A Stitch in Time: How Kumbaya Has Changed the Lives of Tribal Women in Rural Madhya Pradesh


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India's Narmada Bachao, one of the world's most famous 19th-century feminists, died last week at the age of 91, the BBC reports.

Narmada Bachao's legacy lives on in a company called Kumbaya, which produces eco-friendly clothing and accessories for women in rural India.

The idea for Kumbaya came to Nivedita Banerji in 1990 while she was working with women in the Bagli district of Madhya Pradesh.

"They were absent even if some of them attended meetings, they remained silent because of patriarchy and traditional customs," Banerji tells Australia's ABC News.

"They would come to our houses and on one of these visits, they saw a makeshift bed, but they recognized my colleague and me about stitching and it was possible to learn it," she says.

Banerji and her friends borrowed patchwork machines from a friend who owned a bank and taught the women how to make them.

Kumbaya is now one of the largest grassroots initiatives in India, working with women-led institutions on issues such as water conservation, sustainable agriculture, health, and nutrition, public education, and community media.

Banerji says the idea for Kumbaya came from a visit to a

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