The Hope Project

The Hope Project was founded by Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Khan in 1975. Pir Vilayat was a child when his father Hazrat Inayat Khan passed away in Delhi. When young Pir Vilayat visited his father’s tomb and saw poverty all around, he promised to himself that he would do something for these people. He returned with his father’s vision of Love, Beauty and Harmony and conceived the idea of a program which would enable the poor to help themselves. Guided by the spiritual ideals of Hazrat Inayat Khan, the Hope Project is driven by the spirit of service to humanity and respect for all religions. It strives to provide people, especially the poor and vulnerable, with opportunities and resources, so that they can realize their hidden potential and determine their own future.

The Hope Project is located in the historical Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin, a 12th century village that grew around the shrine of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and was engulfed over the centuries by the city of Delhi. The project began as a modest program focused on serving milk to the poor women and malnourished children living in the park and inside monuments. Over the years it has widened its horizons, both in terms of geographical coverage and the number of programs, thereby evolving into a multifaceted organization. The Hope Project currently runs community health centers, a crèche, non-formal schools, a center for guidance and counseling, youth forums, vocational training centers, a thrift and credit program, and a women’s micro enterprise unit, besides a wide range of outreach activities.

The Basti area is a historic and well-known Sufi destination. Its many shrines, mosques, temples, and tombs are tourist attractions. It also draws destitute people, alms seekers, and the homeless. Many homeless people, abandoned elders, and poor families stay in the monuments and shrines and live off food offered by visitors. The area also has slum clusters where the civic facilities are low and living conditions are unhygienic. These adverse socio-economic conditions affect the children, women and youth the most. It is not uncommon to find non-school-going children, school dropouts, unemployed young people, and people lacking the skills needed to make a living. Girls are often married at a young age, leading to poor maternal health. A low literacy level in many families leads to low-income jobs, which means that the children of these families do not obtain a good education, proper nutrition, or recreational opportunities. Unable to compete for better jobs, young people take up odd jobs with little remuneration. The Hope Project has been serving this segment of the population. In most of the cases women are homeless, deserted, single parents. All the main programs of education, health and livelihood have developed special features to address the needs of these groups. The programs have expanded to a number of slums in Delhi and to selected villages in Jammu and Kashmir. The main concentration remains in the Nizamuddin Basti and surrounding neighborhood, with the objectives of changing lives of the poor people living there.

The Hope Project has never been driven by the agenda of the donors, but rather by the needs of the beneficiaries and the community they belong to.

DONATIONS IN USA

Cheques to be made to The Hope Project P.O. Box 657, New Lebanon, NY 12125, USA

DONATIONS IN GERMANY & EUROPE

Voksbank Bielefeld-Guetersloh e.G., IBAN DE25478601251444730500, BIC GENODEM1GTL

Webpage: http://www.hopeprojectindia.in