Paripurnata
Shadhika's first project was to support Paripurnata, a pioneer organization in Calcutta, whose objective is to rehabilitate "non-criminal insane" women from Calcutta prisons and mental hospitals, closely matching Shadhika's mission. Shadhika's initial grant to Paripurnata was used to renovate an old building and launch a half-way-home.
Without Paripurnata some of these women might have spent all or most of their lives in prison, as their own families generally could or would not accept them back because of a strong stigma attached to mental illness and imprisonment.
Paripurnata is a very small facility, with room for only nine women. As of 2004, 88 of the more than 100 women who have been through its programs were placed in jobs or were guided back to their own families. The balance is still hospitalized. Most past residents are still connected to Paripurnata. Caseworkers continue arranging for medication, providing counseling, or other assistance, as needed.
Thankfully the law that allowed the incarceration of non-criminal women at the whim of a hostile family has since been turned over, and Paripurnata now draws its residents primarily from among mentally ill women who are marginally functional but capable of rehabilitation.
Dr. Joyce Siromoni (a physician by training) has been running Paripurnata as a full-time Honorary Secretary since its inception. Shadhika continues to support Paripurnata's programs, the latest being the building of a new facility with a much larger capacity, scheduled to be completed in 2005.