About – The White Light Movement

The White Light Movement NPC is a project that empowers women and creates sustainable employment. The focus is to empower single parent females who have children that have been victims of sex abuse and or are victims of domestic violence. These are also women who have children that have been victims of child sex abuse.

Empowering these women aids them in making choices that affect the lives of their families and children positively, for instance with a steady income stream they are able to move to better communities – in some instances away from the abuser (many of whom are repeat abusers) or the community that has stigmatised their children. Having a sustainable livelihood means that we are able to also positively impact the lives of the children in many aspects such as their nutrition, education and medical needs. WLM teaches basic to advanced skills in sewing, embroidery and the hand finishing of garments.

Women are taught these skills and paid weekly and in some instances gain income through piecemeal work. They are encouraged to start their own micro-businesses under financial and mentorship guidance.

Manufacturers and designers are able to outsource the work to the group of women. At present the way in which to make this more self-sustaining is for us to create products that can be sold locally and internationally. The label will consist of finely crafted, handmade pieces. We fund through some donations and work that the project receives and this at present and can only sustain 14 individuals but we are currently training around 32 individuals. To progress this we are looking for donors to pay for premises to house this project as well as the basic infrastructure needed for this that include some fabrics, trim and machinery.

A key differentiating factor for our project is that we are creating employment for women who are also direct beneficiaries of the business. One of the key elements to this project is that it provides medical help in instances of sexual assault. The original sex abuse clinic that was part of a hospital (which we assisted in funding) has been shut down. Victims of abuse are forced to go to community clinics that are ill equipped to deal with them or their injuries.

The intention is that the women we train become the owners of a self sustaining company which is overseen by a board of directors who act in their best interests. The board is non-remunerated and consists of Ms Sabine Thomas, Mr Gavin Rajah and Ms Uresha Mishra.

Our intention is to create sustainable employment and resilient lives – socio-economic transformation is key!