The Rainbow Home of the Seven Sisters

The Rainbow Home of the Seven Sisters

Rainbow Home of Seven Sisters give shelter to transgender persons and survivors of human trafficking who are thrown out of their homes and society, give psychological support and educate them with life skills and soft skills in order to make them self- sufficient for their future life in the society as well as to prevent human trafficking and prevent environmental destruction through awareness and other activities that will bring sustainable development both in human and nature.

http://rainbow7sisters.in
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Sister Prema Chowallur belongs to the Catholic order known as Sisters of the Cross. She conceptualized, organized, and set up on July 2, 2021, The Rainbow Home of Seven Sisters (RHoSS), a TRUST registered (no. 2228) in Northeast India to serve members of the Hijra/Kinnar community, as well as their daughters and sons. RHoSS specifically strives to protect the transgender women and children, and the non-transgender children of transgender women. In particular, RHoSS offers shelter and guidance to accommodate these vulnerable women and children who either have survived or otherwise would fall victims of human trafficking. RHoSS shields the children of its community by using the available child protection legislation to gain protective custody over them, which enables these children to pursue higher education after RHoSS places them in school, “instead of leaving them on the platforms of railway stations,” as Sister Prema explains.

Sister Prema did the footwork to gain the trust and consent of the principalities and facilitated the collection of funding from the benefactors. It took some years to get the Archdiocese of Guwahati and local government on board and she lauds their cooperation.
As Sister Prema reports to AsiaNews, her work promotes the welfare of the LGBTQ community by providing a home for the homeless Trans people. This work is essential, she believes, because “They are ridiculed and humiliated, relegated on the margins of cities, forced into prostitution. Our goal is to remove them from the backyards of skyscrapers and from slums and restore their dignity.”

Many homeless trans people come only for short stays but occasionally there is one or two who will stay a bit longer. While staying at the shelter, the residents give back to the land and to their new community by participating in the care and protection of Mother Earth. Thus, RHoSS is caring for hijra, children, and the earth - all the three voiceless sections of the society. Sister Prema hopes that her work with RHoSS will expand because it helps society to change its values for in her view, “Building skyscrapers, large malls or smart cities will not bring any glory or development until we agree to treat every person with humanity and love, beyond any gender distinction.