Welcome to my second attempt at a travel blog! Woop Woop!
I wanted to use this first entry to introduce you to my newest trip. As of June 6th, I will be traveling 28 long hours over to Kolkata, India. I am still having a hard time grasping that this is actually going to happen. But nevertheless, I will be heading over there to work with an organization called New Light. You can read all about it on that link but to summarize, this is an organization that works to help empower the women and children in Kolkata. It does this in a variety of different ways but essentially, they create opportunities for the women to obtain other sources of income in order to be able to leave the prostitution circle, it educates both the women and the children so as to give them more opportunities to be successful thus breaking the chain, and it provides shelters for the women and especially their children who would otherwise be alone on the streets at night with no one to care for them. This program is absolutely wonderful and has grown to be able to care for hundreds of women and children all throughout Kolkata. They have been able to help young women who are at risk stay off the streets and earn college degrees and also help to provide medical treatment to those women who have not been as fortunate. I am beyond thrilled to be able to go and work alongside these strong women who have helped to develop such an incredible program.
So how can YOU also be a part of this experience?
Donations- As many of you are aware, I traveled to Ghana in 2014 to volunteer for a couple of months. Before and during my trip there, I reached out to see if people would like to participate in my cause and contribute monetary donations. With all of the support received, we were able to buy a water purifier for a hospital there that up until then had no clean water, financed the surgery of a little boy Alex who needed a lifesaving surgery to correct his hydrocephalus, and I was able to buy lots of supplies to bring to the hospitals I volunteered at who had little to no resources.
If you are interested in making a donation, you can give the money directly to me via venmo (@Amelia-Crespo) or via paypal (crespo.amy@gmail.com). 100% of your donation will be utilized for the program I am working on. In addition, if you check in with this site, you can read up on what we are working on! If you would feel more comfortable donating directly to the organization, the link is http://www.newlightindia.org/donate.php.
Prayers- If you could keep me and the people I work with in your prayers, it would mean so much to me. Traveling over to India as a solo female traveler is daunting enough in and of itself but I think I am most nervous about being able to connect with these young women. I cannot even begin to imagine the lives they have had to endure and while I know that I cannot change their world in a few weeks time, I hope that I will be able to at least make a small dent.
Thank you to everyone in advance for all of your continued support, be it with words, prayers, or money. I really do appreciate it! And be sure to check back in. I believe I will have access to wifi so I will try to update everyone as frequently as possible!
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