Connection made from travel
Providing joy and happiness along the way
The Sisters of India was created in April 2023 following a trip to Gujarat India.
Why did we name it Sisters of India?
Because it is the Sisters in India creating beautiful recycled saree products for the Sisters in Australia – and the Sisters in Australia supporting the Sisters in India by purchasing these products.
Win Win for everyone!
During this trip to India in January 2023, Sharon Stevens became aware of the plight of many disadvantaged women in India and heard the story of Suman.
Suman is a young Nepalese woman who lost both her parents during covid and found herself reliant on her Uncle for her survival. However, Suman’s Uncle decided to take her to Mumbai where he sold her into prostitution. From Mumbai she was moved to Ahmedabad by her handlers and that is where she was rescued, the handlers imprisoned.
Nirav Panchal and his wife took Suman in and were teaching her to stitch garments and make small bags from old, recycled sarees purchased from the local bazaar. These bags were colourful and strong and a perfect size for supermarket shopping, carry or packing bags.
When Sharon saw these on her trip, she asked Nirav to send 200 bags to her in Australia and she would see what she could do to sell them.
These bags “walked out the door”!
Following the success of selling these bags, Sharon decided to set up Sisters of India. Nirav is an integral part of Sisters of India and provides the guidance and help on the ground in Ahmedabad.
The goals of Sisters of India is to provide a regular source of income to Suman and the other nine Sisters.
We do not intend for the Sisters of India to increase beyond this number as we feel it is important to provided a good, steady, regular income for these disadvantaged ladies.
We do not want to have Sisters of India turn into a “sweat shop” type enterprise by employing hundreds of ladies and churning out copious products.
One of the really important aspects of this enterprise is to provide joy and happiness along the way for not only the Sisters in India, but also the Sisters we touch here in Australia with our products and presentations.
We have always aimed for a slow and steady type of enterprise.
Shop the Collection
