WE INSPIRE WOMEN & CHILDREN
TO DREAM BEYOND
to elevate health, livelihood, & education in India & the US.
HEALTH + HYGIENE Alleviating health issues that prevent women from working and children from attending school enables the community to thrive and focus their attention elsewhere.
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LIVELIHOOD Vocational training provides the ability to increase household income and an elevated sense of dignity, which improves quality of life.
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EDUCATION Quality education and enrichment programs to equip children with the knowledge to meet the many challenges shaping our world today.
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WOMEN Empowering women has the power to not only change the economic circumstances of individual families but entire villages.
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CHILDREN Educating and providing children with the building blocks to future advancement allows families to transcend their circumstances.
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Every rupee raised goes directly to programs that change lives.
Our staff and infrastructure is supported by the founding endowment from the Desai Family and its board members.
Now, as a public foundation, your support helps expand our life-changing programs in India
The Desai Foundation
Desai Foundation
Friday February 26th
Meet Kajal, one of the thousands of women we’ve served through our health and hygiene programs which focus on areas such as gynecology, vision/eye care, and general medical check ups. Thanks to our support, many women such as Kajal have been able to to receive FREE treatment for their health concerns. Follow the link in our bio to learn more and donate to this program.
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#desaifoundation #womensempowerment #socialcauses #fundraising #india #vocationalprograms ... See MoreSee Less
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Desai Foundation
Monday February 22nd
Period Poverty is not just an issue abroad. In the United States, 1 in 10 college students experience period poverty each month - and among bleeders who are the first in their family to attend college, the rate is 1 in 5 (according to a recent study conducted by BMC Women’s Health).
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We are dedicated to illustrating that a period is a natural bodily function and should never cause economic or emotional strain. We have distributed over 450,000 pads for free in rural India since the start of the pandemic and continue to fight period poverty by producing high-quality, low-cost pads through our Asani Sanitary Napkin program.
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We must continue to talk about periods and work together to ensure that a period never keeps a woman or girl out of work or school!
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#endperiodpoverty #periodsarenormal #menstrualhygiene #womenshealth #womensempowerment #keepgirlsinschool #desaifoundation ... See MoreSee Less
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Desai Foundation
Saturday February 20th
Today, on world day of social justice, we stand with the UN in the fight to achieve social justice, which is the idea of peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We do so through our community-based programs which provide women and children in rural India and the US the tools they need to thrive at every stage of their lives. Follow the link in our bio to learn more and donate now!
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#socialjustice #dayofsocialjustice #womensrights #womensempowerment #womenshealth #livelihood #childrenshealth #education #livelihood #india #desaifoundation ... See MoreSee Less
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Desai Foundation
Friday February 19th
Thank you to @officialhumansofbombay for sharing this powerful story from @sukarmafoundation
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“I come from a village in MP. I was in a government school that only taught till the 8th standard; most girls would drop out to be married after. We had no toilets. I was 12 when I got my period; my mother made me wear a cloth pad. When I asked her why I was bleeding, she said she didn’t know.
I developed vaginal infections & began giving off a terrible odor too. The local doctors were clueless, so I just lived with it. I completed my schooling & fortunately, my parents wanted me to focus on my education. They took loans to send me to college; I studied biochemistry & got a job at a hospital.
It was there that I used a pad for the first time; I was 26. I told my colleague–‘I want to learn how to wear it.’ She taught me & even got my infections treated. I could work far more comfortably! But, when I’d visit my parents, I was appalled to see no progress in our village.
Women still struggled with their menstrual hygiene. So, I went door-to-door encouraging women to use pads. The women were so shy, especially in front of men–only when they were alone, would they whisper their menstrual issues in my ear.
They’d say–‘We don’t interact with anyone or cook until our period stops’. Most of them had never seen a pad before! The few who had said, ‘We can’t afford them.’
Through my campaigns, I met Arunachalam Muruganantham, The Padman. He told me, ‘Start your own factory & educate more women.’ And so in 2016, I started ‘The Sukarma Foundation’ & hired women from my village to teach households how to use pads. Today, we transport 50000 pads per month to 22 districts in MP!
I dropped the price to Rs 5 for a box of pads; that’s when women began flocking to my factory. A girl once hugged me & said, ‘I never realized why I’d stink before. It was because I was wearing the same cloth pad!’ As the women regularly started using pads, that's all they wanted to use!
It took 3 years, but today I can proudly say that every woman in my village uses pads! In fact, when I teach in schools, grown men sit in my classes to learn too! ... See MoreSee Less
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Desai Foundation is in Siesta Key, Florida.
Friday February 19th
Thanks to @officialhumansofbombay for sharing this powerful story and to @sukarmafoundation for the important work they do!
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Repost from @officialhumansofbombay
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Original caption ... See MoreSee Less
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The Desai Foundation Follow
Thank you @HumansOfBombay for sharing this powerful story - and to the @sukarmango for the important work they do around menstrual hygiene awareness.
#menstrualhygiene #WomensHealth #endperiodpoverty
We are so thrilled that, since November, we’ve been able to re-start our computer classes at Shantaben Vidhyabhavan (with all necessary safety precautions). Each class lasts for a 2 month period with 15 students at a time and teaches valuable digital literacy skills! #fridaywins
We are so proud of the efforts made in the villages of Vansda and Mandvi, where 6 Menstrual Hygiene Management awareness sessions have been held in Dec 2020 for 77 beneficiaries! This year, we hope to continue our educational projects in order to promote healthy periods for all.
The Desai Foundation