What We Do
Healthcare
Sewa Ashram has been providing healthcare to destitutes with its strengths being emergency healthcare in the areas of TB, orthopedics and associated illnesses to HIV. Our clinic provides primary healthcare to the local community, together with ongoing medical support to residential patients once they move beyond the need for high dependency emergency care.
Learning centres
Despite the promise of universal education in India, many children from marginalised or underprivileged backgrounds are not in school. Some are working or begging, some helping their mothers at home, while others simply don’t want to go and receive little to no encouragement from their parents. Delhi House Society’s learning centres, in Narela, Bawana and Old Delhi, exist to provide education to such children.
The goal of the learning centres is not to replace school education, but to ready the children for enrolment in government schools. When they are considered ready – able to behave appropriately in a classroom, competent in their required academic level, emotionally and socially prepared – they are assisted with enrolment in local schools. After this time, our aim is to supplement their education with remedial classes, to ensure they are coping with school and progressing academically.
The learning centres at Delhi House Society also include daycare and preschool education. Giving the kids the right input before they are due to start school sets them in the right direction. They can then begin school at the right time, rather than trying to catch up later. These children, once they are in school, are also encouraged to attend remedial classes for follow-up.
As well as being an avenue for education, the learning centres also provide Delhi House Society with valuable access into the communities. Through the centres, our teaching staff and development workers are able to build relationship with parents and other families of the children, and connect them to various programs such as literacy classes, or assist them to access government benefits or other services.
Income Generation
It is one thing to educate or provide someone with a vocation, but it is another thing for him or her to be able to successfully take the newfound skills, put them to work and make a living out of it.
One of our key strategies is to build social businesses to generate income for Sewa Communities and it’s work. This will also create opportunities for members of the community to participate in an operating business where they can contribute back to the community and put into practice their new skills. For some members an opportunity to start their own business with ongoing support from Sewa may also be available.
Microfinance
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Microfinance has proven to be a very effective tool in the eradication of poverty, however it has been difficult for the ultra poor to gain access to it.
Once the patient/slum family have joined a Life Group and gained the necessary skills and support to start a new micro-enterprise we will provide them with a small loan. This is a natural progression from the Income Generation program.
We hope to move into ‘save and build programs’, whereby our community members are able to secure affordable housing in the local community in the future.