Help Astha Anand to create a shelter home for distressed trans youth and elderly trans people

Hi! My name is Astha Anand. I am raising funds to help the Global Rights Foundation build a shelter home for distressed trans youth and the elderly trans community in Thane, Maharashtra. Your donations will help us provide them with food, shelter, counseling, and medical assistance.

Problem:

For many members of the transgender community, the struggle for understanding, acceptance, and support starts early. Still, in their teens, many trans persons have an identity crisis but do not receive the support of peers or family who can help them through this time. 

As they grow older, close family and relatives often throw them out of their homes. Some are ostracized or bullied even if they make it to college. Without the proper support and guidance of parents, peers, and teachers, trans persons are left with no choice but to resort to other means of supporting themselves including begging and sex work. 

A continual sense of insecurity about food and shelter prevails throughout their adult life. As they become older, this insecurity becomes even more acute. Desperation can cause them to take steps that could be life-threatening and irreversible.

There is a need for a space with food, shelter, counseling, and medical assistance. The intervention of Doosra Ghar could mean the difference between life and death for them.

The data collected by the Global Rights Foundation shown in the pie chart above indicates the nature of occupation among the transgender community in the Thane district.

The transgender community in India still largely follows the Guru-chela system, reminiscent of the Mogul era. Since the Gurus dictate their movement (depending on livelihood), most of the transgender population find themselves in the floating category.

While Doosra Ghar is not an alternative to this nomadic way of life, it wishes to create a safe space for short durations for members of the community. From an infrastructure point, it aims to serve as a hub for deploying services needed during a crisis.

Solution:

Doosra Ghar will not only impact transpersons but also their families, friends and relatives, educational institutions, leaders of the kinnar community, the police, brothel owners, as well as their customers. The medical fraternity, social workers, law enforcement agencies, policymakers and implementers, political representatives, and media houses will also feel the widespread impact of this intervention.

Doosra Ghar envisions a range of diverse support activities under one roof.  It will be a central ecosystem under which all of these activities will be conducted and monitored.

Demographic 

• 12-15 years- people who came out to their families and were disowned by them 
• 60+ years - physically unable to take care of themselves 
• All other age groups in between

Residential 

• Location: Ulhas Nagar 
• Structure: Includes- Dorms, cafe, counseling rooms (closed soundproof rooms), Medical rooms, common room/entertainment room, community kitchen. 
• The aim is to have around 50 residents at a time. 
• Employees: Around 10 employees from the community (cooks, housekeeping, medical support ) 
• Community kitchen: Meal Cost - Rs.30 per meal per person. Thus around Rs.100/person per day for 3 meals a day. 

Medical 

• Doctor on call/standby
• Common medical problem - HIV: around 1000 people from the community in the Thane district alone have HIV. The medicine for HIV treatments is strong in dosage, 1600mg, and there is an additional cost of Rs.2500 for nutritional kits for people on this treatment.

Counseling 

• Group counseling sessions 
• Cost for 3-4 hour group counseling session = Rs. 20,000

About Dr. Yoga:

Dr. Yoga is an activist, academic, and also an accomplished performer who has received multiple Indian and international awards for her contribution to arts & culture. She was born on 9 May 1984, as Sreelesh Nambiar into a typical middle-class household near Mumbai. Despite their detractors, Dr. Yoga’s encouraged her to focus on her academic pursuits.  Through diligence and inner strength, she earned the distinction of being the first transgender person in India to receive a Ph.D. in mental health.

Since completing her Ph.D. from Mumbai University, Dr. Yoga has been deeply involved in fighting for the rights and dignity of transgender people in India. Her two initiatives of note are The Global Rights Foundation and The KalaSiri Academy of Art & Culture. 

The Global Rights Foundation (founded in 2012) advocates for transgender rights and dignity. GRF has conducted several activities including sexual and reproductive health programs, trans rights awareness programs, and has worked towards providing the community better access to social security, including camps for the creation of Aadhar cards and bank accounts. 
 

The KalaSiri Academy of Art & Culture also contributes to the cause of upliftment of trans people by giving direction and motivation to those youngsters who do not have the means to pursue performing arts. Through its programs and events, it raises funds for GRF, which in turn used the funds for the betterment of the transgender community. 

During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Dr. Yoga helped thousands from the transgender community, sex workers as well as migrant workers in Maharashtra by providing them with groceries, medical kits, and financial help. Because of her in-depth understanding of Badhai, Basti, and Toli traditions of the community, she has been invited to be a part of many prestigious think tanks and is often consulted at institutions such as TISS, FPAI, MDACS, FHI 360, and Praxis. Despite the rejection and spite she received from society, Dr. Yoga exuded immense strength and resolve to achieve her dreams and use her knowledge and experience to uplift others, and that is exactly what she has set out to do with I Am Trans.

About IamTrans:

In March 2020, when COVID-19 struck the country and Thane district in Maharashtra in particular, it was the very same marginalized communities that Dr. Yoga had been working for which were the most affected. While she was already working for the transgender community and sex workers, a third community would soon be added to the efforts—migrant workers. Without rations and transportation, migrant workers were left to fend for themselves. For Dr. Yoga, it was a natural reaction to provide them with food and rations while helping them reach their homes. Global Rights Foundation, which was thus far only on paper, began taking a more concrete shape. It began growing into a systematic intervention that would start from the grassroots and reach all the way to the top. I Am Trans is a product of this structure. It is an umbrella initiative under the Global Rights Foundation, where the blueprint for larger impact has been created.

Our Partners 

Giving Circle, Symbiosis, Project Nile

Tax Benefits:

Funding for this campaign is eligible for tax breaks as IamTrans is a registered trust & you can avail of benefits under section 80G of the IT act. Funding from those with foreign passports is not eligible. If you are an Indian staying abroad you can fund this campaign. We also accept foreign credit and debit cards.

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