For the last 25 years, the Monsoon Accessorize Trust has been working with charities and supporting projects that impact the most disadvantaged and vulnerable women and children in communities across Asia and the UK. For one of our initiatives, we’ve teamed up with Christian Aid to offer silk production training to local women’s groups in Herat, Afghanistan, a project which aims to empower individuals as well as helping to sustain an age-old craft.

The Project

Together with Christian Aid, a UK-based charity who aim to help end global poverty, we’ve spent the last four years working with local women’s groups to help revive and rebuild the silk cultivation industry in Afghanistan. Women are provided with silkworms and training on silk production to make their own products, which are then sold in bazaars and in a small shop in Herat International Airport. This project helps local women earn an income, become more financially independent and have a stronger voice in their communities.

Tabarok’s Story

Taborak was diagnosed with depression after losing her daughter and suffering from two strokes which left her hospitalised. Concerned for her wellbeing as well as her financial situation, doctors advised her to find work as soon as she was back to good health.

She joined the silk weaving program set up by Christian Aid and the Monsoon Accessorize Trust, and started to learn how to weave, as well as attending workshops on silk dying and designing. After completing the course, Taborak was provided with a loom and all the materials she needed to make silk garments from home.

She says, “I was very eager to learn weaving. It was enjoyable for me. I used to go earlier than the others to the weaving centre because I didn’t want to miss any of the training. Since taking part in the project, I haven’t had time to think about my past or anything else. After I learned weaving, I was given a loom and some other accessories. I spend most of my time behind the loom now.”

Tabarok sells the shawls she makes in the local bazaar, or to relatives and neighbours. Sometimes she also receives orders from local factories.

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As we celebrate 25 years of the Monsoon Accessorize Trust, we’re taking a closer look at some of our past projects with our charity partners and finding out more about the people and the communities that they’ve impacted. First up, the Smile Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in India who provided emergency healthcare during the 2018 Kerala floods…

What is the Smile Foundation?

Founded in 2002, the Smile Foundation is an India-based NGO with more than 350 welfare projects on education, healthcare and female empowerment in over 1000 remote villages and slums across the country. Committing to driving sustainable change and transforming lives, the foundation directly benefits over 750,000 children and families every year.

How were people impacted during the Kerala floods?

In August 2018, Kerala, a state on the southwestern coast of India, was hit by some of the worst floods in almost a century. Over 483 people lost their lives in the devastating natural disaster and more than one million people were displaced.

Floodwaters submerged entire villages and triggered landslides in the mountains, as well as swamping the coastal regions of Kerala. As a result, many health centres, particularly in the Kuttanad region, collapsed or had been forced to close, leaving many people and long-term patients without access to the help and medication that they needed. Kerala was faced with a medical crisis, with growing concerns that vector-borne diseases – such as cholera and malaria – would also spread.

How did the Smile Foundation help?

The foundation set up emergency health camps – named Smile Health Camps – in Kerala, partly funded by the Monsoon Accessorize Trust’s £20,000 grant. They treated almost 1000 people for over 20 types of illnesses after the floods, including 82-year-old Meenakshiyamma who was suffering from a fever and dizziness. Affectionately nicknamed Ammaji (grandma) by the other patients, Meenakshiyamma was diagnosed with high blood pressure, and praised the medical support and encouragement that she received from the camp’s staff and volunteers.

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