Save our Salon!

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Situated down an alley right beside Kolkata’s notorious Darapara slum and the Park Circus railway squatters encampment, is a tiny room about 2 metres square which has become a beacon of hope for destitute girls from the area.  It is Tiljala SHED’s Beauty Training Salon – a vocational training centre giving hope to girls who would otherwise have had little expectation of life beyond an early marriage and a life of poverty, childbearing and drudgery.


Madhu is 19. She lives in a shelter beside the railway lines with her parents, 2 younger brothers and an older sister.  Her father is a street hawker selling sattu (a traditional drink made from chickpeas and spices). He earns around Rs200 a day – that is about £2.20.

Madhu is ambitious but struggled with school and eventually dropped out in class 10.  She was an enthusiastic participant in the first batch of girls to enrol in Tiljala SHED’s beauty Training Programme and passed out first in her group in November.  She loves this work and is now helping train the next batch and has a growing list of private clients.  She is already earning up to Rs350 per day and is a role model for the current trainees and others in the community.
I had the pleasure of having my eyebrows threaded by Madhu when I dropped into the salon one lunchtime in late January.  She did a great job and it didn’t hurt at all. And it isn't just Madhu: all the graduates from the first batch are earning a living. 






The First Batch - April 2017
Training Session

But disaster has struck. The main source of funding has been cut. We had been assured this corporation (one of India’s biggest companies) would take care of the costs of running the programme – the salary of the trainer and the cost of the consumables – for 3 years.  With no explanation they have decided to cease funding from April 1st this year.
Without this funding we will have to stop training and let down not only the current 2 batches (30 girls in all) but also those enrolled for the rest of 2018. 


One of the frustrations of fundraising for a small grassroots NGO is that big powerful corporate CSR departments are just not interested in small projects.  And yet, this project is actually highly effective.   And it is effective because it is small and it is situated in the heart of the community. There is nothing like this in the rest of Kolkata.  It is very difficult to rehabilitate someone from these very deprived, very patriarchal and very traditional communities, especially if you expect the beneficiaries to travel out of the community to a big institution for training.  They won’t go. They can’t afford the travel and they haven’t the confidence (yet) to venture into mainstream society.  
It costs just £120 to give one of these girls the basic skills she needs to go freelance or to join a salon as a junior beautician/stylist.  And that £120 can start a whole career. It will empower a girl to make her own decisions about her life. 

I am looking for enough funds to cover the costs of training 60 girls over 2018 -19.  £7,200.  That's all. 

Donate Now


Location: 4, Tiljala Rd, Kustia, Kolkata, West Bengal 700039, India

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