Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Inspiration


For many years a group of us at Elevita have been contemplating ways that we might be able to make the world a little bit better place.  A number of us have been traveling the world and this Spring we settled on the idea that India would be a good place to take a stand.  We are enthralled by the vibrant culture, touched by the kindness of the people, and captivated by the fascinating history of the country.  But of course we are also deeply saddened by the rampant poverty -- homeless masses, downtrodden families, emaciated children.  What a contrast to our own comfortable lives!  We are all grieved to know that, in India, 5,000 children die of causes related to malnutrition every day.  But what can be done?

Slowly, the inspiration has come.  Many of these people, though impoverished, are trained in wonderful ethnic skills such as hand block-printing, weaving, embroidery, jewelry making, etc.  Yet so many of these artisans are dependent solely on tourists to come purchase their crafts!  Unfortunately, with the worldwide recession, tourism is down in India, which directly affects the livelihood of these families.  We asked ourselves:  What if we could help these artisans find a greater world market for their wares, and subsequently send all the profits back to India to support humanitarian projects?  The idea was born.