Dehradun-based Annamma M. Ebenezer is a good samaritan and women’s champion who has assumed the responsibility to educate, up-skill and brighten the future of socio-economically disadvantaged women of the hill state of Uttarakhand (pop. 8.5 million). To this end in the millennium year (2000) she registered the NGO Women’s Development Society (WDS), and two years later, A Christian Mercantile Enterprise (ACME) — a proprietary firm to provide employment to women trained by WDS. “The objective behind promoting these inter-connected organisations is to prepare rural women for secure livelihoods by training them in skills and capabilities for gainful employment in business enterprises,” says Ebenezer.
Under the schema devised by Ebenezer, ACME, positioned as an umbrella organisation, has promoted two NGOs — Chayya and Himalayan Tapestries. At Chayya cafes in Rajpur and Mussoorie, she trains women in cooking and baking even as they independently manage the cafes. Simultaneously their products are sold under the brand name Himalayan Tapestries in Rajpur. Thus far she has trained more than 200 women including members of the international NGO World Vision.
WDS was promoted with a start-up investment of Rs.5 lakh towards a sewing machine, cooking range and sewing kits. “This initial capital came from my savings accumulated while teaching at the Philadelphia Montgomery Christian School in the US between 1993-98. With family members and friends from churches also chipping in, I was able to get WDS and ACME going,” she recalls.
Thus for the past decade, Ebenezer and her 12 member team have been marketing hand and machine embroidered bags, quilts, tablecloths, tops, skirts and woven items with church organisations in the UK, US, and Germany. “Apart from the professional skills imparted to them, women are also counseled to attain spiritual peace through prayer and meditation. They are generally from very poor backgrounds where their emotional and psychological needs are never attended. I believe our efforts have helped these women bond beyond religious and national boundaries,” explains Ebenezer, an education and theology graduate of Gorakhpur University.
Through the Presbyterian church network, the women’s empowerment crusade of WDS, ACME and related NGOs has received considerable word-of-mouth publicity, to the extent that these enterprises attract volunteers from Australia and the US, who have been helping to establish management systems and processes. Ebenezer’s immediate plan is to employ competent managers and administrators for WDS. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a manager. But I am confident God will show me the path,” she says.
Amen.
Natasha Pathak (Dehradun)