Masks of HOPE - Health - Opportunity - Perseverance - Empowerment

The national lockdown in India has had a disproportionately negative effect on the underserved communities in rural India. The Indian Express on 14th May 2020, reported that 50% of surveyed households in rural India are eating less as they are out of work and have no regular income. People living in our target areas do not have access to health care supplies, let alone to face masks that are a necessity to protect oneself from COVID-19. Since April, we have been making and freely distributing face masks, and are now launching the Masks of HOPE campaign in order to be able to continue to help, aid and serve the vulnerable and underserved rural communities in India.

With this new reality set to last another 12-18 months, we thought it was essential to pivot from our regular programs, and find ways to support the immediate, COVID-19 related needs of underserved communities in rural India. We began employing women who were part of our sewing program, digitally training them on how to produce hand-sewn face masks using cotton fabrics. Since the beginning, our aim has been  not only to distribute these face masks in villages for free but also to create a source of income for women in rural India. So far, 120 women are working on this project, who now have a regular income. We have distributed over 100,000 face masks in villages located in Vasda, Bharuch, Navsari, Bardoli and Valsad who are benefiting from these face masks in this time of crisis.

We are continuing to recruit and employ more women across villages in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Our target is not only to create employment opportunities for 200 women, but to produce and freely distribute 100,000 masks per month to the families living in these villages.