Selling clothes for a dowry

Jane Elliott
BBC News Online Health Staff

The girls make clothes for sale

Sophia is deaf and non-speaking and in the poor economic climate of India her future looked bleak and unpromising.

In a country where any disability can condemn you to a life of abject poverty Sophia was not optimistic about being able to find a job.

Without the means to earn, she was unlikely to ever be able to raise the cash to fund a dowry and feared that she would never be able to find herself a husband.

But at the age of 16 she was offered a place at the newly opened Deaf and Dumb school, in the Southern Indian state of Kerala.

Dowry

As well as gaining an education she was also given the chance to earn money to put towards her all important dowry - which was vital when she fell in love with Vinod.

Sophia eventually left the project, but found she missed it so much that she has returned as the leading person for quality control and sampling stitching.

We really saw the value in what we are doing for the girls, when one of them managed to save enough money for her dowry and get married Sister Betsy

Her partner Vinod now works alongside her in the materials section.

The project, which was started by Sister Michael Francis, the mother general of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate, now runs three schools for the deaf, one for the blind and one for those with learning difficulties.

And the garments, which sell to the organic baby clothes company Green Baby, help to fund dowries for girls like Sophia.

Dream

Sister Betsy explained why the scheme was so vital for Southern India's deaf: "The community project gives our girls their independence, a proper job, a fair wage and better living conditions.

"The project has been so successful that we are expanding the main building to give the girls more space.

"We really saw the value in what we are doing for the girls, when one of them managed to save enough money for her dowry and get married.

"This dream would have been all but out of reach to her without the project."

Jill Barker a spokeswoman for Green Baby said projects like this had a positive impact in countries like India.

"Green Baby believes living organically and fair-trading can make a positive difference in people's lives.

"Manufacturing with Assisi project enables us to produce high quality, eco-friendly and socially conscious produced items."