Mukti Mission
Peter told us that Pandita Ramabai, the most controversial Indian woman of her time, founded Ramabai Mukti Mission in the nineteenth century. She encouraged education, famine relief, suggested Hindu be the national language to unite the country, fought for women’s rights and invented Ramabai Braille to open access to education for the blind.
in 1903 a group of concerned Australians joined together to support the work of Ramabai Mukti Mission to offer shelter, access to food and water, health care and education to women and children made destitute by famine in India.
As the work of the Mission grew, so did the number of Australians committed to supporting its work and an Australian Council was formed. The bonds of partnership grew over the years. In 2001, the Australian Council became incorporated as Ramabai Mukti Mission Australia Inc, then in 2009 changed its name to Mukti Australia Inc.
Mukti provides caring homes, where all destitute women and children are accepted, cared for, transformed and empowered to live with dignity.
As background, Peter gave us a few shocking statistics. One out of five girls in the developing world doesn’t complete sixth grade. Every year 14 million girls are married before the age of 18. One in seven girls is married before age 15, while some child brides are as young as 9 years old.
An education can make a huge difference. Educated women and girls are healthier, have the skills to make choices over their own future and have the power to lift themselves, their communities and their countries out of poverty. A girl's income will increase by up to 25% for every year she stays in school. Mukti also caters to vulnerable boys and children with special needs. Mukti is all about rescuing, restoring and releasing. They can’t change the world but can help one family, one community at a time.
This Rotary year, RC Karrinyup will sponsor two children in Sri Lanka, Reman - aged 7 and his sister Elfreeda - aged 5 and two children in India, Pooja - aged 11 and her sister Gaura - aged 10. We look forward to supporting these children to complete their education through to high school and beyond.