India

Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK), Holt’s partner organization in the city of Pune, threw a Christmas party last December for children living at all four of its Holt-supported care centers and for those in impoverished communities in and around Pune. During the celebration, children and staff participated in interactive games that promoted creativity and teamwork, sang Christmas carols and ate delicious snacks. The children also received gifts that were carefully selected for them, filling them with joy. Children in Holt programs rarely receive anything extra, so this Christmas celebration was a special treat. As one BSSK program manager said, “The event was a beautiful expression of togetherness, leaving everyone with lasting memories of love and happiness during this special time of year.”

Mongolia

Nearly a third of Mongolians live in poverty, and the nation has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in all of Asia. Roughly 47% of children and 1 in 3 women have experienced violence in the home. Holt sponsors and donors directly support three domestic violence shelters for mothers and children in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, where they receive temporary housing and support until they can safely rebuild their lives.

Recently, three women and seven children were brought into one of the shelters, seeking safety and support. In addition to housing, the center offered the families vitamins and nutritious food, in an effort to prevent nutrient deficiencies in the children and help support their healthy growth and development. The shelter also opened case files for all the mothers and children and created long-term service plans to ensure their health and safety.

Philippines

Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF), Holt’s long-standing partner in the Philippines, recently celebrated its 49^th year of operation. In 1976, Holt helped establish KBF in Manila, and through the years, KBF has grown to become a recognized leader in child welfare services. Through KBF, Holt sponsors and donors have also supported thousands of children in the Philippines through a broad range of family strengthening, foster care and parenting education programs.

One such program is the Independent Living and Educational Assistance (ILEA) program, which supports teens and young adults who have aged out of institutional care in the Philippines. Through the ILEA program, a group of 13-15 teens and young adults live together in a house or dorm-like setting. They receive support and funding to help them complete their high school or college education. They also have a house parent who teaches them skills like cooking, cleaning and paying bills, so they can eventually transition to independent living.

This past December, sponsors and donors supported a Christmas party for children, teens and young adults in KBF programs, including those in the ILEA program. Christmas is an important holiday in the Philippines, and during the party, everyone received gifts and enjoyed festive activities!

Thailand

Thailand recently experienced its most severe flooding in the past 50 years, due to continuous heavy rains that caused significant damage to the country’s farmlands and disruption to daily life. In response, Holt’s local partner, Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF), provided emergency relief kits and financial aid to help families overcome immediate hardships. HSF also helped families apply for emergency flood assistance from the Thai government.

Uganda

Many children in Uganda have lost one or both parents to armed fighting among ethnic groups or HIV/AIDS. Some of them live with their grandparents or other extended family members. Others are truly orphaned and growing up without a family. While Holt does not facilitate international adoptions from Uganda, the Uganda Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development is now working to make domestic adoption more accessible for Ugandan families.

Holt Uganda recently worked with Home Free, a local child advocacy group, to provide social workers with technical training in adoption documentation, case management, and the legal process and requirements for domestic adoption. In addition, the groups held information sessions for 37 prospective adoptive parents, offering them a deeper understanding of adoption and the legal process.

Recently, five domestic adoption cases were approved by Uganda’s Alternative Care Panel and district court, allowing these children to join their forever families. The chief magistrate commended the Holt and Home Free teams for their work in compiling detailed case records and conducting thorough family tracing, and for the evident bonding between the children and their prospective adoptive parents.

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The post Notes from the Field: January 2025 appeared first on Holt International.

As CEO of Holt Mongolia, I monitor the overall implementation of our programs in Mongolia and those who work directly with children in sponsorship. Your donation has changed the quality of life of Mongolian children in rural and urban areas and has been an invaluable support to their parents. In working with our staff, I have witnessed these changes in the lives of children and families — including your sponsored child.

In 2021, children living in rural areas of Mongolia began receiving your donations, which dramatically changed their quality of life. In addition to much-needed food, we were able to provide school uniforms, school supplies and essential medicines to children with special needs that cannot be found in these rural areas. And more than 300 newly published books were donated to the library of a secondary school with 1,177 students in one rural soum, or district, of Mongolia. The school lacked books for students, and there was a shortage of funds to buy books.

Your donations were not only for the children’s health, but also an invaluable aid to the families to overcome difficult times to meet their basic needs. You helped poor families have a safe and warm home, and livestock to earn living.

In 2021, you helped provide emergency food supplies for children and families living in ger communities.

Tarialan soum of Khuvsgul aimag is one of the 300 soums in Mongolia and has the largest population in the aimag (over 600,000 people), of which 63% are children and youth. There are a total of 1,870 households in Tarialan soum, of which 210 are extremely poor — including that of E.Lkhagvabayar, a young family with two young children that has experience in herding but was unable to buy their own livestock due to poverty. With your help, this family received the funds to buy 36 livestock. The family’s life has improved as the number of livestock increased to 55 head — growing their income and providing nourishing food.

In total in 2021, the number of children involved in our programs increased to 2,600. In addition to ensuring the safety of children at home and with their parents, your donations helped children and their mothers who were housed in temporary shelters due to domestic violence. For example, donations and assistance helped equip a children’s playroom in the temporary shelter of the Prevention Division of the Capital Police Department (Call Center 107), which enabled children affected by domestic violence to play and stay with their mothers in a warm, comfortable and safe environment.

