SAHELI WOMEN - FEMALE FRIEND

Over the years, we have listened deeply to the stories of the powerful ‘women of the desert’, nestled in the Rhajastani desert in the small village of Bhikamkor. This remote village is at the heart of change, making waves throughout the world, a center where the feminine is omnipresent. Holding space to inspire its unfolding across the local community as well as the Western world. Where partner organisations and their communities connect with the intentions and love sewn into each stitch, beckoning us to lean into the often silent prayers of the sacred to become woven into the everyday once more. Saheli Women transcend ideas of sustainability and business models, to touch the core of feminine empowerment, to interweave the Feminine, Celebration and Creativity into their voices and being.

What started as a small project with 5 women learning to embroider and a budget of 127$ has turned into a global sisterhood, supporting the livelihoods of over 80 women and their families. Meaning female friend, the Saheli women push today’s conscious fashion landscape further. Inspiring more depth of what sustainability looks like, towards a true sisterhood of empowerment, reweaving the narrative of what fashion can be, to decentralise the idea of ‘labour’ into a craft filled with dignity, reciprocity and intentionality. Highlighting the power of cloth and women, they are paving not only a way forward for an entire industry, but also our personal ways of engaging with cloth and story. 

CO-CREATION - THE FUTURE OF FASHION

“Sustainability is a concept of the Western mind,” says Madhu Ji. For the Saheli women it is a way of life that needs no such word, it is in their culture and their beautiful gift to the world. “ Learning should also go hand in hand with exchange,” she shares, “I feel its something that we should share (...) they learn from us and we learn from them.” The Saheli have much to teach us through their approach of living in harmony with the earth, as well as from the beauty of their culture and creativity.

The shared vision of the future of fashion between Zazi and Madhu was present from the start of their connection. Beginning with a dress drawn on a paper napkin over chai, it has become a sister partnership touching hearts worldwide. The tone of their first love letter to the world featured in Vogue, visually told the story of the model wearing the very first dress sitting on the working floor of the center, surrounded by its makers - setting the tone for the future of fashion.

“I always say we are not about the garment, the garment is a tool for female empowerment, for financial empowerment, for everyday to earn money.”Fashion is a vehicle to catalyse change,it is a chain connecting women across the world to something more sacred, something universal and something based on the power of connection. The full expression of  creativity is a way that allows for the ladies to step into their own power, forming collectives that feed a sense of belonging, confidence and pride in what they are doing, catalysing long-lasting change across generations.

"A WOMAN IS NOT ONE THING"

Madhu explains to us how creativity, women and local village economies are interconnected. The lived realities of rural women needing to be reflected in how social enterprises work. “A woman is not one thing. When she is working, she is a mother, an artisan and a carer for the home. When she comes to work she carries a lot of work with her, worrying about the children at home. So we created a place, not only for the ladies but for the families, where the children can come when the mothers are working, where they can play, do their homework and jump. There is always an open area for children to play and this makes Saheli Women very unique. One of the most amazing things that we develop is the social support for each other. And we don't see motherhood as a weakness for a woman to grow financially, so many times we hear the ladies speaking about their worries of having children and a professional life as well, but Saheli Women is a place where there is so much support.  We have seen little toddlers grow. They come to the center and play with their mothers. There is a place for them to nap, they sleep on the mat. One of the ladies said she wasn't scared to have a fifth child; she said ‘I will bring my two months old baby and put the space with a little cot,’ and he got so many cuddles, so the child is growing in so many hands and it’s such a healthy and happy child.”

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THREAD AND COMMUNITY

Madhu tells the story of one of the ladies’ sons coming into the center, watching their young mothers learn to weave as part of the new weaving initiative, and aspiring to become a weaver himself; or mothers defying cultural norms to marry their teenage daughters. Instead sending her daughter to university to study fashion. “I think we are building a very safe and amazing place for all the families and our children; by providing them with such a unique place where they can see this tool of fashion for themselves to become financially empowered in the future.”