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Our Mission: Legacies of Love
When I began working with women in the slums of Mumbai in 1980 I had no idea what I was doing. I was 24 years old at the time and was quickly realizing that I was very fortunate. My family was not rich (quite the contrary), but my parents were very progressive. They brought up all their six daughters to be independent and to have a concern for the community. I could not understand why the women I met in the slums not only did not have any rights and were treated terribly, but they did not expect anything different. I learned that they had no options, so this became the first goal of MarketPlace: to provide them with an opportunity, the chance to earn a dignified living. Over the next almost-30 years, the philosophy of MarketPlace has been constantly shaped by the women's needs and determination.

I have always felt that the success of MarketPlace is not expressed by our sales figures, although clearly, increased sales means more work for more women. But real success as I see it is reflected in the small things that indicate that change is happening: when a teenage son comes to his mother to ask for help or advice (practically unheard of in a male-dominated society like India), when a young girl finds her groom on the internet and is happily married and has a daughter, and my favorite, when a group of 7th-9th graders very casually told me that they liked computers and knew Word, Excel and PowerPoint (which I struggle with) and that they had decided to create a PowerPoint presentation over the summer.

Unlike in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it is not luck or chance that is changing the lives of the artisans and their children, but instead hard work and determination. It is fighting the odds everyday and hoping that they will get to celebrate their dreams.

I still do not know what I am doing, but the women do. With your support, we can all make the world a better place. In the pages of this catalog you will see all that your purchases are doing.

Pushpika Freitas
President