Through your generous donations, during the COVID-19 pandemic, families enrolled in the Holt program were provided with hygiene supplies such as disposable masks, hand sanitizers to prevent the virus, along with packages of food consisting of flour, rice, sugar and vegetable oil. Our staff and I are sincerely grateful for your precious donations to the children of vulnerable families of Mongolia.

We truly thank you for your continued support and assistance to poor and vulnerable families and children living in urban and rural areas of Mongolia.

Tungalag | Director, Holt Mongolia

Learn more about Holt’s work in Mongolia!

See how sponsors and donors create a brighter, more hopeful future for children and families in Mongolia!

view mongolia programs

The post Thank You From Holt Mongolia appeared first on Holt International.

You gave this family warmth!

Because of you, Gerel and her daughters have a safe home, and hope for the future. But when we first met them nine months ago, Gerel was six months pregnant, and bone thin. She ate only flour so that her 3-year-old daughter, Erhi, would have enough to eat. Both Gerel and her daughter suffered from malnutrition.

Like so many women and children living in poverty in Mongolia, Gerel and Erhi stayed in an abusive situation because they had nowhere else to go.

In a Mongolian winter, temperatures can drop to 40 degrees below zero. Gerel knew the violence she faced at home was less dangerous than the risk of freezing on the streets.

But because of you — because of your heroic heart — Gerel and her daughter now have a new, safe home, far from their abuser. After seeing their circumstances, our staff brought Gerel and Erhi to a medical care center where they received treatment for malnutrition. And now, through your generous giving, Gerel and Erhi have a bright, clean and newly furnished home of their own.

Erhi recently celebrated her 4th birthday, with a cake, new winter clothes and special gifts. Miraculously, Gerel also gave birth to a healthy girl!

Gerel knows this change in her life is because of you. “Your support is greatly contributing to my family,” Gerel recently wrote in a letter. “May God bless you.”

Help provide safe housing for a child like Erhi in Mongolia! Give now at holtinternational.org/sleep-tight.

The post Rescued From Domestic Violence appeared first on Holt International.

While Bolormaa had suffered abuse from her husband throughout their marriage, after the latest incident, she had the courage to reach out to a social worker in her community for help. The social worker immediately found a place for her and her children at the shelter.

Across Mongolia, and around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in domestic violence toward women and children. The stress of lost jobs, stay-at-home orders and social isolation have contributed to this global rise in abuse cases, especially in more impoverished communities. As families struggle to feed their children and pay their rent, family members are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol — and more likely to commit acts of violence.

Since COVID-19 hit Mongolia, the number of cases reported to the National Center for Domestic Violence rose to 425 or by 26%. Calls for emergency services rose by 39%.

“The risk level was very high in these violent circumstances,” our staff reports.

How Sponsors and Donors Help

When Bolormaa and her children arrived at the shelter in late March, early in the pandemic, each received a medical checkup. When her youngest child was found to have a severe burn injury on her bottom from hot water, doctors at the trauma and injury hospital treated her with medication and ointment — healing the burn.

At the shelter, Bolormaa and her children received food, clothing and a warm, safe bed — all provided with support from the Holt sponsors and donors who give to Holt’s programs in Mongolia.

The children attended a child support group where they could share their feelings and learn ways to cope with the trauma they had experienced in a violent home. Bolormaa also attended a leadership training where she learned coping skills and built confidence to overcome her past and create the future she wants for her children.

One key service that the domestic violence shelters provide is legal aid to help women secure a divorce from an abusive spouse. They can also help with child custody and child support matters. Once Bolormaa went through the court system with support from the shelter’s legal counsel, she was awarded full custody of her children and set to receive child support from her husband.

Where They Are Today

During their month-long stay, the shelter staff identified a safe place for Bolormaa and her children to live — a traditional Mongolia home called a “ger” that was provided by the local government. They also enrolled Bolormaa’s children in Holt’s child sponsorship program — matching them with a sponsor who would help meet their basic needs once they left the shelter.

Today, Bolormaa and her children are safe and living together in their own home. The shelter staff visits them regularly to ensure their wellbeing. And through their generous monthly gifts, their sponsor helps provide everything the children need to grow and thrive in the loving care of their mom.

Bolormaa’s story is similar to many of the women who stay at the three shelters that Holt sponsors and donors support in Mongolia. But due to the rise in domestic violence cases since the beginning of the pandemic, the shelters need help meeting the needs of the many women and children who come into care.

Here are three ways you can help:

PROVIDE A NIGHT OF SAFETY: Give a one-time Gift of Hope to help a woman and her children escape a violent situation.

GIVE TO THE SHELTERS IN MONGOLIA: Contact Holt donor representatives Gina Hedberg at (320) 224-0610 or ginah@holtinternational.org or Courtney Hohenlohe-Langenburg at (541) 868-5048 or courtneyh@holtinternational.org to make a designated gift to help women and children at the Holt-supported domestic violence shelters in Mongolia.

Read a Q&A on domestic violence in Mongolia during COVID-19.

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The post Domestic Violence in Mongolia During COVID-19: One Mother’s Story appeared first on Holt International.

