Brochure

The Hope Project
The Hope Project strives to bring hope into the lives of the dwellers of the
Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti area and nearby slums by five principle programs:

- Milk Program

- Health Care

- Education Centre

- Social Development and Welfare Programs

- Income Generation and Vocational Programs

The Hope Project was founded in 1975 by the international Sufi teacher Pir
Vilayat Inayat Khan. Moved by the extreme poverty of the people living in the
vicinity of the mausoleum of his father Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927), the
eminent classical Indian musician who was the first to bring Sufism to the
West, he resolved to do something to relieve their suffering. The Hope
Project is Pir Vilayat's reinterpretation of the ancient tradition of
alms-giving at Sufi tombs. Rather than simply receiving hand-outs, the poor
are helped to help themselves.

The Hope Project is a registered organisation whose integrated programs
include children, youth, women and old people. Local underprivileged women
and children are targeted. The emphasis is to provide support, education and
awareness. Vocational training builds confidence among trainees to accept
challenges for a better future. Women dropouts, working children and some
physically handicapped children would have been denied education if they were
not brought to the school, which has produced enormous improvement.

The School

An integrated school for underprivileged children from the Basti and
surrounding slum areas. The non-formal literacy program involves 300 children
in school.

Pre-School

Held in morning - includes 60 children
Provides creative education using Montessori methods and innnovative ideas,
addressing the overall development of the children. The children receive a
glass of milk and fruit daily. Once prepared, the students are assisted into
mainstream education by transferring them to government and private schools.

Girls' Adult Education

Held in afternoon - includes 115 girls
Adult education classes provide elementary literacy skills to beginners and
dropouts, preparing them to continue their education.
School activities featuring cultural heritage are shared and encouraged.
Competitions and performance of theater pieces promote the expression of joy.

Boys' Coaching

Held in evening - includes 120 boys
Apprentices have an opportunity to be at school, and to be prepared to
transfer into the National Open School stream of education.
Boys are coached up to the 10th class. They are helped in their weak subjects
to enable them to meet the requirements of their perspective classes.

Health Clinics

Allopathy

Registers 50-60 patients daily. Number doubles in summer. Also, cases are
sent to Government Hospitals for investigation and review of chronic
ailments. The staff dispenses medicines, bandages wounds and provides urgent
care/first aid.

Homeopathy

Dispenses medicine to patients with skin ailments, burns and cares for gynea
patients and children's diseases.

Gynea Clinic

Once a week poor expecting women visit for routine checkups and medicines.
Careful records are kept, family planning is taught, and counseling is
provided by social workers.

Miscellaneous

School Pen Pal club exchange progam.

Home Science Practical (cooking, sewing, filing, first aid, etc.).

Festivals of all relgiions and cultural programs are observed.

Theater training and exposure.

Summer courses for local children (beautician, tie-dye, block printing,

computers, etc.).

Weekly art and craft classes for street children.

Literacy program for mothers.

Milk Program

The Milk Program has been in operation since 1980 and remains an important
service of the Project. Local children under two years, pregnant women,
nursing mothers, and needy patients receive an allotment of milk. In addition
to milk, malnourished and severely underweight children are supplied with a
nutritional powder. Every month all the milk recpients are weighed and
checked for signs of illness or neglect, in which case they are referred to
the social welfare unit for further investigation and treatment.

Social Development and Welfare

Monitors tuberculosis patients' records and nutrition program.

Handles and coordinates destitute women cases.

Helps poor patients with medication after review.

Distributes clothes, aid for the handicapped, and small helps.

Conducts seminars, workshops, and street plays on social issues.

Takes patients to hospitals for assessment and hospitalisation.

Provides street children group activities, and women's group forum for

discussion of their day to day life.

Conducts case studies and family visits.

Counsels students (health, career, moral values).

Provides nutrition for malnourished children, and an educator for mothers.

Furnishes timely information to locals, students and visitors.

Follows up school children's annual medical checkup for treatment.

A general assistance program is also in operation to preserve people's
independence and dignity, and to mitigate the impact of disastrous events.

Income Generation and Vocational Programs

Sewing, hand and machine embroidery workshops for women provide basic skills.
The sewing workshop has a group of already trained women as well as trainees.
Also, a working group is generating income for the members by producing and
selling textiles. The initial production stage is supervised to keep control
of quality. There is a steady increase in orders, and the women earn good
wages.
Another significant part of this program is computer training for students,
with the aim to equip them with necessary skills to get jobs.
Also, job-oriented training classes are offered in typing and shorthand.
Many of the women who need training are unable to participate due to lack of
childcare. Therefore a creche has been formed so that the women can
concentrate fully on the training being provided, beginning with literacy
class and awareness generation sessions.

Mother’s Income Generating Programs:

One major aim of the social service center at the Hope Project is to help mothers find work so they can support themselves and their children. There are three programs run by the Project for this purpose.

Domestic workers

Social workers meet with women working as domestic helpers once a week. In these meetings the women are free to talk about anything they want. The social workers’ aim is to educate the women on how to clean to satisfy the employer, what they are expected to do, what their rights are, and what sort of pay they should be receiving. They also have discussions about family matters. The children of these mothers are put into the day care center at the Project, or the mothers are helped to find them schools.

Factory workers

Sometimes women keep their older daughters out of school to take care of the younger children because the mother works full time. The women working in factories are full time workers and send their children to the Project for daycare and school. The mothers put some of their income towards the day care center.

Hope Project Income Generating Workshops

The Hope Project conducts workshops that teach women skills they could use to find work on their own. Two years ago a doll clothes workshop was started. This workshop has been very successful and the clothes are sold locally and exported. There are also two embroidery workshops, a tailoring workshop.

How the Money Works

Administration

Milk

Medicine

Education

Apprenticeships

Student Meals

General Assistance

Your Help

You can make a vital difference in the lives of the destitute children and
adults served by the Hope Project. A gift of any size and kind will help
maintain current programs and provide the funding necessary for future
growth. You may also make a commitment to become a monthly sponsor.

Foreign contributions can be made to:

The Hazrat Inayat Khan Memorial Trust, which is primarily involved with the
Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan and its cultural, inter-religious and spiritual
activities at the Sufi centre, is also running a social programme for those
living in the area, which is complementary to the Hope Project activities.
This includes an informal school for deprived children (basic education,
telling and performing stories from Sufi tradition and different religions,
music), a women's centre for handicrafts, skills and income generation for
women, and special music lessons for talented children.

[Foreign Contributens can be made to The Hope Project Charitabke Trust, Standard Chartered Bank, Parliament Street , New Delhi 110001 India, Account Number - 522-1-008993-4 ]