Beauty for Ashes Nuwakot branch recently moved to a more remote location.
Just to draw you a clearer picture... from our main branch in Kathmandu it's a four-to-five-hour drive with terrain that would rival the average Ford truck commercial. Then, as if that's not enough, it's a two-hour hike with an elevation gain of 2000 feet. Cynthia, our Nuwakot Branch Director, was feeling led to move our branch office to a more remote location... and a remote location she found indeed!
You may be wondering why on earth a business would move to a location that's generally only accessible by foot. It may not seem to make much sense, but our desire to prevent women from being exploited through human trafficking has led us to ask the question, "What can we do to help?"
In this particular village, there is only one school, and it stops after third grade. There are three grade levels, but one teacher. There are no jobs available. People simply farm what they need to eat and sell what food remains--if there is anything left. Needless to say, economic opportunities are lacking.
Our heart as a business is to provide economic opportunities to exploited women and women vulnerable to human trafficking. Living in a highly-trafficked district of Nepal, these young women are clearly vulnerable.
During Cynthia's first two months in the village, she has been able to hire and employ eight local women and teach them how to sew which gives them a new skill. Through employment, they are earning salaries which provides income for their families--making them valuable wage earners and therefore, less likely to be trafficked.
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