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Members of the SUVAS artisan community in Surendranagar, a village in Gujarat, India, have a beautiful skill — the ability to create unique textiles and garments. Sadly, they are too far from nearby cities to know which designs are in style and they have no way to sell their goods there. The community relies on sales of the textiles in order to support their families and send their children to school. Life is very difficult for this community because of their extreme remoteness and minimal income.

Until recently, community members took loans from loan sharks so that they could travel to nearby cities and sell their goods. Even though the sharks charged these artisans high interest rates, the artisans simply had no choice. Many of them are now in a worse financial state as they repay those loans.

Your donation will help the families in the village get training to design and create textiles that they can sell online. All funds will go back to the artisans.

Thank you all for your donation! Your generosity will help train poor village farmers to learn how to sell their embroidered textiles. Members of the Tangaliya Artisans Federation in Surendranagar, a village in the Indian state of Gujarat, have come together to secure their cultural heritage — this craft and skill is known to only a few. The poor farmers use cotton and silks to weave and embroider fine textiles. Unfortunately, the remoteness of their village impedes the distribution of their goods and they dont know what people outside their village would buy because they have no exposure to design trends. Their goods would be sought after for gifts during weddings and religious festivals, but these obstacles stand in their way.

These artisans have very little opportunity to make money and many of their children cannot go to school. Money is direly needed for their community to survive. Shanti has partnered with these artisans to provide one-to-one training on new designs and ways to sell their goods in the city and online.

Your donation will help Induben, Jagdishbhai and his team receive training, learn new designs and sell their goods online and in the nearby cities.

The SUVAS community of poor farmers in Surendranagar, a village in Gujarat, India, have come together to improve their livelihoods by developing their textile and garments. At the moment they have little access to buyers, and because they are so poor, they cannot travel to the city to sell their goods. Lack of income makes it difficult for them to pay for their medications, food and general living.

Shanti has partnered with SUVAS in order to help the farmers receive training for the design of sellable textiles and garments. Once the quality of goods is checked, we will help them sell their goods online and all proceeds will go back to them.

Your donation, MSAF, Shari, Sri, and Digvijay, gives them a chance to raise their entire community out of poverty in a sustainable way. This will be done in such a way that they maintain their dignity and develop a feeling of ownership and well-being.

These ladies live in the remote outskirts of Vatva, a slum in Ahmedabad, India. They lost everything in 2002 when riots resulted in devastating fires. Due to their strict culture, many were not allowed to venture out into the city to find work — they have little to no skills to provide for their family and feel helpless. It was unanimously agreed among the federation of women that a sewing school in their community center would provide them with a safe place to work, train and learn to sew and make money by selling their goods.

Your donation helps provide these women with the training they need and Shanti will provide them with an online platform to sell their goods.

The women in Vatva, Ahmedabad are some of the poorest women in the Indian state of Gujarat. They have no access to drinking water and were victims of riots in 2002. Aside from causing them emotional trauma, these riots took away all of their small savings. In order to provide for their families and access clean drinking water, these women want to learn how to sew. Sewing skills and access to fabrics, threads and sewing machines will give them a platform to make money and become self sustainable.

Because their families cannot access clean drinking water, they often fall sick. Many of their children are victims of dengue fever and dehydration. Doctors are located far away, which adds another expense to health center visits. Even if these women get access to funds, they will eventually run out and the community will still lack access to clean water. Your donation will give them a sustainable job that will allow them to build their businesses, which in turn will provide enough income that they can develop access to clean water nearby.

The poor community of women in Vatva, a slum in Ahmedabad, India, are mostly muslim. The rest are Rabaries, Waghris, Dalits and migrants from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In many cases they are treated as outcasts and forced to fend for themselves. They live amongst 2,000 households in an area where there is no drinking water, no access to medications and no opportunity to learn skills for employment. The ladies have come together with the hopes of creating a sewing school that will be supported by Shanti.

By working away from home, these women can escape their husbands, who are heavy drinkers and often engage in violence. They will also be able to enjoy training, use a machine to sew garments and sell them on the Shanti online marketplace. All income will be managed by them alone and they will be able to have some control of purchasing food, sending their children to school and accessing medications and clean drinking water.

Your donation will improve the lives of these women as they develop their businesses and support their families.

Thank you for your donation!

Vinodbhai lives in a slum in Ahmedabad, a city in Gujarat, India. He came to the city with the hope that he would make enough money to support his family. He dreamed of becoming a rickshaw driver but faced numerous obstacles. Due to constant traffic and road regulation changes, it is difficult to train to become a rickshaw driver and to maintain the vehicle. Papers including drivers licenses and insurance as well as the cost of eye tests can all be very costly. The amount of pollution rickshaw drivers encounter also causes health complications that require medical attention.

Your donation will help Vinodhbai and other slum dwellers to qualify to drive a rickshaw and earn a living. Furthermore, your contribution will assist them in the qualification process to acquire a rickshaw license and all necessary paperwork.

Gitaben is a poor farmer in Bhavnagar, a town in Gujarat, India. She is part of a women’s federation called Utthan, which looks after the community interests of women that are main breadwinners for the family. One issue they face is not having access to toilets and washing facilities in their farming community. This poses a huge problem in terms of maintaining privacy, dignity and general health. Women often go days without eating in order to avoid having to go to the bathroom in the fields. This causes a series of illnesses and non productivity in the fields. Often other members of the household (generally seven including their in-laws) reject them for not being able to contribute to the household and farming duties — this leads to alienation.

Utthan and Shanti have partnered up to help them construct eco-sanitation toilets and washing facilities in their homes. Your donation will help them improve their health and be more productive in the fields. Most of all it will allow them to maintain their dignity. All the waste is recycled and used to grow crops.