Supporting Vulnerable Women and Children in Kolkata, India

The trustees very pleased to announce the establishment of a new UK registered charitable trust dedicated to supporting Tiljala SHED and other organisations committed to the relief of poverty in India and around the world. The Shanty Trust is U.K registered Charitable Trust (Registration No. 1188154) raising funds to support the work of partner organisation TILJALA SHED which works with the rag pickers and ultra-poor of central Kolkata, India. The Shanty Trust’s mission is to relieve poverty through the empowerment of women and the protection and education of children. The Shanty Trust was founded by Jane Manson in December 2019 and registered as charity no 1188154 with the UK Charity Commission in January 2020. Other trustees are Jane’s sister, Emma Boot, Maggie Cassidy, Charlie (Chantal) McMurdie and Helen Bratchell. Donations to the Shanty Trust can be made here https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/12623 (COVID19 Fund) Or general donations towards our programmes here ...

Please empower a young woman today for the price of a visit to the hairdresser... Tabassum, age 20, lives with her family in a single room in Kolkata’s Tiljala slum. Her father supports his family of 4 on Rs4000 (£44 or USD57) per month. She has recently qualified in hair and beauty therapy at the iSalon, NGO  Tiljala SHED ’s tiny Beauty Training Salon. “Because of my father’s low income I left education early. When I came to know from one of my friends, that a free course i s being offered at this place, I immediately visited the parlour and decided to join. After joining, I was confident that this skill will surely help me out of poverty. After completion of course I applied to many salons but they offered maximum 2500 per month for 9-10 hour days. Then, I consulted with the trainer who helped me and now I have 8 clients and earn close to Rs.2000 per month. I have requested the trainer to start more advanced courses which has a demand in the market and which will help us...

Murshida, resident of Topsia canalside squatter camp is 18 years old. She has just completed her final school exams. Her father is a tuktuk driver who earns about £2.50 (Rs200) a day.  Most girls in this community marry at 12 or 13 years old but Murshida and Tiljala SHED's staff persuaded her parents to let her continue her education.  Murshida has attended Tiljala SHED's classes since she was small and aspires now to become a teacher. She shows every sign of accomplishing her ambition. So how does it worK? How does a child born in a shelter beside a railway line in Kolkata escape the cycle of poverty?   With illiterate parents, mother a rag picker, father a rickshaw wallah and often too drunk to work, both repeating the cycle of 2 or 3 generations since the family escaped starvation as landless rural poor by moving to the big city for a better life?   How can an anxious mother with 6 or 8 mouths to feed every day even think beyond the immediate daily i...

Yesterday, the Kolkata branch of the Nivedita Shakti , a women's empowerment movement, presented an award to 19 year old Shaista Shamim.  The  literature states that she "successfully completed High School examination with 1st Division and is now taking up the onus of educating girls like her with great pain".  But there is so much more to Shaista's story than that.  I quote here from Shafkat Alam, who has been teacher and mentor to Shaista over the years "Shaista Shamim is the second child in her family. She has 4 sisters and 1 brother. Her father is a labourer in the Bantala Kolkata Leather Complex factory and mom does odd stitching work for additional income to run the family. Shaista lives in the Tiljala Darapara slum, one of the biggest slums in Kolkata Metropolitan area. She has been living here since her childhood. She is the brightest and the most ambitious child in her family. She became Gyan Azhar Library member in 2008 when she was a small...