Rangila Coordinators Raise Money to Combat Sex Trafficking

Rangila 2018: Once upon a Time, the largest cultural showcase on Georgetown’s campus, aims to bring philanthropy to the forefront this year. Every year, Rangila supports an organization and donates all profits to it. This year, Rangila is supporting Prerana, an organization that works to end intergenerational prostitution and protect women and children from the threat of human trafficking. The organization has a three-tiered approach to dealing with the issue: night-care shelters, education support, and institutional placement. This approach has been deemed the most effective, was presented to the UN General Assembly, and has been successfully replicated in other parts of India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The board members of the South Asian Society, Rangila’s host, hope that the showcase will not only “raise money for a worthy cause but also ignite passion and empower board members, the dancers, and the larger Georgetown community to work toward prosocial change.”

To ensure that all Rangila participants understand the cause they are supporting, Rangila coordinators prepared educational materials about sex trafficking that connected its causes and solutions to tangible action that can be taken by Georgetown students. Each dance group is required to participate in a philanthropy workshop during practice. All profits from Rangila will be donated to Prerana for funding Naunihal, a children’s home for female victims of violence and abuse. The collected money will cover residential, educational, and medical costs of 40 girls, support vocational training, and facilitate the reintegration of the girls back into their families, if possible. Rangila coordinators want to follow up with the organization annually to receive yearly reports on the use of the Rangila donations. Neehar Mahidadia, choreographer for the folk dance, said, “Rangila has done an amazing job of promoting philanthropy throughout the Georgetown community, whether it be through co-hosting events with nearby food vendors or promoting flower sales for our wonderful dancers. The philanthropy board has put in a lot of hard work this semester, and it has been a huge success.”

Other philanthropic initiatives Rangila executed throughout the semester include partnering with organizations on campus, including Health Education Services and Sexual Assault Peer Educators (SAPE), to increase impact. Additionally, the South Asian Society organized a South Asian Food Fair, had multiple educational events like chai chats and training workshops, and wrote letters to friends and families. Before the actual showcase on November 16, there will also be flower sales to support the dancers. Sheela Ranganathan, a Rangila co-coordinator along with Ravisa Kalsi, said, “as I am a senior, this Rangila is extremely bittersweet, as this event has been the most important one to me at Georgetown every year. I am so excited to see the culmination of hours and hours of hard work and dedication. More importantly, there is an indescribable magical feeling that begins at the start of dress rehearsal, and lasts through Thanksgiving break- a feeling of community, happiness, pride, humility, wonder—that is innate and unique to Rangila, and I can’t wait for it to take over campus yet again.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article listed Sheela Ranganathan as the Rangila Coordinator. She is a co-coordinator along with Ravisa Kalsi.