Bongénie
Geneva, Switzerland
Rue du Marché 34, 1204 Genève
From July 1 - December 31
one shawl - one girl - one year
The moment a pink maharani shawl adorns your shoulders, you change the life of one teenage girl from the urban slums of Bangalore, India. With each purchase, a vulnerable girl going through her menstrual cycle is provided with knowledge, support, free products and basic understanding of this sometimes confusing transitional period - enabling her to continue with normal schooling without having to drop out, which is currently the case with 1 out 5 girls. We work closely with Sukhibhava, a social enterprise in India, that enables this change. Unlike in the West, where menstruating is taken for granted as a natural phenomenon, it is a taboo topic considered “unholy” in India and the girls grow up with superstitious information. Thus, we think it is ever so important to address this concern and remove the negative stigma.
one shawl - one child - one light bag
Our shawls embrace you keeping warm and at the same time light up the lives of children living in the remote regions of India with no or limited electrictiy. We distribute a ingenious school bag with embedded solar panels. The bags charge-up with the sunlight during the day, as the kids walk to school and light-up during the night through the big and bright LED lamp for five hours. These light bags are used by children with no regular access to electricity during the night, thus, failing to do their homework and keeping up with school and eventually dropping out completely. With this bag we want to help the children to stay motivated, play and learn in school which is quiet challenging given their harsh life-conditions.
Each purchase of the latest pink maharani collection equips one child with this solar light bag thus supporting them with regular schooling eventually leading to a brighter future self-sustaining out of poverty.
one shawl - one girl - one therapy
Protsahan: our pilot project with adolescent girls who have undergone either physical and/or sexual abuse take part in the Arts and Music Therapy workshops, which helps in healing the trauma easing life back into reality. We also support their after-school centre for girls to come feel safe, study and mingle among their peers schooling eventually leading to a brighter future self-sustaining out of poverty.
During the 90 days and 650 hours of art based interventions, 450 children and 200 parents and teachers were impacted. Thanks to this partnership, these art based workshops have left a lasting impression on each participant.