While domestic violence has increased in many countries, one unique aspect of Holt’s Mongolia programs is that sponsors and donors directly support three domestic violence shelters for women and children— one in Ulaanbaatar, and two in the countryside — as well as emergency helplines to report incidents of abuse. Since the beginning of the pandemic, all three shelters have reported significant, double-digit increases in reports of abuse.

Why is the pandemic causing a global rise in domestic violence?

Since COVID-19 became a global pandemic, the world has witnessed what United Nations chief António Guterres in April called a “horrifying global surge in domestic violence” toward women and children.

Multiple factors have contributed to this surge in violence, including the stress of lost jobs, stay-at-home orders and social isolation. In the impoverished communities Holt serves, families often live in cramped housing — making quarantine measures even more stressful. Lost income adds further strain for families already living in poverty as they now struggle to feed their children and pay their rent. With tensions rising, family members are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, and more likely to commit acts of violence.

With schools closed and children trapped at home all day, they are even more vulnerable. Most cases of child abuse are identified by teachers and school administrators. But with schools closed due to COVID-19, these children have no one outside the home to protect them from their abusers.

What is the situation for women and children in Mongolia?

According to Holt’s staff in Mongolia, the reason for the increase in domestic violence is much the same as in other countries. Due to nationwide quarantine, many parents have lost jobs and are using alcohol as a coping mechanism, which has led to higher incidents of abuse. Although schools recently reopened in September, the closures over the summer also put children at heightened risk.

Since COVID-19 hit Mongolia, the number of cases reported to the National Center for Domestic Violence rose to 425 or by 26%. Calls for emergency services rose by 39%. “The risk level was very high in these violent circumstances,” our staff reports.

Since COVID-19 hit Mongolia, the number of cases reported to the National Center for Domestic Violence rose to 425 or by 26%. Calls for emergency services rose by 39%. “The risk level was very high in these violent circumstances,” our staff reports.

In total, 180 individuals have sought refuge at one shelter sponsors and donors support — 65% of them children — since the pandemic began in March. Another currently has 81 women and children in care, which is up 35% from last year. At another shelter, 50 children are in care, 20 of them are 4 or younger, and four have special needs.

“This situation is prompting an  immediate demand for assistance to the children,” our staff reports.

How are Holt sponsors and donors already helping to address this crisis?

Through their generous gifts, Holt sponsors and donors already provide support for women and children fleeing domestic violence in Mongolia. This support provides everything from medical care, nourishing food and a warm, safe bed at the shelter to counseling, life skills training and help transferring registration so children can continue going to school. Last year, donors also provided headsets for operators at the emergency call center.

As more and more women and children have sought refuge during the pandemic, Holt donors have provided additional funds to purchase infant formula, diapers, vitamins and other essentials, including medical testing equipment to help keep the children safe and healthy.

At one of the shelters, Holt donors also made it possible to purchase a computer for the children to do schoolwork online.

What is the long-term plan for women and children who stay at the shelters?

When women and children arrive at the shelter, they receive psychological counseling, medical care to treat any injuries and each of their cases is investigated by the police to determine the kind of protection and services they need moving forward. Women can receive legal assistance with divorce proceedings and help resolving child custody issues. Social workers then work with each woman to help her find a job, secure safe housing and ensure she can care for her children on her own.

As many of the women who stay at the shelters lack skills or education, they often end up working low-paying jobs. Through their monthly support, Holt sponsors can help them care for their children by meeting basic needs like school supplies, clothing and food.

As many of the women who stay at the shelters lack skills or education, however, they often end up working low-paying jobs. Through their monthly support, Holt sponsors can help them care for their children by meeting basic needs like school supplies, clothing and food.

When children arrive at the shelter alone, shelter staff work with the police to determine the best long-term solution — whether that’s staying with extended family or going to live at one of the care centers Holt supports in Ulaanbaatar. However, due to COVID-19, orphanages aren’t currently accepting new children into care and many are already close to capacity. While this has added an extra burden on shelter staff and also prevented them from taking in more children who need help, every child currently in care at the shelter may stay as long as they need until the staff can find a safe, stable home for them.

How you can help

PROVIDE A NIGHT OF SAFETY: Give a one-time Gift of Hope to help a woman and her children escape a violent situation.

GIVE TO THE SHELTERS IN MONGOLIA: Contact Holt donor representatives Gina Hedberg at (320) 224-0610 or ginah@holtinternational.org or Courtney Hohenlohe-Langenburg at (541) 868-5048 or courtneyh@holtinternational.org to make a designated gift to help women and children at the Holt-supported domestic violence shelters in Mongolia.

Read more about how Holt sponsors and donors help protect women and children facing domestic violence in Mongolia.

Become a Child Sponsor

Connect with a child. Provide for their needs. Share your heart for $43 per month.

sponsor now!

The post Domestic Violence Cases Spike During COVID-19: How You Can Help appeared first on Holt International.

Domestic violence is pervasive in many impoverished communities. But sponsors help women and girls to be safe, and start again. 

Laya’s husband abused her every night. With few job skills, education and no money, she fled from her home in Cebu to Manila to find work after she became pregnant with her third child.

But, the sprawling city was more unforgiving than she expected. She found herself homeless and alone.

