About NGO:

Recognising the enormous needs prevalent in urban society, in 1994, Oasis set up a base in India. Since then, considerable expertise has been gained and through projects that have been based on education, training, micro-finance, health & psycho-social care and residential rehabilitation, Oasis India strives to break the shackles of poverty.

Having impacted over one million lives in nearly two decades, Oasis India works in three metros with women, youth & children from poor communities, including those that are trafficked and sexually abused facilitating education, income generation, sports/ job training & placement, enabling them to make better choices in life. Through various initiatives, Oasis India aims to bring empowerment, stability and holistic care into the lives of women and children who have been abused, exploited or marginalised.

AREA OF INTERVENTION

1. Community Development.
2. Youth Empowerment.
3. Anti Human Trafficking - Rescue, After Care, Rehabilitation

Fund Usage:

Oasis India runs a Drop in Center in the red light area at Grant Road. Women from the area are counseled and provided with their medical needs. Last year around 28 women left the area and were rehabilitated to alternate homes provided with jobs to meet their basic needs. House keeping courses, Life Skill Sessions and Health & Psychosocial counseling are imparted to the women. Oasis India works and aims at eradicating the root cause of trafficking. Prevention activities amongst the cities are conducted to raise awareness on human trafficking. The Oasis India Prevention Program aims to raise the level of awareness on human trafficking in Mumbai and Bangalore, teaching people what human trafficking is and how to stay safe. These activities are conducted in the mainstream society. However, the focus will be on working with specific groups of people, in specific geographical areas, who are most vulnerable to traffickers including poor or slum communities, teenage girls and young women.

Oasis India seeks to care for children and women who have been victims of human trafficking and related abuses. It recognized that prevention and care are strongly linked with good care for survivors of human trafficking being instrumental in preventing re­ trafficking. The major focus of care is in the two Government Protective Homes, Special Rehabilitation Centre (SRC), for minors and Navjeevan Home, for majors. Holistic care like health and psychosocial care, adult literacy, and delivering life skills and livelihood sessions are imparted to the girls. In both homes Oasis India works at rehabilitating and repatriating the girls and women. About 80 girls, 12 children and 90 women have received various inputs in the past one year.

Nirmal Bhavan (NB) endeavours to rehabilitate women from backgrounds of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Prostitution. NB is a home for the girls/women run by Oasis India. The entire Nirmal Bhavan has the capacity to accommodate 12-15 women leaving situations of commercial sexual exploitation and prostitution. Medical care is provided with inputs from the health care team of Oasis India. The women are helped to access treatment and care from Municipal Hospitals and private hospitals. All the residents are provided periodic health checks. Individual counselling sessions are also carried for all the NB residents. All the residents are a part of the in house education programme which is ranged from Hindi Literacy Classes to Spoken English Classes. Apart from these basic skills in usage of computers are also imparted.

Oasis India works in slum communities in the three cities, empowering them to take responsibilities for their own circumstances. Establishing Community Based Organizations (CBOs) within the communities enables them to be more independent. Oasis India also works with young people within the communities in Bangalore and Chennai, seeking to inspire them and equip them to becoming change agents. Sport has been a powerful tool in not just drawing youth into the programme but also as a career option. It has enabled them to think, dream & achieve, and is supporting other young people in the process too. In setting up an integrated programme, Oasis has learnt to respond in an integrated way to the entire community.

Impact:

What do children do at the age of 12 or 13 ? They would go to school, play with friends, and live a carefree life. But for a 12 year old Divya, it was different. If you can remember your childhood vividly and are notsalgic right at this moment, Divya faintly remembers.

Being the oldest, Divya was soon assumed the role of the mother as the mother worked at a construction site to fend for the family in a small town in the state of Assam. It was torture for Divya to see her mother struggle everyday and she was determined to get her family out of poverty by doing a respectable job. Knowing her intentions, her neighbour whom Divya regarded as a brother suggested she lived with his aunt in Mumbai where she could study as well as earn. This was like a breath of fresh air for Divya as she could virtually see her dream come true. She soon began to pursue this with her neighbour intently, little aware that he was going to set her on a dark phase in life.

Divya set out with her neighbour to the City of Dreams, knowing that her mother would be proud of her, when she was just a 6-year old. There was not even a speck of doubt in Divya's mind on her not being able to get back to her family again, the only thing that went through her mind then was of providing the best for her family.

Divya was entrusted into the care of a Nepali woman who was a brothel owner. She had a daughter, the same age as Divya's. But Divya was made to do all the household work. which she did for "many" years.

As Divya grew older she began to catch the eye of the brothel clients. At 12, Divya was made to perform all night in the now infamous dance bars where she had men much older than her drooling over her and craving for her. A very beautiful Divya earned a lot by dancing, although all her income used to go into the hands of her Madam (the Nepalese woman) who took care of her.

A year later Divya was sold off to a brothel in one of Mumbai's biggest 'Red Light Areas'. She was drugged and forced to attend to customers. Divya was just 13 years old then. Divya hated the brothel and wanted to flee from there; she also tried to run away from the brothel a couple of times, but all her attempts were in vain, as she was caught and beaten up brutally. She recalls that those were the worst and the darkest days of her life. But eventually she began to accept and believe that she had no future and would have to spend the rest of her life in this dungeon.

After a few years in 2007, when Divya was now 16 years old there was a ray of hope. In a police raid on the brothel, Divya was rescued and put in the Government Protective Home for minor girls. She was now in safe hands. But in spite of this Divya did not seem to be completely happy, she felt that the atmosphere there was depressing.

And this is where she met Oasis India. Oasis runs a life skills programme where women are taught to cope, understand personal strengths, face fears and let go of hurts. Counselling and health care are also provided so both girls and women will come to terms with their trauma and consequences of many years of being in the flesh trade. This is run in the Government Protective Homes.

After being counselled by the health team, Divya was in for some rude shock - she was HIV+. In March 2010, the Government Protective Home referred Divya to Oasis India for further training and her rehabilitation. Her long years of living in a captive environment were behind her. But she did bear the bruises - at first, Divya found it difficult to trust, strange that she felt loved and cared for and wondered if this would actually happen ! Over the last year, Divya understood through training, that despite her health status, she can live a full life and pursue her dreams. Divya is now 19, has started a beautician and hairdressing course, already earns and is saving up for the future. It is never too late to live !

Page Url :
http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/ngo55_oasis_india.htm

Founded Year: 1994

Cause category: Education