Most women who live in the basti lack formal educations, and they have few opportunities to develop the means for financial independence. Since 2006, the ACT sewing classes have offered these women the chance to learn a skill practical for both housework and earning wages.

Each day, we run four 90-minute classes, ten women in each unit. The sounds of the foot-powered sewing machines fill the ACT center as they learn to make shirts, kurte, salwar pants, and other clothes. Take a minute to look through the gallery of miniatures below!