Mumbai's Myna Mahila Foundation helps women in slums.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are getting married in May 2018, and have taken the unique route of requesting their guests to give aid to charities they support, instead of gifts.
This is where the Myna Mahila Foundation, a Mumbai-based charity, comes in. Founded in 2015, the charity, which works in slums, is one of the is one of the seven charities that the couple has asked people to give aid to.
Meghan had visited the charity, last year, and went on to write about her experience in Time magazine. However, according to the Hindustan Times, Kensington Palace on Monday denied that the couple had any formal links with the charities that were chosen.
The palace released a statement saying that the couple had chosen charities representative of issues that they are close to, like sports for social change, women empowerment, conservation, environment, homelessness, HIV and the armed forces.
The Myna Mahila Foundation empowers the women in Mumbai’s slums by giving them a trusted network, which supports them professionally and personally, with the aim to help these women grow.
The charity employs women from urban slums in Mumbai to manufacture and sell affordable, safe, and hygienic sanitary pads into the communities they come from. In addition to providing these women employment and a source of income, the foundation seeks to break taboos surrounding menstrual hygiene.
The charity also empowers its staff, by imparting training in women’s health, English, Mathematics and vital life skills like self-defence.
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Suhani Jalota, the founder of Myna Mahila, is optimistic and told the Hindustan Times that she is delighted to be a part of the royal wedding. She also mentioned that the support extended by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will help the foundation reach out to more urban slums in Mumbai.
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