Jeremy Dawson
The idea behind Project GRL (girl) is to serve women and young girls.
The main aim is to provide free medical consultation and free medication.
It is basically a clinic on wheels that goes to various slums to serve people from poor economic conditions. The medical team treats the patients inside
the van which provides a closed space for examinations, with an attached toilet. Project GRL, has conducted 9 camps in the last one month in Maharajpur, Ghaziabad; Hari Nagar, West Delhi and Tidgi extension, Saket. Our desire is to expand the project to many more slums in Delhi-NCR.
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Along with medical consultation, the project also seeks to collaborate with professionals to provide counselling sessions to women and young girls on various topics. The goal of the project is holistic development of every woman and girl child. In the coming days, we want to raise volunteers who will partner with our vision and conduct adult literacy classes, spoken English course, etc.
The goal of Team GRL has been to lend a helping hand to the needy, to those who have no voice, and those who are not provided the basic right to health by providing free medical services to the young women and children in Delhi.
The first GRL camp was conducted on the 29th of January 2022. During the initial months, the medical camps were conducted in Delhi - NCR; particularly in the slums of Ghaziabad, West Delhi and Noida.
In April 2022, we shifted gears and entered into the very famous red light area in Delhi called Garstin Bastion Road, popularly called as GB Road.
In total, the project has a record of consulting 652 women and children since the pilot camp back in January 2022. The project has a record of providing medical services to 234 sex workers from GB road.
Over the last 6 months, a total of 1231 women have visited GRL camps over 62 medical camps at GB road.
The team has noticed many physical changes in these women over the last 6 months. Due to awareness campaigns, the sex workers have started to incorporate personal hygiene.
Stories
A 32-year-old woman from GB road, was a lot younger when she
met a boy at a local marketplace in her town and they fell in love. When her
family found out about it, she decided to leave the house and run away with
the boy. However, he backed out and left her all alone at a railway station for
3 days. A man noticed her and offered to help her. He brought her to Delhi
and sold her at GB road. She later realized that the man who offered to help
her was a Dalaal. With much trembling, she worked at GB road for three years. In the year 2017, she married a customer who was wealthy, thinking that his
property could help educate her children. Without him knowing,
she continues to work at GB road .
A 36 years old woman from Himachal Pradesh, comes from a very poor family. He father died when she was a little girl. Her family got her married at the age of 16. She has now been married for 12 years with two children. She
has a 12-year-old and an 11-year-old, and both go to school.
Her husband was having an affair with another woman. When she confronted him about it, he left her and went to live with the other woman. Since she is not very educated, she couldn't find a job. One of her friends suggested that she join her and work at GB road to support her children's education. So she left her home and started living on GB road last year. She often goes to her
home to visit her children.