Oota is a project of the Friends of Baale Mane Gopalapura, a UK registered charity founded to provide funds and support to the Baale Mane Girl's Home in Bangalore, South India.

The Baale Mane is a home for up to 50 girls near Hesaraghatta, just outside Bangalore. We provide long-term and holistic care for girls who have been orphaned, abandoned or subject to violence, abuse, neglect or extreme poverty. We have a strong focus on education; the girls all attend local schools, and after PUC level, depending on their ability and interest, they go on to college or take vocational training courses and begin working.

We have a unique care-planning system at Baale Mane, aiming to resource the girls with the necessary life skills for their future. We also have a strong focus on the arts, regularly providing opportunities for craft, dance and other cultural activities. Our home is a happy, healthy space where freedom of expression and individuality is encouraged, ensuring that the girls can thrive as much as is possible.

Ultimately, we want to ensure the long-term wellbeing of girls and these young women by enabling them to make their own choices, so they can self-determine their own journeys towards an independent and fulfilling life.

We hope that, in the long run, young women who have been a part of the Baale Mane family will have broken the cycle of poverty/discrimination or circumstance that they faced in their early years of life. We believe such able women will themselves drive change in their communities in the future

Over 100 girls have now passed through the Baale Mane home, and now lead independent lives working or with young families.

Find out more about Baale Mane on our website by clicking here, or look at our Instagram feed below.