INTRODUCTION


    The Women's Handicraft Centre Project is designed to empower single women with children who have been widowed, abandoned or divorced by their husbands.

In Nepali society, a woman who is divorced, widowed or abandoned by her husband faces an incredible challenge as it uncustomary for her to return to her parental home, or to live with her husband’s family. There are also harsh stigmas applied to these women and they are considered “used goods”. It is very hard for women to find a job in Nepal, and single women in particular have an ever harder time finding work due to their negative label. Also, most Nepali women are not trained for employment, but to merely serve their families, so when faced with these circumstances, they have little knowledge about how to go out and make a living for themselves and their children.

We receive many women who come to our orphanage asking us to take their children because they are unable to support them. It is a terribly sad situation as the mother and her children love each other, but the mother has become desperate as she is not able to find work and properly care for her children. So these struggling women resign themselves to believe that their only option is to give up their children. Some women will simply leave them, and go on to start a new life unencumbered by children with needs. Many of our children at Namaste came to us because their mothers left in this way. Stormy

To prevent children being abandoned and to provide hope for these desperate women, we decided to create a Women's Handicraft Center. In this center, women are employed to manufacture products that will be sold to provide them with a means of income. The women will be making and selling such items as suds bags, pen cases, purses, booties, slippers, hats and blankets, and will be sold under the line, “The Dolly Mamas”. The Handicraft Center is based on a compound, and includes inexpensive housing for the women and their children. This provides them with a sense of community where they can assist each other with children and other burdens single mothers face.

We are expecting to sell items in Nepal and abroad in various markets and shops. Any excess profits will be invested in the Namaste Children House organization to provide ongoing support for all our programs. We believe that following initial investments, this program will become self-sustaining.