Ashraya-New York was founded to share important information about health and human rights, increasingly through film and the arts but also by sharing true stories and experiences. Sometimes we interview trail blazers, which is exciting. New York City is a powerhouse - for the arts, culture, business, you name it, it happens here at breakneck speed, 24/7. It is also the city with the most registered charities and non-profits in the world. We feature the innovative ways New Yorkers give back in the hope that you will get ideas and get inspired to give back to your community, wherever you live! It can be fun to go out and do some good!

Dr. Peter Piot, co-discoverer of the Ebola Virus and head of UNAIDS at the time Ashraya-New York was founded, gave an interview for the launch of this site. He was an important man who "gave" of his valuable time to us. There are so many ways to give, and we will always be grateful for his time. We did not waste it. In the interview Dr. Piot shared his views about risky behavior among young people especially. His interview will always be included on this web site, even though he has retired from UNAIDS, because what he said relates to more than just risk factors for AIDS - it encompasses risk for addiction and abuse as well.

Dr. Piot said something that really hit home when he was asked why young people take such risks:

"The young think they are invincible," was his reply.

A lot more awareness needs to be raised among a new generation that has no idea what happened in this city in the 1980s. HIV/AIDS is, in many ways, an entirely new crisis and early education about risk factors is critical. Risks are there every day. No one is immune to them, but some habits carry more risk than others, and we care about those most vulnerable to those risks. We hope to bring greater awareness of the negative forces and predators that come disguised in slick, smart packaging. We hope to help make you slicker and smarter than them. If you live in a country where the risks are even greater, especially for impoverished girls and women, there are many stories and reviews on this site that will plug you into what can be done to help change the status quo.

Poverty affects all aspects of "normal" life. It is sad how poverty raises the bar for abuse, addiction and disease. The issues we focus on include critical information that helps to preserve health - mental, physical and emotional health - when poverty is in the mix, with a strong commitment to those living with, or at risk for HIV/AIDS, abuse, and drug and alcohol addiction. Nothing beats a job or a skill that brings in money. There are stories about movers and shakers that help connect those at risk to skills that bring in pay checks if they never received an education. Amazingly, once they learn a skill, they pay for their own education while they work. It means a lot to get an education when you come from a family that was never able to afford it.

We will soon begin a new section on health and the environment - and eating healthier. Many of the photographs featured on this site celebrate Mother Nature. Without a healthy planet, and properly grown food we cannot be healthy. It is all connected. We are all connected. Wildlife habitats, and the quality of land, water, and air are being challenged everywhere as more people inhabit this planet. Helping to create parks and playgrounds is one of the greatest things you can do for your community. New York is not just traffic jams and honking horns and neon lights. These photographs show the calmer, greener beauty of Central Park - this city's "green lung." Communities across the world would benefit from more "green lungs."

Young energy and idealism are the lifeblood of healthy communities. The young represent the future. If you teach your children well, they can bring good things to this world. It is the greatest investment you can make. What the young learn now will stay with them forever. Learning can happen in fun ways - by watching films, going to art exhibits, or walking in the park. Kids love to learn.

Why are we called "Ashraya?" "Ashraya" means "shelter" or "sanctuary" in Sanksrit.This can mean a physical structure that offers safety from harmful forces, or it can mean an emotional, psycological and mental sanctuary, a place and precious time to re-group, read a review or story that helps make sense of an important issue. A place to become more aware, take a deep breath, trade in a negative past for a positive future, get inspired by some of the wonderful things people do for humanity. The more places there are to do this in any community, anywhere in the world, the stronger that community is likely to become.

Bono and supermodel Lia Kebede at Auction (RED) at Sothebys to benefit women and children with AIDS in Africa Photo ©Michele Leight

"Knowing" and not knowing take on new meaning in the context of HIV/AIDS, addiction and abuse. Parents and schools can be huge conductors of critical information to kids today. Children also inform each other at record speed, via technology. Getting important information to one kid that can inform many others can really pay off. Prevention - preventing addiction, infection, abuse - is becoming more critical because it is tough to reverse damage once it is done, and there is still no cure for HIV/AIDS - although the effort to find a cure is still strong. If children live in chaotic households where parents or caregivers are not equipped to be parents, or if they have no time to notice the company their children are keeping - dangerous company that can destroy their lifelong health and stability - the more likely it will impact on that child's ability to stay afloat. For some children, sadly, their home is the streets, like the two street children in Delhi in the photograph below. They were each other's family - best, best friends, they said. They belong to a begging syndicate, a real "Slumdog Millionaire" operation, where the thugs take all the money they get from passers by. Giving them food is a better idea than giving them money. They can eat the food. There are many organizations working to get them off the streets. They persist, even when it is challenging, because some of the children have only known the streets. We have street children, runaways, and thrownaways right here, in the wealthiest country in the world, but they cannot beg or hang out on the streets for very long before someone picks them up - usually people looking to use them to make money by pushing drugs or selling their services for sex. This is a worldwide phenomenon, and not confined to "developing nations."

