The Indian Ladies Association (ILA) is the oldest expat association in the GCC, and is renowned for its extensive community relief efforts in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Farah Baig speaks to ILA President for the year 2022, Shipra Dhir Passi, and is brought up to speed on the organisation’s activities.
Founded in 1956 by the Late Leela Jashanmal, ILA was formed with a group of proactive ladies who wished to serve society in as many ways possible. With the fitting motto ‘Service Before Self’, the non-profit organisation steadily implemented initiatives to positively impact various segments of society including under-privileged workers and special needs children. ILA has since grown to have 130 active members.
Sixty-six years down the line, the association is now being guided by Ms. Passi who is also a published author having been one of 36 authors to tell her story through the inspirational book She Dares. She brings with her invaluable experience and an even more inclusive approach to the association’s efforts.
“I am a qualified finance professional with 11 years of experience in my field, but decided to take a sabbatical to look after my family,” explains Ms. Passi. “For mothers, our life largely revolves around the needs of our children. That being said, just like most mothers, when I noticed my child becoming more independent, I realised that having a purpose of my own was a necessity.”
With an innate quality of supporting the downtrodden, Ms. Passi decided to participate in community groups to tackle causes. “I chose to work with under-privileged women and the Indian Community Relief Fund (ICRF) which reaches out to low-income workers,” she says.
ILA has several active initiatives including Worker’s Welfare, Women Empowerment, Speak Easy, the Youth Wing and so, in 2018 she became an ILA member. “ILA often pays visits to labour camps to distribute much-needed goods, hold medical camps and check on the welfare of the workers. Having worked closely with women in need, I believed that these efforts could be extended to women too,” she says.
Ms. Passi made the suggestion and they reached out to house help and other female workers in dire need. Having spearheaded the movement to reach out to underprivileged women, Ms. Passi was soon made the head of the Women Empowerment sub-committee formed in 2020. “We have been able to organise events which include them, and actively educate them on matters such as hygiene. These women are encouraged to reach out to us for their needs,” she explains.
While most people would assume that registered non-government organisation are funded by the government, this is not the case as charitable organisations such as ILA depend on the generosity of donors and fundraising events. “With the pandemic, we had no choice but to suspend fundraising events. However, this did not stop us from continuing lessons and activities online for the special needs children in the care of Sneha,” she says.
ILA organised a scaled-down version of their popular annual Dandiya event in 2021, and hope to return with a full-scale event in September. “We hope that the public, and sponsors, will support the event which is our most significant fundraiser. It is vital as we hope to reinstate in-person learning at Sneha to help the children and their families,” she says.
The goal for ILA in 2022 is to ‘Rediscover, Innovate and Grow’ – an initiative to actively conduct all activities following the challenges presented by COVID-19. “As the world begins to enjoy their usual routines, we hope that they will remember the needs of the disadvantaged segments of society and support charitable institutions so we may continue to help them through our work,” she concludes.
Residents wishing to make a donation to the association may reach out to the organisation on 17 245-750 for further information.
