Milaap’s Hope Project

Its no secret that female lives are cheap in India.Female infanticide,maternal mortality,dowry deaths etc. are so commonplace as to not merit front page news.To add to these horrors,there’s one more- dedicating young girls to serve the Goddess Yellamma.

The Devadasi system is banned in India since 1988.But this doesn’t stop people from dedicating daughters to Yellamma in the hopes of getting a son next time round or simply to escape dowering a daughter to get her married off.Worse,the girls so dedicated are forced into prostitution.

MASS ie Mahila Abhivrudhi Maththu Samrakshana Samsthe is an organisation comprising of former devadasi women. The organisation promotes development of former devadasis in Belgaum district, Karnataka. In 1987, MASS was registered as a society. It is now an independently functioning organisation with a membership of over 5000 devadasis. The vision of MASS is the eradication of devadasi system and empowerment of exploited women and young girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation under the guise of the devadasi practice.

MASS keeps a watch on the Yellamma temple celebrations to ensure that young girls are not inducted in the devadasi system and trains former devadasi women in various trades so that they can earn their own livelihood and ensure that they can support their children so that poverty doesn’t force them or their children into sex slavery.The stigma attached to former devadasis,  makes finding employment and credit a particular challenge.

Long term readers know that I have spoken about Milaap before:Link,Link.The Hope Project is a special effort of Milaap to raise credit for former devadasis to set up micro-enterprises.The picture above is that of Mahananda,one of the beneficiaries.Here is her story:Link.

Do join me and lend a little,as little as Rs 500 and change a lot.