product review: baby blanket by sari bari

Recently, I had the pleasure of receiving a baby blanket from the gals over at Sari Bari.  I immediately jumped at the chance to review ever since I found them online and saw what wonderful work they do and their mission.

Sari Bari (sari = a traditional dress for women in Indian + bari = the word for home in the Bengali language) provides a safe place for women who have been previously abused/exploited through the sex trade in India, Nepal, Bangladesh to find meaningful work in order to make a living and create a new life for themselves.  Their mission statement is to “seek  the sustainable restoration of red light communities and the prevention of the exploitation of women and children in the commercial sex trade.

Sari Bari does not rescue women but rather they provide opportunities of empowerment for women and their children who otherwise have been stuck in poverty and can’t find a way out of their situation because they were first trafficked in their teen years.  And they prevent high risk girls from entering the trade by giving them a chance to learn life skills and work that will carry them and protect them.  Sari Bari has set up shop in red light districts and a high trafficking village and aims to draw young women ages 17-25 to work with them to create beautiful blankets, quilts, bags and more from old saris instead of being lured into the sex trade.

The company believes in providing fair wages, reasonable work hours limited to 40 per week, healthcare, educational benefits for the children, 25 paid holidays, retirement benefits, loan payoffs, safe work environment and paid training to the women working with them.  Their values are to provide a sense of community, holism or supporting the entire person, freedom, dignity, hope and empowerment.

So once a woman joins the Sari Bari team, everyone celebrates her new job with a birthday cake and her start date is known as her freedom date…the date that she became free of the life she once thought she could never escape.  How awesome is that?  All of her creations are marked with her name as well. On their site, they list all the women along with a short bio and their freedom date so you can get a sense of who exactly was behind the piece you purchased.

I love this.  I love what this company stands for.  The empowerment they are giving these women, their daughters, their families by giving them a chance at real work that means something.  I love the soft, beautiful blanket I received, the quality and story behind it.  I am looking forward to gifting Sari Bari products to friends and family and knowing that I am helping to make a difference for the women behind those products.

Keep them in mind the next time you have a gift to buy…their baby line currently features blanket and diaper bags.  They also have an accessories and home decor line too. Check out Sari Bari here.

Shraddha