SFU Health Sciences Takes India! From Amritsar to Sonagachi

In the summer of 2011, four SFU Health Sciences Co-op students, Martyna, Silvia, Lindsay and Christine went on an INCREDIBLE 4-month work term to India.  Working with Destiny Reflection, an organization whose goal is to empower female victims of human trafficking to become self-sufficient through dignified employment.  Their blog series, SFU Health Sciences Takes India!, captures some of the experiences on their life changing journey.

Since I last wrote, we have seen and experienced many amazing things.  Since a picture says a 1,000 words, I'll let the pictures do the storytelling:

 The Victoria Memorial                                       The Village of Raghurajpur

The Taj Mahal              The Golden Temple in Amritsar          Jaipur

And that only scratches the surface of the awesome things we have been so blessed to experience in India!

On Friday we went to visit Freeset, which is another organization like Destiny Reflection. it is located in Sonagachi - Kolkata's largest red-light district - and employs 180 women who were previously sexually exploited.  They specialize in making t-shirts and jute bags.  It was incredible being there!  They grew from an organization of 20 women to 180 women in just 10 years, and it really showed me the potential that Destiny Reflection has to grow!  WIth approximately 9,000 women working in Sonagachi, there is a lot of work still to be done!

Beyond the Article

• Learn more about the Destiny Foundation.
• What is Destiny Reflections?
• Learn how these students continued to help when they returned home.
• Find out more about the opportunities avalible through International Co-op.
• Read about other International Co-op experiences.