Hope House: A Future For Girls In Calcutta's Red Light District

by Jen Nedeau · 2009-08-18 21:56:00 UTC
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Kids with Cameras' is launching a big initiative on October 2nd, 2009 called House Parties for Hope that you should know about.

If you aren't familiar with Born into Brothels, it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005. From the film, a foundation was formed to continue the work of empowering children in marginalized communities to become educated by finding their own voice in photography.

The foundation is currently working to complete the legacy project of the film which is called Hope House - a safe haven for 100 girls from Calcutta's red light district to come to live and attend day school. Kids with Cameras' strategically partnered with the Buntain Foundation, a group running numerous hospitals and 116 school across India, who have over 54 years of expertise in humanitarian work in Calcutta.

Hope House will be a state of the art facility with computer labs, arts instruction, music, dance, photography, and all of the physical and psychological support the girls need to be successful.

On October 2nd, Kids with Cameras' is promoting a world-wide house party screening event for the film.

October 2nd also commemorates Gandhi's birthday, and they are looking to activate a base of supporters to be the change they wish to see and help raise the remaining capital needed to build Hope House.

In addition to Hope House, this organization has sold the photos of the kids from the original workshop on their website in books, postcards, and prints, which have been exhibited all over the world. The proceeds of those sales has funded many of the children's educations. One of the kids, Avijit Halder, is now a sophomore at NYU's Tisch School studying film, and another, Kochi, is going to be a junior at a private school in Utah.

The Buntains are also recruiting the girls for Hope House through mobile health clinics in the brothels, and setting up a laundry facility next to Hope House where the mothers can have an alternative for employment and live near their daughters. There will also be a College of Nursing adjacent to Hope House so there will a formal mentorship of the girls with the nurses.

From where I sit - in my far off corner of the world - only good can come from this venture, in addition to a lot of hope for the young women of Calcutta.

So, make sure to Save the Date for October 2nd and visit www.kids-with-cameras.org/houseparty.

Be the change you wish to see.

Jen Nedeau Jen Nedeau is a media relations professional and a writer based in New York City.
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