That’s when she found safety and support at the Nazareth Home, a shelter that Holt donors support in Manila, Philippines for single and expectant mothers.

Among Holt’s country programs and partnerships around the world, most are not specifically designed to help children and women in situations of domestic violence. But in many cases, they are particularly effective at helping families in crisis, especially single mothers struggling to support their children after leaving an abusive situation.

And sadly, in many of the communities where Holt has programs, physical and sexual violence against women and children is a crisis that is both pervasive and rarely talked about.

There are a number of reasons why — and those reasons vary from place to place. But, generally, many developing countries lack child welfare programs, community police forces or systems of reporting abuse. In some places, women can’t open bank accounts or buy property without their spouse. There is little awareness education about physical and sexual violence so many women and children don’t even realize they have rights against their abuser. Even if they did, they may live in a very isolated region or have few or no ways to report the crime. And if they do report the crime, women or their children may face violent backlash or be shamed and blamed for falling victim in the first place.

Holt Senior Vice President of Programs Caryl García says that child sponsors help to combat the prevalence of domestic violence in impoverished communities.

In some cases, Holt does provide direct support to organizations whose sole focus is preventing domestic violence. Last year, Holt donors began supporting a domestic violence shelter in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia — meeting essential  needs for women and children, including medical care, nutritional assistance and school supplies for children, many of whom had to leave all of their belongings behind when they fled their abuser.

In Bangalore, India, the staff of Holt’s longtime partner, Vathsalya Charitable Trust, regularly asks children whether their parents are fighting and watches for issues that could indicate violence in the home.

Across India, sexual abuse is rampant, targeting girls as young as 3, and in several communities, Holt donors support education programs that empower school-aged girls and women with knowledge about their rights, and how to recognize and report abusive actions.

Holt’s India program manager, Bhumika Tulalwar, says that while national education and community conversations around rape are rising, they are still not widespread, so the education that our partners provide is very important for women.

“Although domestic violence occurs in all settings, abused women from the slums face distinct barriers in obtaining support and services,” Bhumika says, quoting a report from our partner Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK). “They are especially at risk of poor health outcomes. Slum environments are characterized by low socio-economic status, unhealthy living conditions, and lack of basic services. These aspects play a role in women’s vulnerability to abuse and their inability to break free from abusive relationships.”

“Although domestic violence occurs in all settings, abused women from the slums face distinct barriers in obtaining support and services.”

Bhumika Tuluwar, India Program Manager

In other parts of India, Holt sponsors support children who live at a boarding school in Dehli — a safe haven for girls who come from violent or unstable backgrounds — and in Pune, a community center run by our partner BSSK offers educational summer camps for children and teens that openly address gender-based violence, rape culture and abuse awareness as part of their activities.

Bhumika says teaching children about victim blaming is an important part of their curriculum.

“Women who are victims of domestic abuse feel that the abuse is their fault and she has made a mistake,” Bhumika says. “Broken marriages, single women and divorce are stigmatized in the Indian culture. Many women prefer to keep silence in the best interest of their children. But domestic abuse has far-reaching psychological effects on children. They may consider abuse ‘normal’ and are more likely to be abusive or abused in their marital relationships.”

Laya already had two children — a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old — when she sought refuge at Nazareth Home in Manila.

This shelter is one of very few for women facing unplanned pregnancies, and the shelter staff helped Laya receive some formal training to hone her skills as a beautician. They connected her with additional social services, gave her a free place to stay while she got her feet back under her, and helped her make a parenting plan for her baby and two children. At Nazareth Home, Laya met Angelica, a young woman who ran away from home to escape her stepfather’s continuous abuse. When Angelica found out she was pregnant, she didn’t know what to do or where to go, but Nazareth Home welcomed her with love and compassion. While Laya chose to parent her baby, Angelica made an adoption plan for her child.

In so many ways, Holt sponsors help women in hard situations. These are just a few examples, because the programs you support are all unique to the community they are in. Because of you, women and children have more hopeful futures.

Billie Loewen | Former Holt Team Member

The post Helping Her Break Free appeared first on Holt International.

Och* leans into her mom – making herself as physically close to her as possible.

Och is 4 years old, with shiny black, braided hair, a red striped dress and knee-high boots. She is shy of strangers, and whispers into her mom’s ear as she eats the sugar cube that came with her mom’s tea. Her mom, Bayarmaa*, is 29 and has the same dark shiny hair as her youngest daughter. It’s late morning on a Tuesday in May, and Och’s older sister — a third grader — is currently away at school.

But neither of Bayarmaa’s daughters like being away from their mom for long. And they never, ever want to be left alone.

Bayarmaa sits with her hands tucked between her knees, and her shoulders curved protectively inward.

“How are you feeling now?” we ask her.

Tears start forming in the corners of her eyes.

“The most important mission in my life,” she says, “is to raise my children safe, and to give them all the education they can get. I will support them in every way.”

For eight years, Bayarmaa lived in terror of her husband. Irrationally jealous, he would find any excuse to beat her. Although she didn’t want to raise her two young daughters in this environment, she felt trapped. She could not read. She could not write. She had no job skills or relatives nearby who could take her and her daughters in.