How to prevent more kids falling into the hands of criminals is a challenge, but there are ways to do it. Employment, education and stability go hand in hand. Instability and hunger are forces that promote poverty. They help predators gain control over good people,f and profit off them. Predators are experts at preying on the vulnerable, the marginalized, the hungry. We have adults and children that go to bed hungry right here in America: check out www.feedingamerica.org/hunger. Predators prey on those without awareness about the forces that can really hurt them, damage them for life, or even cause their untimely death. Read "A Grandfather's Story" on this site. It is a heartbreaker. Often, linking people to anything that will earn them a decent living, fast, involves skill training. We do not believe that prostitution is a legitimate way to earn a living today because of the high risk of HIV/AIDS and abuse. There is hard evidence that thugs and criminals are moving into brothels - with alcohol and drugs - to get their slice of the huge profits generated by the sex industry. The commodities - the girls - are getting younger.

Sometimes young girls fall into prostitution because they think it is a good way to earn a living, but mostly because they do not have other options because they have no education, or a skill, or they are picked up by criminals and pimps when they run away. Everyone deserves a second chance. We all make mistakes. But life can shine again if we decide to let go of harmful forces, like addiction, a violent partner that harms us and our kids, or an abusive relationship - which includes pimps and drug pushers. It is critical not to deny abuse when it happens, and that means being aware of what "abuse" really means. It is not normal to be abused. It is not normal to be pimped out for sex. It is not normal for your life partner or husband to ask you to do that to make money.

As the stories and reviews on this site show, lifelong health can be affected by one poor choice, one bad decision, or doing nothing at all in the face of hard evidence. It matters whether it is our kids or someone elses' kids, whether it is the violation of an individuals rights, or a violation of human rights on a massive scale in a country far away. We can't fix everything, but we can be more aware.

There are ways we can help without leaving our office or home, but only if we are aware of what is really going on in our community and world. Collectively, we have enormous power. With technology on board, that power grows even more. We can help by buying products made by people trying to reclaim their lives; we can support oganic farmers in this country; we can invest in energy that is good for this planet. The list is endless once we know about the incredible things people are doing to improve our world. How we choose to spend our money, where we shop, what we choose to watch on TV and at the movies can help others.

We belive that those with the power to share important information have a responsibility to share it - whether it is through music like Bono, art like Damien HIrst, or films, photographs, testimonials, news reports, or eyewitness accounts of behaviors or practices that harm or deliberately victimize others. Words and images are powerful. If you can take photographs, volunteer, blog or write, share what you know. Share your contacts and connections if you know they can help an organization that is doing good work. That is a powerful way to "give." Use the incredible free tools at your disposal today - UTube, your cellphone or the internet. Connect to others. Act.Thousands of small actions add up to big improvements over the years and change takes time.

A few disturbing photographs inspired the founding of this web site. It is the absolute truth. The photographs were of a woman that was too poor to afford AIDS medications - and she died in a way no human being should die when the medications exist. Her suffering was inhumane and preventable. The photos were given to Michele Leight by her lifelong friend, Nafisa Ali Sodhi, whose roster of accomplishments include president of The Children's Film Society of India, a former Ms. India. a national swimming champion, and a well known Bollywood film star beloved by fans across her country, now a "senior actress" she says with a smile. That simple act of sharing photographs started something.

Most of us have the power to share information today. As the stories and reviews on this site show, "information sharing" works a special kind of magic in the age of cell phones, computers, the internet, e books, the arts and film. We can get words and images out fast, and share them faster that at any time in history. Parenting is much harder when both parents work. It is critical for parents to stay informed and connected about what is going on in their children's lifes, because of the kind of predators out there today.

