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EYE CARE CENTRE
AS: That’s an amazing amount for a small church! TT: With that fundraiser, the initial focus was on the kids and the school, but as we got to know the women, we saw how difficult it was for them. A lot of women are not given opportunities when they were younger, especially in a country like India. A lot of the women are oppressed and degraded to a certain type of job or status in their family—especially the Dalit women. They are not educated but they understand when you teach them to do something. So that’s why with this project, we wanted to build a centre so women will get the opportunity to learn a marketable skill set. Thread of Hope will empower the Dalit women to build a support network, a community, and provide them with micro financing. They don’t need a lot to get by. AS: Where is the project located? TT: Right now the area we are focusing on is in Punjab and the women from the neighbouring
RENFREW COLLINGWOOD COMMUNITY NEWS villages. Dalit Freedom Network will be running the project. They’ve been around for a long time. AS: How have you been raising money? TT: We have had a lot of fundraising efforts. We reached out to the youth, and held a concert at Windermere. We raised about $2,000 but the main goal was to raise awareness. We wanted to expose youth to what is going on in the world. It was really great to see the young people step up. At Christmas I challenged the girls in my church and my friends to raise $100 each. We made a package of postcards of my photos of India to raise funds—and as a reminder to people of what they were donating to. We made our goal of $2,000, and more recently our Fashion Bazaar raised $4,500 by selling items that were generously donated by fashion bloggers, clothing stores and friends. AS: What would you like people to know about India? TT: I would like people to not have this misconception of India as a poor country or dirty, which is true, but if you are open minded you can see the people and the culture that
makes up the country, Indian people are some of the most genuine, open and hospitable people I have ever met—they have so little, but they offer you whatever they have, to the best of their ability. AS: What have you learned from your travels? TT: Travelling in India is a culture shock … it humbled me a lot. It made me think about what I spend my time with here, and also how I spend my money! Here we are constantly surrounded by materialism. We have so much but are not as willing to share. When I came back home it’s almost like reverse culture shock. I think, “why am I here living such a comfortable life, when there are people elsewhere just trying to survive?” To see more of Tessa Tham’s work: Her blog: www. amileinherheels.com Facebook.com/thethreadofhope India photographs are for sale. Partial proceeds will go to Thread of Hope. Alexis Seto is an artist/teacher/ photographer and resident of Renfrew-Collingwood.
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