But most of all, Bayarmaa feared that if she left her husband, she wouldn’t be able to care for her daughters on her own.

Courageously, she sought the counsel of a local church, who told her about a domestic violence shelter not too far, but still a good distance from her home in the ger district of Ulaanbaatar. Here, in this safe and secret place — a place sustained with the generous support of Holt sponsors and donors — she could stay with her two little girls until she found a more permanent home.

With a plan in place, Bayarmaa steeled her resolve, and made the brave decision to leave.

Keeping Families Safe and Whole

The shelter where Bayarmaa stays with her two daughters is a small, nondescript building in the center of the city. A social worker stays overnight with the women and children, and the police department is closely connected with the shelter — ready to respond if alerted to a disturbance.

Although members of Bayarmaa’s church helped her find the shelter, only a trusted few know where it is. It has no address.

While drab and institutional on the outside, Undrakh’s shelter is bright, airy and warm on the inside. It has a library and playroom for the children, and a kitchen where families can make their own food if they like. Although quiet on a Tuesday morning, the shelter can care for up to 20 people at a time — and is always at capacity.

Currently, this is the only domestic violence shelter in Ulaanbaatar, providing safe housing for women and children — some who have come with their moms, and some who arrive on their own.

When children come to the shelter alone, they are at particularly high risk, Undrakh says. Often, they are young girls who have experienced sexual abuse from a father or family member.

In some cases, children will come forward to report the abuse, but as is characteristic of Mongolia’s strong communal culture, neighbors and schoolteachers also watch for signs of abuse — and work together to protect children.

“The latest incident happened to a 6-year-old girl who came to us,” Undrakh shares. “The father was a sexual abuser. He made his daughter understand that it is like loving. When going to school, she asked her friend about this — ‘Do some of your body parts hurt when your father is loving you?’ she asked. The friend asked this question to her mother, who got suspicious and told this to the schoolteacher and social worker.”

The National Center Against Violence, which runs the shelter, is a highly professional team — with a psychologist, doctor, and until recently, a lawyer on staff to provide counsel and care for the women and children who seek refuge.

In cases of child abuse, the staff will work with the police to determine the safest long-term solution.

“We try to engage family members who understand the danger that the child was in from their immediate birth family,” explains Paul Kim, Holt’s director of programs in Mongolia. “In some cases, the child may be placed in an aunt’s or an uncle’s home.”

In other cases, the safest solution for the child is to stay at one of the care centers that Holt donors and sponsors support in Ulaanbaatar.

But first, they stay for three months at the shelter — the longest of any shelter in Mongolia.

The National Center Against Violence (NCAV) runs two shelters in the countryside, where women and children can only stay a few days, whereas here, in Ulaanbaatar, they can stay for up to three months — enough time to find a job and permanent housing, to go through the legal process of securing custody of their children, and in some cases, to heal their wounds. “During the three-month period, we give many services,” Undrakh says. “Many victims have injuries like broken arms and legs, wounds from abuse. Children arrive with colds, pneumonia, and many are malnourished. The court and legal process is also long, and it can take a month or more to resolve the case.”

“During the three-month period, we give many services. Many victims have injuries like broken arms and legs, wounds from abuse. Children arrive with colds, pneumonia, and many are malnourished. The court and legal process is also long, and it can take a month or more to resolve the case.”

Undrakh Zorigt, shelter director

Among the challenges women face when trying to escape an abusive spouse, housing is, Undrakh says, “the most crucial and delicate issue.”

“About 70-80 percent of abuse victims are from poor families and their education is very low,” she explains. “Many don’t have a place to live even if they return because their home is in the name of their husband.”

Bayarmaa, like most of the women at the shelter, is from the Songino Khairkhan district — the most impoverished district in Ulaanbaatar, home to roughly 317,000 people who live without electricity or running water in traditional, tent-like homes called “gers.” The mothers at the shelter have at least three children, and few have jobs — or the skills or education to secure them. Many of the women suffer from depression.

“Because of these factors,” says Undrakh, “we approached Holt and asked if they could help.”

Seven years ago, the generous support of sponsors and donors made it possible for Holt’s Mongolia staff to start a family strengthening and preservation program for families in the Songino Khairkhan district — meeting critical needs of families at risk of separation.

Our objective in these communities was much the same as everywhere else we work — to help struggling families stay together. But over time, a trend began to emerge.

“We don’t focus specifically just on single mothers,” explains Paul, “but the truth of the matter is that a lot of the families that are in most distress are woman-headed households.”

Recognizing the incredible dedication our donors and sponsors have for the families in the ger communities — as well as our staff’s deep understanding of the issues facing women and children — last year, the NCAV sought to partner with Holt Mongolia to strengthen outreach, and help provide services for women and children at the domestic violence shelter in Ulaanbaatar.

“We are one of the major sources of information for the families,” Paul says of the Holt Mongolia social workers. At the community library and the Red Stone School that sponsors and donors support in the ger district, our social workers hold trainings on domestic violence and educate families on their legal rights.

“[We make sure] everyone knows what legal rights they have and what protections the government can afford them so that they don’t feel their situation is hopeless,” says Paul, who while visiting the shelter also identified a critical gap in direct services that sponsors and donors could immediately fill.

