Sewing and Beyond: Kanchan’s Wednesdays at Sakhi Empowerment Center

By Henry Zhang

When Kanchan sits on the floor at Sambhali Trust’s Sakhi Empowerment Center in Jodhpur, a bright circle of embroidery in her hands, her thoughts extend much wider than sewing. At 34, this mother of three once imagined the Empowerment Center as simply a place to learn sewing. Today, it has also become a place where new skills, friendships, and ideas have opened an entirely different sense of what is possible.

Kanchan first heard about the Sakhi Empowerment Center when Sambhali teachers came walking door-to-door on her street. They stopped at her home, explained what the Empowerment Center offers, and how it could support women who wanted to learn and grow. “I was motivated to learn how to sew,” she recalls, so she applied to join and was admitted right away. 

Soon, the Sakhi Empowerment Center became a part of her daily life. Kanchan is happy and enthusiastic to come each day. She enjoys practicing new techniques, gradually moving from basic stitches to more complex patterns. “Now I am able to sew properly,” she says, proud that she can create clothes and household items for herself and her family.

But Kanchan’s favorite part of the Sakhi Empowerment Center goes beyond sewing. Each week, she joins Workshop Wednesdays, when the students pause their regular lessons and turn to focusing on practical topics closely related to their lives—health, gender-based violence, the environment, and more. “Every Wednesday I participate in a different workshop and understand so much new information about the topic,” she says. These sessions help connect big ideas to everyday decisions, making knowledge feel personal and useful.

Over time, Kanchan also discovered something unexpected from the Empowerment Center: a community. Sitting side by side with others in classes and workshops, she made many new friends. She enjoyed laughter, mutual encouragement, and the sense of learning and growing together. “I really enjoy the new friendships,” she shares.

Kanchan has also discovered some other skills. She likes to study and has taken every opportunity to keep learning. With the help of teachers and volunteers who have come to Sakhi Empowerment Center, she has begun to speak English, which had seemed an unachievable goal just a few months ago. With each new word she learns, each new stitch she perfects, and each new workshop she attends, Kanchan's world opens a bit more, and her confidence grows.