When Lina was around 13 years old, she was excited at the prospect of going to see a movie with a friend. Instead she was sold to a brothel. She worked there for almost 19 years. Lina found Friends of Basha through an outreach program and has begun the process of healing. She looks forward to learning basic literacy and tailoring.  

Our training programme provides counselling, support, and the skills a woman needs to rebuild her life. She receives an allowance so she can focus on her training and find stable housing if she doesn’t have a safe place to live. Women in our program receive the level of training needed; learning to write her name, basic literacy, or computer classes. She will learn to make Basha products and always has the option of Basha employment. She is prepared and supported to step into new opportunities for herself and for her family.

At Friends of Basha, we have trained around 90 women like Lina. The reality is that, like Lina, women leaving exploitative situations can’t just get a job. The years of trauma have taken their toll. Basic things we take for granted, such as how we deal with others, often need to be changed drastically for women entering a work environment. They are also extremely vulnerable to further exploitation. There are also stigmas that are almost impossible to erase in this highly conservative culture.

In addition to training, we also provide a safe home for women that are either without families, need emergency shelter or are too vulnerable to live on their own.

We must also recognise the complexity that led women to exploitation in the first place; their struggle for survival, lack of family support, health problems, death or abandonment by parents or their husband, early marriage, extreme poverty and more. These are not easy or simple things and empowering women to be safe and free is a huge challenge.

It takes time for women to know that they are loved and valued and to heal from their past.

Learn more about how we work with our women, as they transition from exploitation into a new future of freedom.

Too often, history repeats itself.

We work hard to make sure women and families have the support and encouragement they need to successfully rebuild their lives. We built a daycare programme and girls’ hostel to make sure that these children don’t face the same vulnerabilities and exploitation that led their mothers to us. Many children come to us malnourished and not enrolled in school. Some were fending for themselves on the streets, working long hours or sold to a brothel as children themselves.

When you’ve been born on the streets or in a brothel, or you’ve been orphaned or abandoned, you have much to overcome. When you see the spark and tenacity in these children’s eyes, you’ll want to join us to help them succeed.

Disha and her mother, Shanta, both benefit from the support that Basha provides. Shanta was forced out of her house when she was pregnant with Disha and had no means to support herself and a small child. Shanta found work at Basha, and Disha is thriving in our daycare environment while her mother works.    

Our daycare provides a loving, supportive environment for children whose mothers are training or working as artisans with Basha. We supply nutritious food, educational toys and caring socialization for kids who may have never had such an environment to thrive.