“All that costs money. So what our sponsors and donors are doing is helping to underwrite these costs. And by doing so, they’re helping to ensure the children can stay with the parent, and not be sent to [relatives in] the countryside or somewhere else … They’re keeping the family whole.”

Paul Kim, Holt Mongolia programs director

“In speaking with the director,” Paul says, “I learned that one of the toughest things for the kids staying with their mothers in the shelter was not a matter of space or food or care or anything like that, but the fact that they couldn’t go to school.”

When women and children flee, they often leave behind all their belongings — including schoolbooks, uniforms and supplies, expenses that few of the mothers can afford to replace.

Another expense, Paul says, is the cost to transfer registration documents so that children can attend the school that’s local to the shelter.

Through their monthly gifts, Holt sponsors help provide security and strengthen the wellbeing of women and children in many ways beyond education as well.

“Monthly support from sponsors contributes very much because families can’t afford medicine or hospital visits,” says Undrakh. “They provide some nutrition as well. They’re helping very much.”

Once mothers and children leave the shelter, sponsors continue to provide critical support to supplement the income the women earn in the low-wage jobs they are able to obtain.

“Their salary doesn’t support food, clothing, everything,” Undrakh says. “Holt sponsors’ support has a huge impact on the family.”

Helping Abused Women Gain Custody

In the history of Mongolia’s stance on domestic violence, Bayarmaa could not have chosen a better time to leave her husband.

“Before 1995, there was no understanding about domestic violence,” explains Undrakh. “The traditional belief was that fighting should be solved within the family.”

As is so often the case among countries in economic and cultural transition, this attitude is a holdover from Mongolia’s not-too-distant past — from a time when families lived together in close-knit tribes of nomadic herders — but one that no longer fits the fractured communities of modern, urban Mongolia.

“Within a communal society, if there was a family member that was being abused, typically the rest of the family in the community would take care of it,” explains Paul. “But as family structures have broken down in the city, a lot of those cultural protections are no longer available.”

In the early 90s, domestic violence became a growing issue in the economic and social turmoil that ensued after the fall of the Soviet Union.

But it took time for the law to catch up.

Statistically, Undrakh says, one in five women in Mongolia will fall prey to domestic violence in their lifetime, but not until the mid-90s did police officers begin investigating violence against women and children. In 1995, the National Center Against Violence was established to protect the rights of women, and with support from the U.S. state department, they opened the first domestic violence shelter in Ulaanbaatar.

In 2004, the Mongolian government ratified a law criminalizing domestic violence, but the law lacked enforcement, and abusers would often receive light penalties — creating a pattern of repeat violence against their victims.

Just last year, in 2016, the government revised the country’s then 12-year-old law against domestic violence, more strictly defining any act of violence as a “crime” and holding police accountable for following up reports of abuse.

“Before, police officers would ask victims if they want to file a complaint,” Undrakh says, adding that many officers would still treat reports with the traditional attitude that marital disputes, even those involving violence, should be resolved privately. “Now with any act of violence, abusers must be held responsible for the crime they have committed.”

For many women like Bayarmaa, however, reporting abuse is not a decision they can make without thinking of the impact on their children. Although Mongolia is unusual for a developing country in that many of the country’s highest professionals are women — and Mongolian women have more education and lower rates of unemployment than Mongolian men — Mongolia is still a historically patriarchal culture. Especially in rural and impoverished areas, men typically have primary ownership of land and property, and until recently, custody of children.

“From a legal standpoint, if the father wanted to retain custody of the children, there really weren’t any protections in place for the birth mother,” Paul says.

But in February 2017 — one month before Bayarmaa fled with her two young daughters — the revised law against domestic violence took effect, providing another important layer of protection for abused women with children: custody rights.

“They have codified [the law] to give the birth mother greater legal protections,” says Paul. “So that if it came down to both sides wanting to go ahead and sue for custody, then from a legal standpoint, both would come into the courtroom on an equal setting.”

After confirming violent acts, in fact, a woman can now get a court order stating she has first custody rights for her child.

What’s most important is that “child rights are connected with women’s rights,” Undrakh says. “The law now states how children should be taken care of.”

It’s Safe Here

While still scared of what her future holds, Bayaarma feels hopeful. Her daughters are safely in her care, and no one can take them from her.

“It’s very safe here,” she says as she snuggles her daughter, and sips her tea in the warm, quiet living space at the heart of the shelter.

Soon, Bayarmaa will participate in a training designed to help the women at the shelter build self-confidence. The program is called “Leadership,” and Undrakh describes it as a 12-part series that will empower the women, teach them how to overcome violence, and embolden them to determine their own destiny.

At the shelter, Bayarmaa also attends a training course to help her learn to read and write. She grew up in the countryside, she says, where she helped her family tend their livestock instead of going to school — a pattern common among rural families. But she is determined to educate her two daughters.

And with the invaluable support of her girls’ sponsors — the compassionate and generous individuals who have, she says, “provided everything” — both Och and her sister have all they need to succeed.

Keeping the Doors Open

Two months after we visited the shelter and met Bayaarma, the government of Mongolia was hit by falling prices in essential commodities, and forced to cut many social programs. As a result, government funding for the National Center Against Violence was drastically cut. They no longer have a lawyer on staff to provide legal counsel to the women. Holt is working to rehire a lawyer, and with critical support from sponsors and donors, providing funding for the salaries of essential shelter staff.