Preventing harm is becoming more critical as increasingly addictive substances and dangerous criminals circulate around young people across the globe. We hope to help you recognize them, identify them, protect yourself and those you love against them. Here is what Cheryl, a Texas mother wrote on a blog related to the sad kidnapping and murder of the son of "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh, co-founder of The Center for Missing and Exploited Children:"

09:36 AM Dec 17 2008: " It does happen (kidnapping children) in a relatively small town as well, it just did the day before yesterday... or should I say almost did. A white woman tried to abduct a 10 year old from a grocery store but they wouldn't go with her. So she ran out the door. The cops are still looking for her. This is in a city of about 85,000... in East Texas... So it's all over and at any place. You have to keep them close no matter what you tell the kids, these people are just snatching them. I think this kid just dropped to the ground. Which is what I always told my kids to do and scream...."

In an email to Michele Leight Cheryl wrote:

"Dear Michele...I've always been completely honest with my children about what and who's out there in the world whether it scared them or not. That was absolutely the point. My children have had grown men drive up to them and their friends asking them if they wanted to help them find their lost puppies, and they told them to get lost or they'd call the cops. They've had them ask them if they wanted candy and they told them that I was just around the corner watching them and I would be there in just a second and I would kill them and make no mistake "I would have". I don't play when it comes to my kids. They are almost grown now. All of them are about to have birthdays, about to be 15, 16 and 17, my two youngest are girls and my son. No drug addicts, no pregnancies and all are going to graduate. All done with going through 2 divorces and a new marriage this year in March. It's been real rough. Not one cent in child support (well maybe two payments their entire lives). So I've done pretty good, we make it. I'm very tough on them. I don't look happy most of the time, but I am. I'm extremely proud of my kids and my family. I love them beyond words and would die for them....Since a 16 year old was kidnapped a few years ago after work from Walmart parking lot as she was trying to get into her car (which was videotaped) and then later found to be murdered, everyone has been more cautious where they are, where their children are, whose around and above all - who they let their children hang around - even if they like their friends - who's around their friends? We all want to know....We have the right to know. We are the parents. We have the right to know everything. Period. Thank you....Cheryl

This is a realistic description of what parents and kids are up against today, and what it takes to maintain the stability of a family, in the wealthiest country in the world. Imagine how much more dangerous it is in lawless communities, where corruption and vice are accepted as normal? Many thanks to Cheryl, a loving mom, for sharing this with us.

Access to life saving information, healthcare, education and due process - the right to a fair trial in a court of law - are human rights. Lawyers Collectives are proving successful in situations across the globe where exploited and abused individuals are too poor - or their family is too poor - to strike back at criminals that snatch their kids because they cannot afford legal fees. Many do not even know - they are not aware - that they have rights, because they have lived without them for centuries. If you are a lawyer and can give some percentage of your time pro bono - free - you can make a huge difference in peoples lives. Please read "Shame," about Muktar Mai's fight for justice, in film and the arts.

Individual and human rights are often taken for granted in a free society like ours - especially in New York - but in some nations, bucking the power elites comes at a high price, especially when thugs and warlords still rule, and rule brutally. Traffickers in drugs and humans are often in positions of power in remote communities. Trafficking in drugs attract the most heartless criminals, because of the profits in this trade. Recent reports from Mexico reveal that rival gangs are killing children to avenge each other. Children are now the victims in drug turf wars. Instead of always blaming criminals, users of drugs need to accept that they are complicit.Without the demand, the criminals would be out of work.The same goes for the sex industry. Being complicit means we are supporting these industries and trades, with all the horror, brutality and abuse tied into them.

In some nations, AIDS has left millions of children orphaned. Twelve year olds are responsible for the survival of younger siblings. Imagine that? Instead of going to school, they have to stay home and take care of kids. Please read about Auction RED, a fantastic project created by Bono and Bobby Shriver to help these endangered kids. As you will see, "helping" is getting innovative and exciting. You can help just by shopping! The IPod or computer (Dell) you choose can get meds to kids in Africa that prevent full blown AIDS. This is not charity, this is a business- like way to help others. Any way you choose to help matters makes a difference.

Increasingly there is a focus on helping people help themselves get out of poverty, through skill training and micro-loans. Everyone likes to feel a sense of accomplishment, no matter what their circumstances. Many poor people view education as their children's only hope of moving out of poverty. If she gets a micro-loan, a mom can start a business that pays school fees, and feed and house her kids. Millions across the globe long for normal family life, but poverty throws a spanner in the wheel.

