In 2008, Freedom Firm’s school and micro-enterprise business moved to a new day center, a rented three-room building on the beautiful six-acre campus of Smyrna Fellowship Trust, a local NGO. With proper school desks, alphabet posters and classic artwork on the walls, and pretty curtains in the windows, the spacious main room of the building has been transformed into a well-appointed schoolroom. Morning classes emphasize English and math, and thanks to further partnership with Smyrna, the girls can take computer classes as well. In the adjoining room, shelves of beads and fabrics provide the backdrop for Freedom Firm’s growing jewelry business, where the girls learn the intricacies of creating handmade earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, as well as silk bags and traditional aari work. These beautiful items sell at many venues across India, the U.K., and U.S.A. with the proceeds providing the girls with a good wage as well as an education in handling money.
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