Share & Care supports Shabana Azmi’s NGO for women empowerment

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The Share & Care Foundation has announced its support to Bollywood actress and activist Shabana Azmi’s NGO, Mijwan Welfare Society. Both the organizations have a long, nearly parallel history when it comes to empowering deserving women and children in India’s remote rural villages, a Share & Care press release said.

The Mijwan Welfare Society was founded by legendary poet and Shabana Azmi’s father, Kaifi Azmi, in his hometown of Mijwan, a tiny village in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. He believed that India’s remarkable economic progress is only meaningful if it reaches out to rural India, where 80 percent of the population lives, but are continuously denied access to opportunities.

After Kaifi Azmi’s death in 2002, Shabana Azmi and her goddaughter Namrata Goyal took up the task of carrying his dream forward, including furthering programs such as the Kaifi Azmi High School for Girls, Kaifi Azmi Inter College for Girls, Kaifi Azmi Computer Training Center and Kaifi Azmi Sewing & Embroidery Center. Today, Mijwan is a success story of women journeying past the patriarchal conforms of village society. The hope for a better tomorrow beats in the hearts of rural women who have taken charge of their own destinies, a sentiment the Share & Care Foundation shares and has worked toward for more than 34 years, the press release said.

Share & Care, founded in New Jersey in 1982, first partnered with Mijwan Welfare Society nearly a decade ago by assisting them in setting up a computer lab, and also participating in vocational rehab and livelihood skills for women and girls. Today, both organizations have successfully continued their good work helping marginalized women and children – Mijwan out of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, and Share & Care out of Paramus, New Jersey.