Poverty is a scourge that spawns atrocities, cruelty, exploitation and abuse. Take poverty out of the equation, and half the battle is won. This is not easy, granted, but it can be done in "businesslike" and philanthropic ways. Like micro-finance, or through public-private or citizen-government partnerships. Whatever works to end the suffering, make the gardens and farms grow, pay the rent and get the kids into school, - where predators can't get their hands on them. There is no reason why, with all the advances we have made, so many people continue to live lives of horrible exploitation and suffering.

We hope cynics and doubters will come on board, and help change the world a little. Across the globe there are incredible human beings out there, visionaries, changing the status quo across the globe. The most creative minds always think of solutions to all kinds of problems. Negativity never built or created anything.

The founder of Ashraya-New York, Michele Leight, has witnessed the disparities between educated, financially stable women and girls, and those without security or even the most fundamental human rights, her entire life. We care as deeply about any boy or man that is violated or brought down by poverty and lack of education as well, but the global statistics on women and girls are impossible to ignore. In nations with a huge divide between rich and poor, gender inequalities impact especially harshly on poor and uneducated girls. This can result in child marriages, forced marriages, bartered brides - or the brothels, the lowest of the low - if the husband or family wants to unload a girl because she is too much of a liability and expensive to feed., or sell her.

There are many stories of injustice on this site, because the founder regularly travels back and forth between nations with very different attitudes to the "worth" of a female - especially if she is poor. It is difficult to accept that while one segment of the female population in the world has gained freedom, there remain millions of other girls and womens whose lives are no better than Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'urbevilles," or enslaved women that once picked cotton in America, or poor and uneducated women in wealthy nations in the past who were only deemed worthy of "working" in prostitution to earn a living to feed their kids. For these still enslaved women, change must come soon. It is so horribly unfair that 14 year old girls are forced to do this "work" in the 21st century, when there are other options they are not aware of. Their health is in constant danger, and many of them get HIV/AIDS. Non-consensual prostitution spawned by poverty is rampant across the globe.It is worse now than at any time in history.

Poverty, always poverty, is often at the center of atrocities and injustice. It is impossible to focus on the "three R's" with hunger pangs growling in our stomachs; it is impossible to battle any disease without treatment, let alone no roof or at least one square meal a day. Jobs and earning a living - in some way - are critical. We will feature innovators across the globe that are bringing new, exciting ideas to the table about turning poverty around. The poor want jobs, a small business, not hand-outs. Talk to them, anywhere in the world, and they will tell you that. Of course a hand-out is a great asset till the job or business is there. Everyone needs a helping hand sometime in their lives, but what they really want is the dignity of a job and being able to support loved ones.

Looking back over the last 50 years, it is amazing how many things have changed for the better. We are looking at the next 50 years... We never lose our sense of wonder at what is achieved in local communities, in courtrooms, at board meetings and in non-profit organizations every single day. We hope to inspire you by what you read on this web site.

Just think of those that have made the world safer, more lawful, and just - for us. It did not come easy. Some, like Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King gave their lives for it. But their dreams are alive today. There are other people out there today that are trying hard to raise the bar for the most fundmental human rights in exactly the same way, ordinary people, while they are hounded by weak leaders, criminals, thugs and those that are afraid of change because they know they will not be able to operate like feudal overlords as they have done for far too long. There are power elites with a vested interest in keeping people down, keeping them servile, unaware of their rights. Brutal regimes do whatever they can to block important information from reaching their citizens - because it empowers the oppressed. Freedom is a precious thing. Informing others about their rights is a great way to help humanity.

We hope you find information on this site that will help you negotiate a safer path in a world that is wonderful, but increasingly treacherous because of what people do not know - from lack of awareness. Today, thanks to the internet and other technologies - and human connectedness - it is easy even for us busy folks to participate in reversing or preventing harmful forces with the click of a mouse or a phone call. If you can donate a few dollars to a great cause, or shop for RED products in the stores, or "green" your home and put good wholesome organic food into the mouths of those you love, your contribution to society is meaningful.

Young activists and volunteers are the life blood of great societies. Once the participation and sharing begins, it is contagious. So much good came from the efforts of the volunteers featured on this site. We hope the stories you read here inspire you to support wonderful people and organizations in the United States and across the world, or start your own project. Please get involved. It works. There is a lot out there that needs to change.

Michele Leight, Founder and Director of Ashraya-New York, resides permanently in New York but spent her entire childhood in India, a country she deeply loves. New relationships in India and America are being forged in the hope of improving the lives of those most at risk because of poverty.

