BENGALURU: With an aim to provide support and help to women and children who are victims of violence, citizen group Whitefield Rising will be starting a centre called Bembala, meaning support.
Kiran Bhatia, who is the founder director of Sanjvini, one of India's first crisis intervention centre in Delhi, says, "There is a gap in services for survivors of violence, especially women and children, in Bengaluru in general, and Whitefield specifically. We are in the process of creating Bembala, a first contact emotional support centre for victims. It will be functional and running by the end of this year"
One of their goals is to create a referral directory of the services available to survivors in the city that could include emotional support and help with medical and legal services. "A survivor can walk in and speak to our trained volunteers who will be listen to them with empathy and provide emotional support. Another set of volunteers will be trained in helping people reach out to other agencies including shelters, legal service providers and counsellors.
They will be able to use our referral directory," says Kiran, adding, "If a victim's life is in danger, they might need police intervention. If they are facing domestic violence, they may need medical intervention and others may need long term counselling to help deal with the issues."Having been in the field for 40 years, she says people, rich or poor, are not aware of the various resources that exist and whom to reach out.
"The whole process can be daunting for anyone. We are working to connect with the police, hospitals, shelters and lawyers to understand the rules in Karnataka. At this stage, we are also looking for volunteers," adds the social worker.
The team recently met Deputy Commissioner of Police Abdul Ahad, Whitefield division, to understand how the police can be of help. On September 8, they are conducting an open day to explain their vision and steps and to reach out to potential volunteers.
The volunteers will be trained in active listening and emotional support by professional counsellors. The second group of volunteers will be trained about legal resources with the help of experts in the field.
The Open Day calling out for volunteers will take place on September 8, 10 am to 12 pm at K-Start, 2nd floor, Ascendas Square Park Mall, Whitefield