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One Woman, A Dream, and a Desert of Social Impact
“For as long as I can remember, I knew my life’s purpose was to help women and girls achieve their full potential. What I didn’t know was how my unusual upbringing and challenging life experiences would prepare me to do this work.”
– Nioma, Founder of Women Serve “
Nioma Sadler, the founder of WomenServe, did not set out in life to create a band of women helping women. Nor did she see the impact she would manifest for women and girls in India.
As a child, Nioma did not have a typical upbringing. Her non-traditional parents did not endorse formal education. Nioma was “life schooled,” as she calls it. But, she craved knowledge.
So she buried herself in books and stories of powerful and courageous women. Those women shaped who she would one day become.
Strong women were her inspiration…
As a girl, such stories taught, encouraged, and inspired her. So as a woman, she is committed to telling the stories of the very women she was inspired to help one day, bringing the beauty and power of storytelling full circle.
The story of WomenServe begins when Nioma traveled to Rajasthan as the Goodwill Ambassador for Traditional Medicinals tea company in 2006. The Senna that is used for their best-selling “Smooth Move” tea is farmed in Rajasthan.
A storyteller with a heart for social change.
While visiting to check on the farming of the Senna crops, Nioma would sit with women in their kitchens over tea. While visiting, she would listen to their tales of the oppression that still exists in rural India.
She began documenting the stories women would share with her, but her heart called out to do more…that is when WomenServe was born.
Because of Nioma’s tenacity, heart, and commitment to the women and girls of Rajasthan, WomenServe has impacted over 28,000 lives.
Be the seed that creates social change for women & girls. Donate today.
We Help Women Empower Their Way to Financial Freedom
“Any society that fails to harness the energy and creativity of its women is at a huge disadvantage in the modern world.”
-Tian Wei
In the harsh, rural desert, women and girls face many barriers which prevent her from earning an income and deciding her own future because she does not have the skills necessary to do so.
73% of women are jobless.
65% of rural women are illiterate.
At WomenServe, we seek to remove cultural barriers and end the cycles of poverty that are created and repeated, which keep Indian women repressed. This begins with giving her an opportunity to become financially independent.
These interventions offer training in indigenous handicraft techniques, social and economic support, and best practice knowledge banks in an effort to improve income generation and bolster entrepreneurial activity.
The Thar Artisan Collective
Talent and a desire to change women’s inherited circumstances run deep in the Thar desert of Rajasthan, India. The Thar Artisan Collective (TAC) was created to give these women the opportunity for economic empowerment that she craves.
The TAC, in conjunction with training programs known as self-help groups (SHG), provide women who participate in the training they need and a platform to sell their artisan hand-crafted goods to inch closer to financial freedom.
There are currently 108 members in the Collective, in two villages with TAC centers, who are increasing their skill level and household income. You can support their efforts by shopping in the WomenServe shop today.