Bandhavi

Bandhavi is a residential program for girls who are at risk of being dedicated as devadasis. Currently 71 girls hailing from villages in North Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh participate in a program that enables them to grow as individuals, as well as build a community that lives in love, respect, trust and friendship. Affirming the rights of the girl child to health, education and an abuse-free life, Bandhavi provides for the children a holistic environment where they can reclaim their childhood, freedom and dignity. The numbers could go up to a hundred owing to the need for such an intervention.

While at Bandhavi the children will attend the Samagra Shikshana Shaale and register with the Karnataka Open School, an initiative of the Government of India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development. On graduating they will also participate in the Pre-University course with a focus on job orientation.

The Bandhavi program provides the child with the necessary support and guidance to build a life and livelihood for herself. As the children grow from girls to young women, it is our hope that they will learn to respect other cultures, to respect and work with the land and natural resources, to live in harmony with each other and the creatures of the earth.

We look forward to see them become women who believe in the power they have within them, to change their situations and build lives of freedom and dignity.