On a visit to India that saw her attend billionaire Mukesh Ambani's daughter Isha Ambani's wedding, Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared the inspiring story of a woman she first met in 1995 and had a chance to reconnect with 23 years later.
Ela Bhatt founded SEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association) in 1972 that helped women with small loans. These loans helped many Indian women find their feet and help their families. Ms Clinton said she first met Ms Bhatt in 1995 at their Ahmedabad headquarters.
With 14,000 members the organization was growing. All the women came from extremely poor families, some were disabled and many were abandoned by their husbands.
Not only did the organization help them to earn money but also taught them to read and gave them business lessons, Ms Clinton said. Calling the model as "microloans" she said Ms Bhatt and SEWA "have always been ahead of their time."
When Hillary Clinton visited SEWA in 1995 and this year, the woman sang “we shall overcome” in Gujarati
Ms Clinton described how moved she was with the thousands of women sharing their experiences of how SEWA had "changed their lives with freedom and opportunity".
The organization grew to a million members in 2009 and now the number has doubled. When Ms Clinton visited them in 1995 and this year, the woman sang "we shall overcome" in Gujarati.
Hillary Clinton wrote how proud she was of SEWA and as she was in touch with Ms Bhatt these years, she has had the chance to see the organization and its impact grow even larger over the years. Read the full post here:
She ends her post with a few empowering sentences which say, "Every person should have the chance to achieve his or her dreams and make the most of their God-given potential-no matter how rich or poor and no matter whether they work in a factory or a home or on the side of a road."
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