Renewing hope and restoring dreams

A nine-year old Cambodian girl violently raped by her neighbor…a young boy working in a quarry mine in southern India…a woman forced to work as a prostitute in Cambodia’s red light districts in order to feed her children. These are the people served by Lotus Outreach International.

We tackle poverty by working with grassroots organizations in India and Cambodia, because they possess the deepest understanding of their communities’ needs. We empower our local partners by providing critical, on-the-ground support in the areas of funding, program design, performance management, technical support, and training. Delibarately, we work in the poorest regions that are often too remote for the big organizations. Today, we reach over 30,000 women and children in Asia through the following initiatives:

Girls’ Access to Education (GATE), Cambodia Provides educational scholarships to over 600 at-risk and exploited young girls in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey.

Buddha Smiles, India Provides after school education and tutoring to children of illiterate dalits -- or “untouchables” -- who work in the dangerous rock quarries of Tamil Nadu.

Lotus Education As A Right Network (LEARN), India Utilizes community mobilization, legal advocacy and public interest litigation to expand access to quality public education for thousands of marginalized children in rural Haryana.

Integrated Rural Development (IRD) Program, Cambodia An integrated social development program that provides educational scholarships, preventative healthcare training, microloans, and farming resources to over 5,000 rural villagers and ethnic minorities residing in the remote villages of the Cardamom Mountain Range.

Safe Migration and Reduction of Trafficking (SMART), Cambodia A mobile anti-trafficking program which moves from point-to-point along the porous Thai-Cambodian border to educate at-risk migrant laborers and street children on the dangers of human trafficking.

Consoling Through Counseling, Cambodia Provides individual and group trauma counseling to hundreds of young victims of human trafficking, sexual abuse and domestic violence residing in a women’s shelter in rural Cambodia.

Non-Formal Education, Cambodia Provides literacy classes, vocational training and life skills to sex workers and their children in order to help them find better opportunities.

Well Projects, Cambodia Constructs water wells that serve entire villages in the drought-prone regions of rural Cambodia.

Phnong Education Initiative, Cambodia Improves access to education for ethnic minorities in Mondulkiri through children’s scholarships and teacher training.

The Blossom Bus, India Provides daily transportation to and from school for adolescent minority girls who live too far from the nearest school house to walk each day.

Education Scholarships for Child Laborers, India Provides scholarship support and enrollment assistance for over 700 migrant child laborers living in brick factory compounds.

posted by cassis on 6/23/2010