YOGA MEDICINE SEVA FOUNDATION
“Person not possession; child not commodity” – Anonymous
Our mission is to fight human trafficking & sexual exploitation by empowering global, impoverished communities through efforts of education and entrepreneurship.
Mission
Yoga Medicine’s Seva Foundation works with Her Future Coalition and Rescue Foundation, two NGOs based in India, to protect and empower those who are caught in the vicious cycle of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. By partnering with NGOs who operate on the ground, we are able to direct funds to exactly where it is needed the most – to the women and children rescued from these forms of modern slavery.
Our Goal
We hope to raise $150,000 to fund rescue missions, provide shelter, education, and employment for 200 women and children by 2021.
We need your help to reach our fundraising goal of $150,000 by 2021
The Impact of Your Donations
Your donations make a huge difference and will change the lives of so many women and children, empowering them to find employment that takes them out of the poverty cycle and allows them to support themselves and their families. With your help, these women and children can see a new future free from slavery.
Every dollar counts whether you donate $20, $200 or $2000.. See below what your donations can do
- $20 – feed a woman or child for a month
- $200 – provides materials for one to join a therapeutic arts or entrepreneurship workshop
- $240 – feed one woman or child for a year
- $400 – rescues one woman or child from slavery
- $750 – care and protection services for one girl for one year
- $900 – training stipend for a woman for one month
- $2000 – college education for two women for a year
Here’s How You Can Get Involved
HOW THE FUNDS WILL BE USED
10 K
Provide food, toiletries, & bedding for 100 women & children for 1 year
20 K
College education for 10 women & children for 1 year
30 K
Baseline education such as math & reading skills for all shelter survivors
40 K
Salaries of on-site social workers, housemothers, cooks & security staff
50 K
Education & tutoring for 200 women & children for 2 years
60 K
Implementation of a new vocational training program for 30 women
70 K
Shelter care for 100 women & children for 2 years
80 K
College education for a further 10 women for 1 year
90 K
Rescue, legal aid, &repatriation serving 50 women & children
100 K
Funds counseling staff at the shelter
110 K
Therapeutic arts or entrepreneurship workshops for 100 women & children
120 K
Garden & sports playground for a shelter
130 K
Covers training stipend for 12 women
140 K
Shelter care for a further 100 women & children for 2 years
150 K
EVERYTHING!
Everything the shelter & survivors need for 2 full years!
WHAT WE DO
The Yoga Medicine Seva Foundation works with local anti-trafficking organizations Her Future Coalition (formerly known as Made By Survivors) and the Rescue Foundation. Our partners provide yoga, counseling, food, shelter, medical care, and most importantly, traditional and vocational education to empower women and children to support themselves and create a new future. We offer service opportunities for our top fundraisers to attend our bi-annual trip to India, where they can meet the women and children in the shelters, and see the impact of their fundraising.
We are passionate about providing and sustaining education that empowers survivors to rebuild their lives and support their families. These educational programs give survivors the tools they need to become leaders in their families and communities, uplifting others and passing on the virtue of self-worth. In a culture where women are thought to have little value, educating and empowering them ensures freedom forever.
Since 2015, the Seva Foundation has sponsored:
- The building of a brand new, all-purpose shelter on the outskirts of New Delhi
- Supported 20 shelters in the Red Light District and slums of Kolkata
- Funded 10 rescue missions to free trafficked women and children
- Sponsored rehabilitation programs comprising of counseling, academic education, and vocational training
- Provided direct assistance to over 500 women and children
OUR CORE BELIEF
Our belief is that no situation is beyond hope. As India is the birthplace of yoga, we believe it is our duty to give back to a culture that has given the international yoga community so much.
WHO WE ARE
The Yoga Medicine Seva Foundation was established to address the severity of India’s human trafficking crisis. We are funded by Yoga Medicine members and people like YOU. We are independent of any political ideology, economic interest or religion. Our belief is that no situation is beyond hope and India being the birthplace of yoga, we believe it is our duty to give back to a culture that has given us so much.
Why India?
- Human trafficking is a global $1.5 billion industry with over 40 million people trafficked every year. India has the highest number of people enslaved, with approximately 18 million people in modern slavery.
- Every day 400 women and children go missing in India – many remain untraced and 30% of whom are children.
- 1 child goes missing somewhere in the country every 8 minutes.
- In one red light district of India where there are around 285,600,000 women and children, these women and children are expected to entertain a minimum of 20 men per day.
- Almost 80 percent of all worldwide trafficking is for sexual exploitation, with 30% off all trafficked victims being children.
2021 SEVA TRIP TO INDIA
Every two years, the Seva Foundation travels to India. We have no middleman; giving us the yoga volunteering opportunity to hand-deliver funds ourselves. This ensures your donations get into the right hands and are spent on what matters most – food, shelter, and education.
During our visits to the shelters, we spend time with the women and children. Our presence lets them know that someone, somewhere cares. By immersing into their culture our desire to help and their desire to dream, multiplies.
Team members who raise a minimum of $5000.00 will have the yoga volunteering opportunity to join us on our 2021 trip to New Delhi. If you are interested in more details, please email our Seva Program Manager, Alis Atagan, at seva@yogamedicine.com.
Hear from our past participants…
“The greatest impact of my trip to Kolkata wasn’t what I expected it to be. I was focusing on the heartbreaking stories behind the project, but what I found was love and empowerment. The most important thing that I came away with after the trip is the visceral realisation that we can all make a difference and it isn’t as hard as one might think. It is only through empowering others and giving them opportunities that true sustainable change can be achieved.” – Katia Shulga
“When I heard about the Yoga Medicine Seva Foundation project and decided to take part, I thought that I would go there to help the women and children. However, in truth they have helped me. Their smiles, laughter and beaming sense of pride was contagious; and reminded me that the future is in our hands and does not need to be dictated by sadness from the past. Every woman or child I met taught me that wherever we live in the world and whatever trauma we have faced in our lives, we are able to grow and move on from it with love and support from the people who surround us.” – Alice Blunden
Purchase With Purpose
The Seva Foundation has joined forces with other globally conscious companies. A simple purchase from any of our partners below will increase our impact!
Kira Grace
Kira Grace
All of Yoga Medicine’s proceeds from this Kira Grace collection will go to the support and empowerment of women through the Seva Foundation.
Nina Hillerstrom
Nina Hillerstrom
20% of every purchase of the beautiful handmade, silver jewelry from Nina Hillerström’s Seva Collection will be donated to our cause of supporting women and children in India.
For more information on the India Seva Project, please contact us.
