(photo: Aviv Naveh)
By Abigail Klein Leichman - September 13, 2016
Originally appeared here in Israel21c
Gili Navon didn’t intend to start a nonprofit organization when she traveled in 2007 to Majuli, a remote island in northeast India.
The Israeli woman accompanied the females of Majuli’s peaceful Mising tribe as they picked herbs in the jungle and spun raw silk and cotton into colorful garments. She saw the struggle for sustenance in this low-caste subsistence-farming society where river erosion has caused mass displacement.
Navon organized the Rengam (United) Women Weavers Cooperative in 2011 to help residents use their cultural tradition as a source of income. Today the cooperative includes about 100 women, ages 18 to 60, from 20 villages. The project’s headquarters hosts educational lectures on topics such as women’s health. Read More