Looking ahead, Open Hands Education Trust aims to introduce a small microloan initiative for students who complete our sewing program. This initiative will create a pathway to sewing machine ownership for women who participate in our training.
Owning a sewing machine would empower women to establish home-based tailoring and sewing businesses, generating sustainable income for themselves and their families. It would also enable them to pass on valuable skills by training other women within their communities.
As young women marry and relocate to other villages, they would be able to take both their sewing machine and their skills with them—creating new opportunities to start businesses or train others in their new communities. In this way, the impact of the program can multiply organically from village to village.
Loan repayments would be structured as small, manageable installments aligned with each woman’s income, ensuring affordability and dignity.
Loan repayments would be structured as small, manageable installments aligned with each woman’s income, ensuring affordability and dignity.
TESTIMONIAL
Celia Fuller - WOW Australia
"After attending my first Indian wedding I became aware of many secret hopes and dreams of the local young women. One girl who looked after all the hair needs of the special guests for the wedding mentioned her hopes of to one day do Beauty Therapy training. By her age, I knew it would not be long before she would be married off and have to leave her village behind and the reputation she had with hair and henna. Any chance to do further study would be short lived as there was a high likelihood her future husband's home would not have power or training facilities nearby due to coming from rural backgrounds. Rural women of the lower castes sadly are still not encouraged to this day, to have aspirations of any type of advanced education. I grieved for her loss of opportunity along with the many other girls, so have sought a remedy for the problem. We really need your support to make these opportunities possible."
