SEWING TO PROSPER

The basic and advanced fashion design classes started in May with 33 women from the Community Project. Jan Shikshan Sansthan (an offshoot of the government’s Human Resource Development Department) is working together with Asha-Kiran by providing sewing machines and a professional teacher.

The main idea behind the training is to manufacture cloth pouches and thus create business opportunities for the women. As they undergo the training, they will become more skilled at cutting, stitching, making combinations, making the best use of the fabric, and creating quality pouches.

For marketing purposes we have a group of six volunteers from Symbiosis International University and Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) who are helping us to set up the supply chain, all the way from finding a source of the raw material, to whom to contact once the product is ready. All the volunteers are very good at managing databases, preparing proposals, setting up meetings with buyers and suppliers, and promoting this business on social networking sites.

LET’S SUPPORT THEIR TRAINING AND FINANCIAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY

EDUCATING AND RE-EDUCATING

Child marriage is commonplace in India, where more than one third of all the child brides in the world live. According to UNICEF, nearly half of the girls are married by 18 years of age, and 18% are married by the time they are 15. For the most part, girls are married off without their consent Indian law has made child marriage illegal, but it is still widely practiced.

Action for the Rights of Children (ARC) and Asha-Kiran came together to organize a two-day workshop where the grass root level workforce of the organization worked with youngsters from our community. Various tasks were given to them to perform in groups as a way to raise awareness about the damage that marriage can cause before a person is physically, emotionally and psychologically mature.

The minors also received information on who to consult and go to regarding cases of child marriage. The participants were asked to spread the newly acquired information among their respective families and community.

EDUCATION IS KEY TO PROGRESS – HELP US TO INFORM

JUNE 12TH: MILLIONS OF CHILDREN STILL WORKING

Just as India has the highest number of children in the world, its number of working children is equally high - around 12.6 million, according to government figures. The Right to Education Act aims to ensure free and compulsory education to all children up to 14, yet children are found toiling as semi-slaves in every imaginable and unimaginable place.

Child labor robs children their childhood and their chance to grow in a healthy and wholesome atmosphere. Not only is their present in danger, but also their future and their offspring’s future, as the cycle of ignorance-poverty is perpetuated by their lack of education or training.

The fight against child labor needs to be long and sustained, and has to address all strata of society. Mindsets must be changed universally so that something commonplace can be seen as an aberrant practice by the same eyes that now consider it ‘normal’.

Let us, together, help to open these children’s and their parents’ eyes to other possibilities – to another way of living.

VIOLATED AND MURDERED

Around a thousand dalit women, belonging to the lowest rung in the caste system in India, are raped each year. Their status as 'untouchables' puts them at the base of the social pyramid, where their future is practically marked from birth - a bleak future indeed.

A police officer figures among those arrested in relation to the recent gang rape of two teenagers who were later hung from a tree. Despite tougher laws, rapes continue to occur. Unfortunately, implementation of the laws can be severely hampered by the caste mindset. The father of one of the girls told the local media that when he went to the authorities, they made fun of him for being a dalit.

The activists claim that rape and murder do not get wide media coverage when the victim is an 'untouchable'. In addition, "Violence, or its threat, makes girls drop out of school and women stop going to work. This vicious cycle keeps women and girls poor and vulnerable," according to the program director and Action Aid policy in India.

An important part of Asha-Kiran’s work is to educate and re-educate families on values such as gender equality. Without this education, dalits and other disadvantaged social groups will continue to be the target of harassment and violence, and their girls and women, the most vulnerable among the vulnerable. With your solidarity, we can continue to 'open their eyes' and provide the means for their hopes to have a visible effect in their lives.

JOIN US IN THIS PRESSING TASK

Sources: elmundo.es / elpais.com