Charities

Supporting Sambhali Trust in India through WanderTours

01.12.18

This post highlights the efforts of one of the many non-profit organizations supported by the WanderWorld Foundation and WanderTours travelers. Sambhali Trust is a non-profit charitable organization whose focus is the development and empowerment of women and girls in Rajasthan, India.

In India, a woman suffers domestic abuse every five minutes. Fifty-five percent of men and more than 50% of women in India believe domestic violence is justified for reasons such as poor cooking and leaving the house without permission. Furthermore, women in Jodhpur face patriarchal society pressures and caste discrimination that force them into a life without opportunity.

Sambhali Trust is a non-profit charitable organization based in Jodhpur whose focus is the development and empowerment of women and girls in Rajasthan. Founded in 2007, the organization works primarily with members of India’s lowest caste, the Dalits. Members of the Dalit community face extreme prejudice on a daily basis in Indian society, and Sambhali Trust works in neighborhoods that are home to their disenfranchised communities. For Dalit women, their financial and educational disadvantage is another reason why they are discriminated against. They are denied the right to choose their husband and often face a high level of verbal, physical and sexual abuse within their family circle and community.

During our WanderTours trips to North India, we visit the Sambhali Trust to see the wonderful work this organization does. In its 10 years, it has served approximately 10,000 women! We were lucky enough to meet a number of them during an afternoon visit.

The organization provides underprivileged Rajasthani women and girls with educational, vocational and social skills to help them to become confident and financially independent. They work closely with Dalit women and girls in Jodhpur who have little or no access to education or basic health services.

Sambahli sponsors girls from both urban and rural locations to attend schools all across Jodhpur. Classes are offered in English, Hindi and math, as well as training in vocational and social skills to support young women in developing confidence and self-esteem. They also run a boarding house for 22 young girls who could not otherwise benefit from an education.

Program coordinators have set up a toll-free helpline available to women seeking advice and support in addition to a shelter service for women with few options to turn to for relief. The organization provides women with counseling and support when they are abused and gives them a voice and a support network to nurture their hopes and ambitions.

In short, Sambhali is changing the lives of women across Rajasthan by giving them opportunities they would otherwise never have.

Interested in supporting these folks? They are currently looking to fund the following items/programs…

Sewing machines
They aim to give 100 sewing machines out annually in February to all those that have completed their 12 month course, so the more sewing machines they can have donated, the better.
Cost – 4,200 rupees (approximately $65 US)

Sponsorship for boarding
Sponsoring one child for a year in the Sheerni Boarding Home – they are still in need of funding for the July 2017 – July 2018 calendar year.
Cost – 75,702 rupees per child, per year (approximately $1,172 US)

Sponsorship for schooling
Sponsoring one child’s school education for one year. For this, they are looking for a commitment of 3 – 5 years. It can be paid on a yearly basis.
Cost – 14,500 rupees per child, per year (approximately $225 US)

You can support the Sambahli Trust by making a tax-deductible donation via the WanderWorld Foundation’s donation page. Please let us know that you’d like your donation to go to this organization and we will wire the funds to them.

BaliWISE works to break the poverty cycle for women through skills education

08.30.17

This post highlights the efforts of one of the many non-profit organizations supported by the WanderWorld Foundation and WanderTours travelers. BaliWISE believes that a better education for women will contribute to women’s empowerment and poverty reduction.

Bali Wise Group visit Indonesia is one of many countries facing extreme poverty, gender bias, and unequally distributed education. Within both urban and rural communities, it is often poor and uneducated young women who are overlooked in favor of providing resources for young men. With Bali’s strong focus and reliance on the tourism industry, young women are often not equipped to participate in the labor force and often fall through the cracks to be exploited by the slave labor and sex trafficking industry.

BaliWISE is part of the greater R.O.L.E. Foundation, which recognizes the benefit of empowering marginalized women through skills education as a means to develop sustainable communities in Indonesia. R.O.L.E. was founded in 2007 with a focus on creating sustainable jobs within coastal communities in Indonesia while preventing land-based waste from contaminating oceans.

As part of this mission, BaliWISE aims to assist disadvantaged and at-risk women in an effort to break the greater cycle of poverty for families. The program focuses on business and vocational skills, particularly for positions in the hospitality industry. BaliWISE has established partnerships with hotels and companies that can provide on-site work experiences.

BaliWISE created its keystone offering, the six-month Marginalized Women’s Skills Education Program, to provide a basic life and work skills education platform for local women in need. Students enrolled in the program receive an expense allowance, which allows them to send money home to support their families while they continue focusing on their studies. Women who graduate have a 90% chance of finding full-time employment within three months. Since its founding in 2012, the organization helped place more than 800 women in gainful employment, and will train 120 disadvantaged women each year.

In addition to providing job training, BaliWISE also supports recycling waste soap from the hospitality industry. Every week, more than 50,000 bars of hotel soap are thrown away in Bali. The S.O.A.P. Recycling Program helps reduce waste by reforming new soaps and also acts as a business model for local women graduating from the Skills Education Program. The recycled soaps are often donated to local orphanages or sold in the BaliWISE shop.

BaliWISE has set up education and training facilities in the local community of Nusa Dua, where WanderTours travelers have the opportunity to meet with BaliWISE staff to learn more about their current programs as well as meet the current students participating in the Skills Education Program. The students enter the program with limited English language proficiency, so having the chance to practice their English with visitors is a valuable opportunity.

If you would like to support BaliWISE and its Skills Education Program, please visit WanderWorld Foundation’s donation page.

Enrich a life, Be Bold

04.17.17

When women can’t access a basic education because of their gender, when young people beg for food because they have been orphaned, when impoverished mothers who are singularly responsible for their families seek work to shelter them-such circumstances may impress us in the United States as insurmountable but somehow women and children in developing countries often prevail.

Here at home our decisions may be as simple as not reaching for that second piece of cake, whether to accept that job offer, or planning the next adventure. But there is a common thread between both the easy and complex challenges-being bold.

At the WanderWorld Foundation the Be Bold mantra guides our work. “We are capable of far more than we ever give ourselves credit for,” said Founder Beth Whitman.

“Changing your mindset and looking for opportunities to Be Bold makes us better human beings,” she said.

The Foundation has been working closely with charities around the world by providing funds to help women and children in developing countries. Nonprofit organization programs supported by WanderWorld are the same ones visited by WanderTours participants. “The WanderWorld Foundation is the giving component of WanderTours,” said Whitman. She explained that the company donates to a program and the travel groups are (usually) able to visit the recipient charity during the tour.

WanderTours travelers have the chance to not only see how their WanderWorld Foundation donations are being spent but also to experience one-to-one interaction with the local charities be it a cooking school that supports street kids in Vietnam, an orphanage in India, or a nunnery in Bhutan or Myanmar.

Whitman believes there’s nothing bolder or more empowering than to see how small donations can impact a young woman when she is given the chance to learn English and get a job, or when an orphaned child has shoes to wear to school.

Boldness manifests itself in many different ways, and improves lives. Follow along with the WanderWorld Foundation to learn more about our Be Bold moments and how our efforts, both large and small, help embolden women and children abroad.