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Help Laxmi Gautam to provide a home to the widows in Vrindavan

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For professor Dr Laxmi Gautam, a normal day begins in the alleys besides the ghats of the Yamuna. She walks the alleys with the fortitude that few can muster, looking for any dead bodies of the widows of Vrindavan with a simple resolution: providing them a dignified end.

Even the police of Vrindavan call for Lakshmi Gautam when they see an old woman on the streets or an unclaimed female body. She works for dignity and rights of widows in the birthplace of Lord Krishna — Vrindavan. These women have no place to go back to and nobody to call their own. These are women who have either been abandoned by their families or have come to Vrindavan for spiritual reasons. Though thousands of people visit Vrindavan’s temples every day, nobody bothers about these women.

“I am the daughter of Vrindavan. Since childhood, I have seen these women on the road, just sitting and waiting for their death. They had no place to go to or food to eat. They begged for two morsels of food. They were treated differently just because they were widows. I always wondered what sins they committed that they had to end their lives like this? After death, nobody cared to conduct their last rites. I then took it upon myself to try to improve their condition,” says Laxmi.

A young girl being brought up in the family of ‘teerth purohit’ (priest) in the lanes of Vrindavan always had queries whenever she saw women wearing white sarees with their heads shaven. “As my father was a religious person, I was curious about these widows having shaven heads, wearing white sarees and deprived of worldly pleasures. At the age of 8, I got the answers to my questions from a 70-year-old widow,” she recalls. “I lost my husband when I was your age, is what the woman replied when I asked her this question,” says Gautam. “This moved me and I started thinking of doing something for the widows. This brought a change in me but I continued with my studies and won gold medal in history from Agra University. I completed PhD in History and Hindi before joining the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Vrindavan, as associate professor,” she says.

Dr Gautam provides for countless abandoned widows; sometimes a warm meal, a blanket, medical needs, and also emotional care, through her NGO Kanak Dhara Foundation. She is taking overall care of around 35 widows in two small shelter homes. Without much financial help, Dr Gautam looks after the widows on her own.

Now Dr. Laxmi is looking for support to provide a safe and loving home to the many widows of Vrindavan. The current facilities are not adequate and Dr. Laxmi struggles with the expenses. With your help, she can continue her work and build a home with adequate facilities and large enough to house many more of these widows who are left to fend for themselves after their husbands are dead.

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29th June 2020

Dear Supporters,

Because of your kindness we were able to purchase an ambulance last year, and since then it has helped save so many lives. We are eternally grateful for your support, and strive each day to live up to our promises and your expectations.

Since our last update in October, we have expanded our reach to 12 other areas outside Vrindavan, and continue to help empower women of all ages, saving them from situations ranging from eve-teasing and harrassment, to abandonment in the case of physically challenged women and widows.

All through April and May, we also ran a Feeding program, where we fed more than 300 poor and hungry people every single day, whose lives were upended by COVID19 and the lockdown.

We are continuously thinking of ways to help more people, and would love to have your continued support. Please share our story and our efforts with your friends and family.

Regards,
Dr. Laxmi Gautam

8th October 2019

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your kind gesture and support.

We are glad to inform that an ambulance has been bought to carry out the ancillary services.Moreover land also has been bought to accomodate shelter for the elderly women.
Recently a Pregnant foreigner woman was found in Vrindavan and her delivery was successful.
Continue your support as every contribution matters to them.

Regards,
Dr. Laxmi Gautam

29th June 2019

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your kind gesture and support.

With the aim of fulfilling the continual and expanding food and shelter needs of elderly Matas in Vrindavan, a small piece of land is bought on partial deferred payment basis.

Seeking your continual support.