Our Visit To Pratham In India
This blog post will take you a few minutes to read but I hope you find it impactful and inspiring... As it was one of the most emotional working days I've ever had!
This week I’m in India visiting factories, mills, our logistics partners and today we visited one of the education centres that has been funded by you choosing to shop in a better way with Unfolded! (that has been funded by tens of thousands of women just like you shopping with Unfolded!) 🇮🇳
The mission behind Unfolded is to make clothes without creating the waste that normal brands do and use the savings to make a real difference in the world!
Today I got to see that difference up close…
And I’ve got to be honest it blew me away!
Thanks to Unfolded shoppers there are now 160 kids in the centre who are learning and getting to the level where they have a chance at succeeding in education - along with thousands more across the country in Pratham's support programs!
All from a little idea, a big mission and you! Thousands of women like you shopping in a better way!
I can’t lie, meeting those kids in person brought a tear to my eye.
Education is the key to a better future, no matter where you are in the world but in India, it’s even more important. Why?
Despite around 98% of children being enrolled in education, around 50% of kids at the age of 10 can’t read or write full sentences. This means their future is set and there isn’t the chance to then go to college or continue to improve.
This level of literacy and numeracy means that some education doesn’t go past 12-14 years old, meaning very little chance of anything past a minimum wage job in the future. Imagine at that age having your future set, no matter how hard you try or work.
Based just outside Delhi most of the kids are from migrant labour families and need in-depth support to get their literacy and numeracy levels up to a point where they can actually engage in the formal education system and have a chance of advancing. Indian schools don’t hold kids back so even if you can’t read or write you just keep moving up the grades.
The kids at the centre attend 6 days per week (9am -12.30pm) and the teachers are local women from the community who have been trained by Pratham. The kids are split not by their age but by their level and this ensures they can learn in the right environment and don’t withdraw from the system.
The enthusiasm the kids had for being part of the centre really touched me, from the songs at assembly to the maths challenges - a basic education is something that a lot of us would now take for granted but for so many people in the world it’s not!
It’s something these kids are so excited and engaged with. It’s inspiring…
The impact we’ve created together as the Unfolded community is amazing and today we saw just a tiny % of it!
As a community and as shoppers we can hopefully help tens of thousands of kids in the future, maybe even hundreds of thousands.
I'll be sharing more about our trip to India very soon!
Cally
CEO & Co-Founder
PS. If you're new to Unfolded and want to join our mission then click here and check out our latest collection.
