Studio 64
is hosting an art day fundraiser to support the women and children of Nepal through Harambee Arts and Shakti Samuha.
Saturday August 8th from 1 - 4pm.
A $20 per person donation is requested to help these two great organizations.
Come play with art, listen to music by the MachiaVelvets and enjoy some food., Maria Lemus will be selling home made pupusas.
Come for fun and a great cause.
Human traffickers are taking advantage of the chaos created by the massive earthquake in Nepal to target vulnerable young girls and women. The 7.8 magnitude quake killed more than 7,000 people and devastated poor rural communities. People are sleeping outdoors in makeshift tents and coping with monsoon weather conditions, torrential rains and wind. These emergency conditions make it easy for traffickers to achieve their goal.
Girls and young women from remote Nepali communities have long been targeted. Parents are convinced that their child will be offered a better life and a paltry sum is paid in exchange for the girl. Others are abducted, drugged and wake up on a train. The majority of them end up in Indian brothels where tens of thousands are currently working in appalling conditions.
The UN and local NGOs estimate 12,000 to 15,000 girls a year are trafficked from Nepal.
Harambee Arts Nepal partners with Shakti Samuha, an organization founded and staffed by trafficking survivors that offers a myriad of services to survivors, including safe houses, vocational training and education. Harambee Arts uses Expressive Arts Therapy for healing and empowerment. For the past four years, a group of 7 survivors has been involved in their own personal healing process and now they are trainers in exactly the same techniques that helped bring them back to life. As part of our partnership, they offer free trainings within the community to other survivors and those at serious risk.
Money raised from this event will support the women of Harambee Arts/Shakti Samuha to travel to remote districts to use the arts to educate communities about the risks of trafficking, to provide security and to train others in our methodology.
All proceeds from the MachiaVelvets, MACH 2: Reckless Futurism CD's sold during the week leading up to this event (including at our Friday 7PM show at AQUS Café in Petaluma) will be donated to support recovery efforts of the Nepal earthquake!
