Women Healing Women: A Model of Hope for Oppressed Women Everywhere - Softcover

Women Healing Women in India recounts the true story of MAHER, a remarkable project and center for battered women and children located near Pune, India. Founded in 1997, the project has provided refuge to more than 1250 women, half of whom might otherwise have been murdered, committed suicide, or starved to death. Maher is an interfaith community that honors all religions and strongly repudiates caste distinctionsmaking it a rare beacon shining new hope upon some of the gravest problems in India and around the world. Much has been written on the plight of women in Indian society, but this book presents an effective practical response to the appalling injustices. Maher offers compelling testimony to the power of women in community to overcome some of the most oppressive social conditions, and thus offers inspiration and hope for oppressed women and children across the globe. Women Healing Women in India is rich with storiespoignant firsthand accounts by women and children whose lives have been transformed by the Maher project. Notable insights and statistics about the plight of oppressed women in India and everywhere are woven throughout this book. Later chapters explore the larger implications this pioneering work, with guidance for implementing similar projects elsewhere. The operating principles and practices implemented at Maher are transferable to other potential projects, both in India and abroad. This book articulates this potential, and recounts how Maher has already begun a training program for social workers, clergy, and other clinical professionals, who take these lessons back to their home communities and begin to implement them there. Among the reasons for Maher's uniquenessand suc