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi stands unobtrusively in New York City's Union Square, amidst the hustle and bustle of the world's most active - and amazing - metropolis. Gandhi said that poverty was the worst form of violence. Many of the reviews and stories on this site support that statement. Jobs, which come through education, opportunities and a healthy economy offer a lifeline to everyone, wherever they live in the world. Without legitimate jobs, the corrosive forces of society gain ground, consuming the innocent, the poor and the unaware.

As a confirmed New Yorker, Ms. Leight has chosen to include the youth, high risk groups and marginalized women of her home city in the advocacy of Ashraya-New York. She has witnessed the ravages of poverty since childhood; it exists everywhere, and impacts differently. Hunger, poverty and disease rob individuals of their dignity, no matter where they are from. They could be us.

Children from poor families end up in the sex or drug trade in a pattern of abuse that can be traced with chilling clarity from Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand and onward to other developing countries like India. American kids often sell drugs if they are poor. Sex with minors in developing nations should be the same criminal offence it is in the West - that means anyone under the age of 18. Sadly, far too many children are still inducted into the sex industry because the family is starving or poor. Education, jobs, micro loans, all help block the predators from descending like vultures on the poor.

In the West it is considered a moral obligation to protect the young - the most vulnerable in society - with information about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. While promiscuity is certainly not encouraged or condoned, children learn by 7th or 8th grade that they must either abstain from sex till marriage or a long-term relationship, or they are taught the essential precautions if or when they become sexually active. While many parents believe that sex education should not be taught in a school setting, others are grateful that their kids understand the risks because they have been educated about them by trained healthcare professionals. Families are entitled to their personal beliefs, whatever they are, but based on all the risks and predators out there today, we believe it is critical to inform kids in all communities, and countries,as early as possible about addiction, drugs and alcohol, and other dangerous diseases they can get if they take risks with casual sex. Kids must know the real facts, and the potential consquences of risky behavior. It is a human right.

We vaccinate our children against measels, mumps and rubella - known lethal viruses - yet as parents and caregivers we pull back from discussing HIV/AIDS or STDS (sexually transmitted diseases) because it involves the subject of sexual intercourse. Like it or not, across the world, children are far more sexually aware at a younger age than at any time in history. To be fair to them, wherever they live, they need accurate information.

Nafisa Ali Sodhi is pictured here with Dr. Peter Piot, who visited Ashraya Holistic Care Home in New Delhi in 2003, (please read the story on this site). We thank Dr. Piot and Nafisa Ali Sodhi for the wonderful interview he gave for the launch of this website.Dr. Peter Piot retired as head of UNAIDS, as the first director of UNAIDS since its creation.

It was an great honor to interview Dr. Peter Piot for the launch of this site in New York. Dr. Piot was Executive Director, UNAIDS, and Assistant Secretary General of the UN at the time of the interview. He is also the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus. You can read the full interview on this site, whch focused on young people and their attitude towards risk taking - and diseases. These photographs were taken when he visited India to address the first National Convention of Elected Representatives on HIV/AIDS on July 26, 2003.

The content of the website "www.Ashraya-ny.org" has been compiled and written by Michele Leight, Founding Director, Ashraya-New York, with invaluable assistance from James Leight, Head of "Young Friends of Ashraya-New York." (jll1085@aol.com).

Michele Leight/Ashraya-New York retains the copyright of all stories, reports, photographs and information on this website compiled by her, which may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission.

Please email Michele Leight at dzinerml@aol.com if you have questions, suggestions or something to share with us.

For general enquiries email Ashraya-New York at harvestml7@aol.com. We really look forward to hearing from you!

James Leight, his friends and young people everywhere who are the ongoing inspiration for this site. The torch must be passed as they say. We give heartfelt thanks to committed volunteers and interns, and we are deeply grateful for the support of so many wonderful individuals, businesses, organizations and entities with whom we interact and network.

My mother, who, by example, taught me not to walk away from inhumanity. My father, who says health and happiness are the most important things in life. My son James for his stabilizing influence, his boundless optimism and faith in humanity - his awesome sense of humor, and for filling my life with beautiful young people that give me hope for a brighter future, because of they way they think, live in the moment, love and enjoy life.

Carter B. Horsley, a tower of strength, powerhouse, and as an invaluable support with his expertise, advice and vision of the World Wide Web as a connector and educator of people around the world.

Nafisa Ali Sodhi for her inspiration and friendship.

Ashraya-New York's friends and supporters in New York, the United States and India.

And to New York City, action packed, with its enormous heart, and the most opinionated, wonderful people on the planet.