The ‘Self’: Unleash the superwoman within

“The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is a perturbing truth that a lot of women in our country feel afraid when walking the streets alone at night or even during the day. Every day, in the newspapers, we come across reports of crimes against women-sexual harassment, assault, molestation, rape. It is certainly important for the government & the authorities to take measures to prevent such incidents, but, at the same time, women need to be self-reliant to rise to the occasion & take care of themselves.

The weaker sex. Damsels in distress. Women across the world are considered as fragile creatures who cannot protect themselves. So, it is high time that they defy all the odds and prove their mettle.

Self defense-learning to fend off an attacker can not only help women have peace of mind when walking alone, but also boost their confidence, independence and instill in them a sense of accomplishment.

In Dec 2014, Colorss Foundation had launched its Quick Self-Defense Application that teaches women invaluable skills to defend themselves and their loved ones. With the help of this application, women and girls will be able to learn and practice self-defense.

A new version of this application will provide one with language options (yes, now you can choose from 19 available languages- Japanese, Nepali , Hindi , Bengali , Assamese , Marathi , Gujarati , Kannada , Malayalam , Oriya , Tamil , Urdu , Punjabi , Russian , Telugu , Chinese , Portuguese , Arabic , Spanish!) which will help reach more women and children.

Though Colorss Foundation is going forward with the Android version of this App, we hope to launch an ioS version soon.

This is a shout-out to all the women across the country & beyond:

You can beat the world. You can win any battle. You can move mountains. You can break rocks. Your body is more capable than you think & your resolve is stronger than you believe.

Download this app from the Google Play Store and keep yourself updated : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.colorssfoundation.colorss&hl=en

Remember-if you have been knocked down, come back swinging!

-Sagarica Brahma

Mission 1000 is 2016 finalist at Project Inspire

Mission 1000 is 2016 finalist at Project Inspire the multi-award-winning initiative presents 18-35-year-olds worldwide with an opportunity to win a US$25,000 grant to assist an existing organisation which supports women and girls in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East or Africa.

Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World is a joint initiative from the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard, to help young change-makers create a better world for women and girls in Asia and the Pacific.

Launched in 2011, to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and the 25th anniversary of MasterCard Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, Project Inspire presents 18-35 year olds with a five-minute platform to pitch their inspired idea, for the chance to win a US$25,000 grant. Today, Project Inspire is a multi-award winning initiative, and one of the most high profile CSR programs in the Asia Pacific region.

Project Inspire 2016 will take on the theme of ‘Empowering Women Through Safety and Security’. Applicants will be asked to demonstrate how their ideas harness safety and security concepts to empower women throughout Asia and the Pacific.

Mission 1000 is 2016 Finalist at Project Inspire. Our project is among the 10 top problem solvers.

Established in 2014, Mission 1000 is a project that empowers women by aiming to teach self-defense skills to 1000 young girls, at no cost to them, every financial year. We are now holding workshops, which are led by the founder Anand Koti. Every workshop is now able to teach 50 young girls. Koti, who has a 2 black dan belt in Karate and a green belt in Kobudo, trains these girls to kick, punch and block assaults from sexual attackers. He also teaches them to meditate and how to develop a calmer and more focused disposition.

Learning self-defense skills at a young age gives these girls the confidence they need to interact in India’s society at a later age. Self-defense skills will open up avenues of self-development by providing India’s women with a safety net to make crucial life decisions.

Equipped with the knowledge to protect themselves, young girls will be more likely to consider studying independently in India’s cities or to set up a business that requires them to venture beyond their comfort zone. Girls that have attended these workshops immediately demonstrate greater self-confidence and have also been found to spread this knowledge to their own female network of family and friends. By teaching a young girl how to defend herself, Mission 1000 will be protecting her larger female network.

By equipping each child with self-defense skills, Mission 1000 hopes to tackle the sexual abuse, which include harassment, assault and rape, against women in India. As Mission 1000 believes in providing free-of-charge self-defense workshops, this programme largely relies on donated funds. 

Mission 1000 is focusing its efforts on Mahadji Shinde High School in Pune, where almost 300 girls have learnt self-defense skills. These Mission 1000 workshops target batches of 50-60 female students from the 8^th to 11^th grade. Taught by the founder of Colorss Foundation himself, Anand Koti, the students have been learning several skills on how to punch, kick and block assaults. Each child has also left each session with a boost in her stamina, self-esteem and confidence. 

Mission 1000 makes a difference to the lives of these young women. Those who have completed the Mission 1000 workshops express gratitude in learning self-defense. Some have even taught these skills to their own family members. The daily fear of being harassed is now a thing of the past for many of these young women, who are now more confident in interacting with society. 

Please help us protect these young women by helping us sustain these Mission 1000 workshops. Be part of the Mission 1000 movement by reaching out to us at emailcolorss@gmail.com or visit our website to give securely at http://colorss.org/donate/. 

By Asyura Salleh

Mission 1000 is 2016 semi-finalist at Project Inspire

Mission 1000 is 2016 semi-finalist at Project Inspire the multi-award-winning initiative presents 18-35-year-olds worldwide with an opportunity to win a US$25,000 grant to assist an existing organisation which supports women and girls in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East or Africa.

Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World is a joint initiative from the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard, to help young change-makers create a better world for women and girls in Asia and the Pacific.

Launched in 2011, to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and the 25th anniversary of MasterCard Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, Project Inspire presents 18-35 year olds with a five-minute platform to pitch their inspired idea, for the chance to win a US$25,000 grant. Today, Project Inspire is a multi-award winning initiative, and one of the most high profile CSR programs in the Asia Pacific region.

Project Inspire 2016 will take on the theme of ‘Empowering Women Through Safety and Security’. Applicants will be asked to demonstrate how their ideas harness safety and security concepts to empower women throughout Asia and the Pacific.

Up to 20 top problem solvers will be picked to progress to a crowdfunding stage of the competition as semi-finalists, where they stand the chance to secure additional funding and a wild-card ticket to Singapore as a finalist.

Mission 1000 is 2016 semi-finalist at Project Inspire. Our project is among the 20 top problem solvers.

Established in 2014, Mission 1000 is a project that empowers women by aiming to teach self-defense skills to 1000 young girls, at no cost to them, every financial year. We are now holding workshops, which are led by the founder Anand Koti. Every workshop is now able to teach 50 young girls. Koti, who has a 2 black dan belt in Karate and a green belt in Kobudo, trains these girls to kick, punch and block assaults from sexual attackers. He also teaches them to meditate and how to develop a calmer and more focused disposition.

Learning self-defense skills at a young age gives these girls the confidence they need to interact in India’s society at a later age. Self-defense skills will open up avenues of self-development by providing India’s women with a safety net to make crucial life decisions.

Equipped with the knowledge to protect themselves, young girls will be more likely to consider studying independently in India’s cities or to set up a business that requires them to venture beyond their comfort zone. Girls that have attended these workshops immediately demonstrate greater self-confidence and have also been found to spread this knowledge to their own female network of family and friends. By teaching a young girl how to defend herself, Mission 1000 will be protecting her larger female network.

By equipping each child with self-defense skills, Mission 1000 hopes to tackle the sexual abuse, which include harassment, assault and rape, against women in India. As Mission 1000 believes in providing free-of-charge self-defense workshops, this programme largely relies on donated funds. 

Mission 1000 is focusing its efforts on Mahadji Shinde High School in Pune, where almost 300 girls have learnt self-defense skills. These Mission 1000 workshops target batches of 50-60 female students from the 8^th to 11^th grade. Taught by the founder of Colorss Foundation himself, Anand Koti, the students have been learning several skills on how to punch, kick and block assaults. Each child has also left each session with a boost in her stamina, self-esteem and confidence. 

Mission 1000 makes a difference to the lives of these young women. Those who have completed the Mission 1000 workshops express gratitude in learning self-defense. Some have even taught these skills to their own family members. The daily fear of being harassed is now a thing of the past for many of these young women, who are now more confident in interacting with society. 

Please help us protect these young women by helping us sustain these Mission 1000 workshops. Be part of the Mission 1000 movement by reaching out to us at emailcolorss@gmail.com or visit our website to give securely at http://colorss.org/donate/. 

By Asyura Salleh

Reaching out: There’s a lot you can do : Colorss Foundation

A 70-year old nun gets raped. A six-year old girl gets sexually assaulted with an iron rod. Not a day passes when unspeakable crimes against women are not reported from the bustling cities and villages. It is agonizing to acknowledge the fact that a country which talks of empowering women happens to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for women.

In India, a woman is reportedly raped every 15 minutes. Many cases go unreported due to fear of social stigma and unawareness of rights. There are also countless cases of street harassment, acid attacks, dowry deaths, domestic violence and molestation-some of these are so common that we are almost indifferent to them. Indian women are not safe by any means. Sexual violence is a threat that looms large for transgressions ranging from daring to be out at night to having the audacity to question a social evil.

Colorss Foundation, through its project ‘Mission 1000’, is intent on making a difference and doing its bit to provide a long term-solution to these issues.

Mission 1000’s aim is to transform the lives of at least 1000 under-privileged women and children every year by equipping each child/woman with self-defence skills. As Mission 1000 believes in providing free-of-charge self-defence workshops, this programme largely relies on donated funds and volunteers who do not hesitate to invest their valuable time and effort to bring about a change in how the society views women.

At present, Colorss Foundation is on the look-out for females with an exposure to athletics, yoga, dance and/or martial arts (preferable) located in Pune, who are willing to step up to the task of volunteering their time and energy into training women and changing their image from ‘defenceless entities to be objectified in every walk of life’ to independent people who are no longer ‘the weaker sex’-physically, mentally or emotionally.

So we urge you to step forward and lead the way. You are more powerful than you know. You can win any battle. You can move mountains. You can break rocks. Do it for your pride, for the pride of women across the world, for your country. Do it because you can and because, your countrywomen need you now, more than ever! Be a part of this movement by reaching out to us at contact@colorss.org 

For Love,

-Sagarica Brahma