“We wanted to expand the program, but at this point — because of what happened with the government funding — we are just working to make sure they don’t close their doors,” says Paul.

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*Names and identifying details have been changed to protect Bayaarma and her daughters from their abuser.

The post It’s Safe Here appeared first on Holt International.

Even at night, when Raji’s father pulls the string switch to the single light bulb in their one-room house and her surroundings go dark, there is no privacy.

A single trickle of orange street light flickers in through a crack under her tin door, and with the faint glow of light, Raji can see her two brothers as they shuffle and roll on the floor next to her, trying to get comfortable. She can hear and see her parents as they climb into their iron-framed twin bed, settling into sleep.

Sometimes her father stays awake, leaving to smoke a cigarette in the alley, and she can hear his muffled voice as he laughs with the neighbor men. Raji can hear a dog barking in the distance, the sound of a neighbor dumping their bucket of wash water into the thin alley. She hears a baby crying, the son of one of the girls in Raji’s class who was married last year and then dropped out of school. She and her husband moved into a tiny room two floors above her.

Raji wonders if this will be her soon. She knows her mom wants to find her a husband. She counts on her fingers the months until her 13^th birthday, the age her mom says she will start looking for a husband. Only four months left.

Raji does not want to be a wife. At least, not yet. She wants to be a doctor in a long, white coat with a stethoscope around her neck. If she’s a wife, she’ll never have a chance to go back to school, to wear the crisp skirt and button-up shirt of her uniform.

What Raji doesn’t know is that not only is early marriage likely to end her chance at an education, but also increase her risk of being abused, and of raising her children in an environment where their odds of being abused are also high.

In India, especially in impoverished urban and rural communities, domestic violence, sexual assault and abuse is problematic, in part because of how common it is, but also because there are few options for female and child victims to fight back or escape. Abuse is normalized further by the fact that neighbors may know a woman is being abused, yet never speak about it, and compounded by other cultural norms, like girls forced into marriage before they have grown into adults themselves.

For both women and children, abuse and gender-based violence can have lasting consequences. Children who witness violence and abuse are more likely to be abused themselves, or to grow up to abuse others. It’s a cyclical problem that spans generations.

But many women and girls do not even understand that what they are experiencing is abuse and that they have the right not to be abused — a fact that’s hard to understand in the West, but completely understandable in a country where women are often treated as second-class citizens. With one of the highest rates of illiteracy, especially among families living in poverty — and especially among women living in poverty — women also do not have easy access to information about their rights.  Across India, education campaigns to raise awareness about violence and the rights of women and children are rare.

Rare, but not non-existent.

In Pune, India, Holt’s partner Bharatiya Semaj Seva Kendra (BSSK) is working to end violence against women, one neighborhood at a time.

At a community center that serves more than 842 children and teens in the area, a group of more than 50 boys and girls 12-14 years old sit in groups of five or six all around the room. They are chatting loudly, occasionally giggling. Around the room, you can see boys and girls turning red in embarrassment or collapsing into a fit of laughter on their friend’s shoulder.

They are discussing whether a girl who wears a short skirt deserves to be raped.

This is one of three summer camps at the community center, a donor and sponsor-funded week of activities for children from high-risk families and communities, aimed at personal development, sexual education and career and marriage preparation.

While the question may seem candid and overly complicated for a group of children so young, Vaishali Vahikar, the director of sponsorship at BSSK who oversees the DEESHA (Development of Education Environment Social Health Awareness) Community Center, knows that this is the critical age to engage children in conversation. The boys are young enough that many of their female classmates are taller than them. They still feel silly and embarrassed when they talk about dating, much less a much more serious topic. And yet, Vaishali knows, many of the young girls in the room could be married at any time. Most will be married before they are 16. For many of these children, this summer camp may be the only time they are taught to treat women as equals, and Vaishali hopes the message will stick.

In the evenings, Vaishali and her team of teachers walk children to their homes. They are common figures in the Pune communities where 700 Holt-sponsored children. In addition to running after-school activities and summer camps, they also make sure children who receive school fees, uniforms and supplies from their Holt sponsors in the U.S. are living in safe environments. They do all they can to keep children, but especially girls, in school.

They are worried about Rajeshree. She hasn’t even hit puberty yet, but convincing her mom she is too young to marry has proved tricky.

“The first time we met with Raji’s mom, she told us that she was married at 13 and had her first son at 14,” Vaishali says of the conversation with Rajashree’s 35-year-old mother. Raji’s oldest brother is 21, and he married this year.

“Why should my daughter be any different?’” Raji’s mom asked Vaishali.

There is a direct correlation between education level and poverty in India, and while domestic violence and abuse is common across all classes, Mary Paul — the now-retired (and much beloved) former executive director of Holt’s long-time partner in Bangalore, Vathsalya Charitable Trust — describes violence against women as rampant in impoverished communities.

“The girl is always viewed as less,” Mary Paul says. “Abuse starts at a young age, even as young as 3. And it is not talked about because it is so shameful. Many women think it is their fault when they are abused.”

