Summary:

Green Tara Project had a  great 7th trip to India!  Green Tara Project helped kick off Snehalaya's "Educate. Empower. Lead."  Malala campaign in Ahmednagar at the end of December 2017 and into the beginning of 2018.  This "short" trip for Green Tara Project, only 3 weeks long, trained 122 girls, 46 of whom received Level 1 training in 2016 and were progressed to Level 2. 

Dates: December 16, 2017 through January 7, 2018.

Location(s): Ahmednagar (6 hours east of Mumbai)

Goals Achieved:

•  Train 78 girls in Level 1 self defense class
•  Train 46 girls in Level 2 self defense class
•  4 Level 2 girls will continue to provide self defense training to other girls not only at Snehalaya, but also  throughout  Maharashtra as part of the "Snehalaya's "Educate. Empower. Lead."  Malala campaign.
• Donated two pads and a floor mat on behalf of past volunteer Zack Ernst to facilitate continued training

Summary:

Green Tara Project is providing self defense and karate training to approximately 110 girls in conjunction with four rescue organizations.

Location: Bihar and Mumbai.

Purpose:

This is GTP′s second trip to India. Staff are returning to Bihar to provide follow up self defense and karate training and assessment. In Mumbai, GTP′s first trip to the city, young women will be trained in self defense.

Outcomes:

Numbers of Girls Trained: 133

Bihar:

Number of new girls trained at KGBV = 46

Number of girls re-trained at KGBV = 11

Number of new girls trained at Shishu Bharti = 19

Total number of girls trained in Bihar: 76

Mumbai:

Number of girls trained for Save Our Sisters: 22

Number of girls trained for Project Crayons: 35

Total number of girls trained in Mumbai: 57

Requests for ongoing programs: 3

Summary:

Green Tara Project provided self defense training to rescued and at-risk women and girls in Mumbai and Delhi, trained their first remote trainer, and had its assistant!

Location:

    - In Mumbai, two projects: (1) Save Our Sisters, and (2) the only government protective home for women under the age of 18 rescued from brothels.

    - In Delhi: Save the Children - India office at Sarai Kale Khan migrant community.

Purpose:

Green Tara Project was excited to return to India to:

    - Train more girls.

    - Follow up with training at Save Our Sisters started in April 2012.

    - Train our first remote trainer (at Save Our Sisters)

    - Bring an assistant to help with classes.

Outcome:

Total Number of Women and Girls Trained: 146 between the ages of 7 and 60

Mumbai: Green Tara Project built on its earlier work at Save Our Sisters. Girls received 6 hours of self defense training. Particularly successful were role playing, situational awareness scenarios that had immediate impact and cut across language barriers.

We also trained a Save Our Sisters staff member as a self defense trainer. Based on the training, Save Our Sisters changed their weekly program schedule to incorporate fitness exercises every day, as well as one hour of self defense classes weekly. Green Tara Project had the opportunity to teach young ladies at a government home, which was a new experience. We hope to revisit the home with follow up training in the future.

Number of new girls trained at Save Our Sisters = 13

Number of girls re-trained at Save Our Sisters = 4

Number of new girls trained at Government Protective Home = 19

Total number of girls trained in Mumbai: 36

Delhi: Green Tara Project′s first excursion to Delhi was on the heels of the infamous Delhi gang rape case. We had been contacted by Save the Children - India (Delhi) to initially train 300 women and girls. With only a week and two trainers, we eventually managed to train 100ish ladies, young and old. We say ish because girls kept sneaking into the classes which were supposed to be only 20 ladies each.

Some classes grew to as many as 30 participants. It was hard to turn any girls away. The students received 4 hours of self defense training. Role playing, situational awareness scenarios were very effective once again. Based on the training, Save the Children - India (Delhi) changed their weekly program schedule to incorporate fitness and self defense classes weekly. They recently had an assembly at which they performed self defense scenarios for the community.

Number of new girls trained at Save the Children - India (Delhi) = 100ish

Total number of girls trained in Delhi: 110

Summary:

Green Tara Project returned to India for an exciting fourth trip. During two and a half weeks in Mumbai, we returned to Save Our Sisters and dropped in on our first remote trainer, Nilofar Khan. We began teaching classes at Prerana, an anti-trafficking organization (www.preranaantitrafficking.org). We taught 50 girls in all in Mumbai.

We then headed north to Delhi where we spent two and a half weeks conducting an assessment of the efficacy of a safety whistle initiative, defined safety zones for that initiative, and taught self defense classes in a variety of community settings, as well as raised awareness of the need for safety and security for women and girls in this community.

Location:

    - In Mumbai, two projects: (1) Save Our Sisters, and (2) Prerana.

    - In Delhi: Save the Children - India office at Sarai Kale Khan migrant community.

Outcomes:

    - Trained 200 more girls in 6 hours of self defense.

    - Followed up with training at Save Our Sisters started in April 2012.

    - Followed up with our first remote trainer (at Save Our Sisters).

    - Assisted in building community awareness campaigns and training.

Summary:

Green Tara Project returned to India in April/May of 2015. We expanded our work with two organizations - Save the Children-India (Save Our Sisters) and Prerana. We were very fortunate to have the volunteer services of Mary Cote who taught self defense to children with special needs at Save the Children. Also on this trip, Green Tara Project had the honor and pleasure of working with International Justice Mission, both in Mumbai and in Delhi. There were also two volunteers who assisted with

Location: Mumbai and Delhi.

Outcomes:

    - Trained 125 girls between the ages of 8 and 35 in 6 hours of self defense

    - Donated a kick pad to Save Our Sisters so staff can continue teaching

    - Donated $95 raised by selling survivor-made friendship bracelets

    - Met with Heifer International to discuss economic empowerment models for human trafficking survivors

Summary:

Green Tara Project's 6th trip served three organizations: Save Our Sisters in Mumbai; Snehalaya in Ahmednagar; and, New Light in Kolkata. What a ride! Here is the synopsis of what your donations and support allowed Green Tara Project to achieve in 5 weeks in India:

- 115 girls and women trained. This brings the total trained by Green Tara Project since its first trip in 2010 to 915!!!!
- Youngest trained: 7 years old
- Oldest trained: 38 years old
- Money raised here in the U.S. selling friendship bracelets made by Save Our Sisters was donated back to Save Our Sisters and paid for one month of literacy training for 25 ladies

Dates: May 30th through July 2nd, 2016

Location(s): Ahmednagar, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Volunteer:

    - Laura Edler-Hill