Asha Project India

In 2017 we started a small handicraft project with the idea of helping women see the worth and abilities they had in a culture where women are often put down and without HOPE and it very quickly grew into a huge project and eventually a non-profit called Asha (Hope) Project. We began stepping into communities offering hope in desperate poverty. Poverty that steals access to clean water from 163 million people. Poverty that aborts 100,000 baby girls every year. Poverty that sends 135,000 children into human trafficking every year. Poverty that enslaves 9 million children in forced labor. Poverty that marries 27% of girls off before their 18th birthday. Poverty that enslaves 6 million adults in forced labor. Poverty that steals HOPE. We believe HOPE (Asha) is the first step in breaking the cycle of poverty in India and around the world. Hope for Change. Hope for a Better Future. Hope for Something New.

We currently have 100+ women that we work with every week. After a season of training, women meet every week in local groups in their communities to learn how to make handicrafts and turn in the beautiful products they have made that week. What we have seen is that despite the often horrifying realities they live in, a tiny piece of hope can change everything. As our women build community with other women, carry each other’s burdens and begin to learn that they do have worth, a small flame of hope sparks. They start believing that they might be good at something. They start believing that they might be worth more than they have been told. They start believing there may be hope for change for themselves, their families and their communities. That is what Asha Project is all about.

It is our priority not only to make sure that all of our women receive a fair wage, but also to make sure they know the value and worth they have as a mother, as a wife, as a friend and as a woman using her skills to help support her family. Asha Project is a community. Not only do our women meet in small groups in their own neighbourhoods once a week for community and handicrafts, but they are available to do life together and love and support each other every day of the week. All of our handicraft groups are lead by women who themselves started out as a member of a handicraft group. We not only want to teach women how to be empowered, but also how to empower other women.