Humanitarian Aid in India - Family Service Center

The Colaba Market Slum is one of the most destitute neighborhoods in Mumbai. Many families here live in one-room shacks with corrugated tin roofs and makeshift walls. One or both parents may have jobs as a vendors or laborers, but typically will not make enough money to afford electricity or running water. Few children here attend school.

Mumbai’s Family Service Center (FSC) focuses on community development throughout the city by helping empower neighborhoods from within. Having identified the Colaba Market Slum as a particularly destitute and high-risk community, FSC began to hold weekly meetings with the women in the neighborhood to encourage them to identify the most urgent issues facing the community and develop plans for improvement. From there, a community center was built and educational programs were established for children and adults. Vocational, academic, and health education courses were developed, among many others. Women and girls who learn these skills then spread their knowledge to other women by teaching in the center and paying home visits to families throughout the Colaba Market Slum Community. WHFC was an important contributor to this exciting program for real change.

Colaba Market Slum Community Empowerment Project

FSC has completed the hard work of identifying the most pressing issues in the community, developing proven programs to address those issues, and constructing a facility from which to run these programs. Having built such a strong foundation, it is now vital for the community that the program continues. Funds for staffing, equipment and operating costs will help ensure ongoing training and programs necessary for continued improvement of the Colaba Market Slum Community. FSC has turned to us to help them with this ongoing endeavor. Wide Horizons For Children is the only U.S. agency currently contributing to this effort.

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