Millions of women in India experience domestic violence, and when they are over 18 there is little support for them. Neither from the government nor any other organization. This is also the reason that Sweet Home Organization was founded to support girls over the age of 18 without family or problems in their family. Sweet Home takes care of the basic needs of girls in need, allowing them to fully focus on their career goals. Many of these teenage girls are aiming to pursue high career goals like becoming a lawyer or engineer or joining the military or police, among others.
During our first visit to the organization, we were told that 70 girls (above 18) currently live there and that they are expanding the building to accommodate around 200. We visited the common areas: kitchen, living room, music room, and special areas where some girls can practice to become hairdressers or make-up artists. There is also a medical room where a doctor comes every week, and a library. The latter in particular caught our attention, as we saw that many of the books were outdated. There were also mainly textbooks for school-age children. Before we left the room, we already knew how we wanted to contribute to the organization.
After the tour, we were also able to greet everyone, because everyone was watching a movie together in the TV room. We didn't want to disturb them too much, but asked the woman who gave us a tour if they were interested in some self-development books on various topics, for a separate shelf in the library. We thought that reading these books could be helpful for these girls, especially at this stage of their lives.
The following weekend we went looking for some interesting self-development books that would also be easy for the girls to read. We bought a total of 16 books as we thought this would be a good start. Fortunately, we had understood that most girls speak, read and write English at a good level and those reading evenings are regularly organized. Because of this, we knew that they would actually use the books and that we could possibly purchase more books later.
When we returned with the books, it became even more apparent that we were donating the books to a very good cause. We just wanted to leave the books at the reception, but while we were leaving, we ran into the owner. We told him about the books we had left behind and he invited us to a short event organized for a family that donated winter coats (for the cold Delhi winter) to the girls. We sat in a corner listening to the women introduce themselves one by one and tell about their dreams & aspirations. We were impressed by the conviction and determination in the voice of these young ladies. Some spoke fluent English at a young age, which really surprised us. Their dreams ranged from pursuing careers in medicine, engineering, education, armed forces to almost anything you can think of.
We were already inspired by how staying at Sweet home led these girls to focus on their dreams and leave their unforgettable past behind. Towards the end, the owner invited us to say some motivational words to the girls. We introduced ourselves and told them about the books we had got for them. We told them that it would make us very happy if they include these books in their reading evenings. We also told them that failure is an important part of shaping someone's journey and that they should always seek guidance from others when facing difficulties in life.
We left our phone number with the owner and told them that any of the girls could contact us if they wanted to discuss any of the books with us, or had any other general questions. The owner clicked a picture of us with the women and we left with a big smile on our faces.