaders who manage the financial needs of the individuals within their community. Community based Affinity Association is one of the most effective way in channeling the support to the borrowers. The AA of SHGs is responsible for gathering and validating the needs of the members.
Special School for Child Labour:
The special schools are run for the children between the age of 9 to 14 (dropouts and non-starters) who are working in the Mat Industry, Weaving Industry, Match Industry, fortune telling, etc. The CHEERS of the Trichy District Administration supports the project. The project aims at providing Non-formal education to the Child Laborers and enrolling these children in the regular schools. Besides this, the project also aims at enriching the children by training them on music (vocal), games, tailoring, and by teaching them yoga and moral values. The project had benefited a total of 1474 children, out of which 822 children had been mainstreamed and admitted to regular schools.
At present, the program is benefitting 278 children through eleven special schools. 92 children have been admitted to regular schools in the current year.
"Nila Palli" is awareness cum motivational program, conducted under the project, for the child laborers and their parents. Under this program, an entire full moon day is set aside for games, cultural programs, and a public meeting.
Health programme:
The members are given subsidized consultation by the Physician in our Board and a Gynecologist on obtaining the Health Card issued by the organization. Besides this, health camps are conducted in coordination with the leading physicians and hospitals like Dr.Raj mohan (Thamarai Clinic), A.G. Eye Hospital, K.M.C. Cancer Institute and Mano Priya Gynaecological Clinic.
9126 members are given subsidized consultation by the Physician in our Board and a Gynecologist on obtaining the Health Card issued by the organization. 3 health camps are conducted.
436 children were checked for water borne and faecal borne diseases and vitamin deficiency by Dr. . 150 children are affected by water borne diseases, 135 children were affected by faecal diseases and 5 children have vitamin deficiency. Medicines were provided to those children and the health workers are taking special care of these children.
The SHG women were given awareness on HIV/AIDS and cancer and they participated in the Cancer awareness rally conducted in Trichy by Shantalaya Trust and visited the Red ribbon express when it was stationed in Trichy Junction.
Amudha Surabi:
The Amudha Surabi--mid day meal programme for the elderly benefits 25 elderly persons. The field officers of New Life had made a household survey in the village to identify the deserving, deserted elderly persons aged above 60 years who are starving for a good meal at least once in a day. In the day time they are watching TV, reading or listening to reading News Papers in our Home. They are also playing the traditional games like Thayam, Pallanguli based on their wish. 25 elderly Persons are benefiting under this programme.
Extending Social security to the poor for critical illnesses:
The project was designed to cover the health risks of the population (women, men and children of the vulnerable sections of coastal areas) in Trichirappalli, Perambalur and Nagapattinam District with special reference to those suffering from Terminal Illness in order to provide them HOSPICE/PALLIATIVE care.
The rural populations in these revenue districts besides the people living in the urban slums of Trichirappalli town were the targeted beneficiaries of the project. The age group that is covered is from 25 to 75 years. Both men and women belonging to SF/MF/ Landless Agriculture Laborers were covered under the project.
Under this Project 1455 beneficiary’s risks on lives covered. 1121 beneficiaries are covered under DIABETIC CARE. 334 beneficiaries are covered under BRONCHITIS CARE.
16676 Members provided awareness on social security cover available from the perils of critical illness. These 16392 members were reached through the village level meetings conducted amongst 1312 SHGs.
48 persons from the nomad gypsie community (commonly known in Tamilnadu province as Narikuravars) were provided with the health insurance cover for the first time in their lifetime (any insurance for that matter).
167 SHG women members from the rural villages have taken the mediclaim policies. 54 SHG women members from rural villages have taken life insurance cover. Two terminally ill patients (affected by Cancer) were referred to Shanthalaya Trust for palliative care and nursing assistance this year.
Participation in Marathon:
New Life in partnership with Bangalore Cares participated in the Sunfeast World 10K international running event, held in Bangalore on 31st May, 2009. On 31st May 2009, members of New Life joined with thousands of runners – including athletes, corporate employees, senior citizens, women and children – in the world's most prestigious 10km run. New Life was registered as a participating charity for the event and UMECS Ltd, a leading software company based in Chennai, has consented to sponsor in the Corporate Care category. New Life invited all its socially conscious supporters to participate in the event; it’s a great chance to demonstrate their solidarity for our cause and to help make Sunday 31st May a fun-filled day of fellowship!
Joy of Giving Week:
Partnering with Give India., New Life celebrated the Joy of Giving week. On October 1st in Chennai at Chennai Trade Centre around 6 PM there was a music concert, dance and cultural events and a buffet hosted by Oriental Cuisine and 20 supporters of the organization participated in it. A stall was allotted to New Life where the works of the organization were exhibited.
Documentary Film:
This year is a remarkable milestone in the history of documentation of New Life when the real case studies of the children we encountered were documented as a short film and the preview was conducted on the Gandhi Jayanthi Day in AVM Theatres, Chennai. Our patrons, well wishers, volunteers, famous artists and staff participated in the event which turned out to be a great success.
Diwali Celebration:
Diwali was celebrated on 15th and 16th October 2009 with joy in the Poonjolai premises, all our Child Care centers and Child Labour Special Schools. Our Fund Raising Team mobilised new dresses, crackers and sweets for the children. Our Board Members, Volunteers and all Staff members participated in this celebration.
Play Mela:
On 15th August 2009, play mela was conducted for all the children, youth and adults. Totally three hundred and fifty two people participated in this programme. We conducted the following Sports Event: |
