Soap for Hope - The Jamera Widows' Group Empowerment Project
Project Launch: 7-23-19
The rural village of Jamera is the cultural heart of the Nafana tribe. Most of the villagers are cashew farmers and maintain subsistence farms for their families. The village struggles with poverty, lacking access to necessary educational facilities or quality healthcare. The Jamera Widows' Group consists of 120 women who have lost their husbands and banded together in order to support each other. The Soap for Hope project supports the group’s dream of establishing their own soap making cooperative to financially support themselves. The project will involve two training sessions where the women will learn how to make different kinds of soaps using locally-sourced materials and how to responsibly and effectively run a business. The women will learn about reinvesting profits into the business, keeping records, selling their products, and how to distribute the profits among the women. The project will also involve the creation of a Moringa and Neem tree farm for both the making of soap and also as a nutritional additive for families in the group. This project will support the Jamera Widows’ Group and their children in gaining financial security, better nutrition, and food security.