Shabana Azmi’s Mijwan Welfare Society and the IAA for Women’s Excellence 2017 to showcase fashion icon Manish Malhotra’s “chikankari” embroidered designs, hand-crafted by rural Mijwan village women
PARAMUS, NJ, MARCH 22, 2017—Share & Care Foundation is pleased to announce our ongoing support of actress/activist Shabana Azmi’s NGO, Mijwan Welfare Society. Share & Care and Mijwan Welfare Society have a long, nearly parallel history when it comes to empowering deserving women and children in India’s remote rural villages.
The Mijwan Welfare Society was founded by legendary poet—and father of actress/activist Shabana Azmi—Kaifi Azmi in his hometown of Mijwan, a tiny village in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. He believed that India’s remarkable economic progress is only meaningful if it reaches out to rural India, where 80 percent of the population lives, but are continuously denied access to opportunities.
After Azmi’s death in 2002, Shabana Azmi and her goddaughter Namrata Goyal took up the task of carrying his dream forward, including furthering programs such as:
- Kaifi Azmi High School for Girls
- Kaifi Azmi Inter College for Girls
- Kaifi Azmi Computer Training Center
- Kaifi Azmi Sewing & Embroidery Center
Today, Mijwan is a success story of women journeying past the patriarchal conforms of village society. The hope for a better tomorrow beats in the hearts of rural women who have taken charge of their own destinies, a sentiment the Share & Care Foundation shares and has worked toward for more than 34 years.
Share & Care, founded in New Jersey in 1982, first partnered with Mijwan Welfare Society nearly a decade ago by assisting them in setting up a computer lab, and also participating in vocational rehab and livelihood skills for women and girls. Today, both organizations have successfully continued their good work helping marginalized women and children—Mijwan out of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, and Share & Care out of Paramus, New Jersey, USA.
Mijwan Summer Couture 2017
The Mijwan Welfare Society has been invited by the Indian Academy Awards for Women’s Excellence 2017 to an event that will honor Shabana Azmi’s accomplishments and showcase the exquisite handiwork of women from Mijwan. The highlight of the evening is Manish Malhotra’s “Mijwan Summer Couture 2017,” a fashion show and fundraiser celebrating these women and their work.
Manish Malhotra, one of India’s most successful fashion designers, has brought the Mijwan women’s craftwork to Bollywood by creating glamorous outfits in his signature style. By giving the women gainful employment, the women are empowered to negotiate more space for themselves within the family structures.
“I see this not as an act of charity, but a win-win situation for both. The girls get a means of livelihood by which they can negotiate a better position for themselves in a patriarchal society. And it gives me the opportunity to showcase to the world the best that India has to offer.”
— Manish Malhotra
The award ceremony and fashion show will be held on March 26, 2017, at 5 PM, at The Marigold, 315 Churchill Ave., Somerset, NJ.
Share & Care encourages participation by all who are able to attend the event. Those unable to attend may show their support by contributing toward our Women Empowerment programs working with on-the-ground NGOs—like the Mijwan Welfare Society—to ultimately create a more equal world where the women and children of rural India have access to gender equality, healthcare, and education.
Pyar ka jashn nayi tarha manana hoga
Gham kisi dil mein sahi Gham ko mitana hoga
—Kaifi Azmi
Press Contact: Tejal Parekh
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (201) 262-7599