Holt’s director of India programs, Bhumika Tulalwar, says that the key to keeping women and children safe from abuse is education. Educated girls are more likely to earn a higher income, access safer housing and medical care, and be taken more seriously if they ever report a crime. And, while a higher level of income or socioeconomic status does not necessarily mean a woman will never encounter domestic violence, it certainly improves her odds.

“Women experience domestic abuse from their husbands, in-laws and family members,” Bhumika says. “Although domestic violence occurs in all settings, abused women from the slums face distinct barriers to obtaining support and services. Slum environments are characterized by low socioeconomic status, unhealthy living conditions, and a lack of basic services. These aspects play a role in women’s vulnerability to abuse and their inability to break free from abusive relationships. Factors that enhance the stress level of families have been shown to increase the probability of domestic violence, especially in slums.”

Bhumika says various, interwoven factors or behaviors make a woman from an impoverished community more likely to be abused, including failing to perform gender-based duties, like housework and child care, talking to strangers without the permission of her husband, economic stress, illiteracy, not having a male child, her age at marriage, her employment status or job, belonging to a lower caste or even her dowry.

While abuse is never okay for any reason, Bhumika says women’s abusers often make them feel like they deserve to be abused — a pattern that’s common everywhere, not just in India. But Holt staff and child advocates are determined to teach women otherwise, and trained to intervene when they see or hear about a child or his or her mother being abused.

“We have to educate women that how they are being treated is not ‘normal.’ It’s not their fault, and they shouldn’t have to continue to suffer,” Bhumika says. “We also educate women about the resources available to them if they choose to say no to their abuser. Through educational and employment opportunities, programs like the DEESHA help women break free from abusive relationships.”

For women or children facing abuse, their advocate will increase the number of visits and follow-up visits to the child’s home. They will help set up appointments at local clinics, or invite mothers to come together in community groups. In parent training classes, which are open to both moms and dads but much more heavily attended by mothers, they will openly discuss how to identify and report abuse, which helps women in the community reach out to friends who may be experiencing violence. Through guided activities, the community group may brainstorm ways to stop abuse and gender discrimination in their communities — such as creating documents with emergency helplines, legal resources, shelters and other community resources available in formats understandable to women who can’t read.

Funding from Holt sponsors also provides family counseling to moms and dads who may otherwise not be able to afford such services. Through anger management or partner counseling, Holt advocates and social workers can help women regain their confidence and sense of individuality, and help reduce or stop violence in the home.

But most critical is stopping abuse before it ever starts. Through education, Holt’s partners believe generational change is possible in India.

And it starts by fighting to keep girls like Raji in school as long as possible.

“I tell moms now that their daughters don’t have to be like them,” Vaishali says. “I tell them that they can get good jobs. They can marry later. For many of these families, they need money now, so it’s hard to see how it will pay off to keep their girls in school, but that’s what we teach them.”

Some moms are totally on board. They regularly attend parent training at the community center, where they can even receive a certificate for completing the parenting course, which includes a section on reporting abuse. Parents and children are also trained about how to respond if they see a child being abused, which creates a community of informed and prepared parents and watchful eyes.

“We’ve seen very good results from the program,” Vaishali says. “Because families in these communities live in such close quarters, it means that children can accidentally be exposed to things they shouldn’t see. Or they have no privacy, even from their family. It’s part of the reason that abuse is so common. But, it also means that these are close-knit communities. The neighbors all know each other, and can help keep each other safe. They can talk about what behaviors to avoid in the home, too, so children aren’t exposed to such things.”

However, raising awareness isn’t always enough, and with that in mind, the programs that sponsors support in India have extra stipulations to protect girls. Female students are given sponsorship and school scholarship preference in the communities where Holt works in India. While boys are equally deserving of an education, parents will often do everything they can to keep their boys in school, but pull their girls out early to be married or begin working. For families with both boys and girls in the home, every child in the family is matched with a sponsor and receives a scholarship, but only as long as their daughter is allowed to stay in school.

For Raji’s family, the fact that her two younger brothers attend school for free may be the main reason she is allowed to stay. While that’s a tough reality, Vaishali knows that some day, even if Raji marries young, staying in school as long as possible will empower her to protect herself and her children — and with a heightened appreciation of the value of an education, maybe Raji will also one day advocate for her own daughters to graduate from school. But Vaishali and her staff are determined not to let Raji get married off before she is of age. The legal marrying age for girls in India is 18 (21 for boys). If Raji’s parents try to break this law, her advocate will report them to the police.

At camp, Vaishali quiets the group of students. “So,” she asks, “What do you think? Do girls in short skirts deserve to be raped?”

Across the room, boys’ and girls’ hands shoot up.

Vaishali calls on a boy with bright, sparkling green eyes and a red shirt.

“Of course not,” he says, confidently. “Nothing a girl wears means she deserves to be raped.”

All the children’s hands drop once he finishes speaking. This is not a question that needs further debate.

“This is what I hope these children learn,” Vaishali says, smiling at her pre-teen student’s response. “I want boys and girls to know that being the victim of abuse is never their fault. And I want boys to learn not to abuse.”

Billie Loewen | Creative Lead

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The post Ending Domestic Violence, One Neighborhood at a Time appeared first on Holt International.