This Women's Day, I am fundraising to help former Devadasi women start independent businesses

Hi Friends,
As part of a Women's Day initiative for Milaap, I am helping to fund one group of female grassroots entrepreneurs in India. Please help me to provide loans to to them so that they can start their businesses successfully.
Milaap works on the basis of loans, not donations. You are helping these women by giving them a hand up and not a hand out. You will be repaid by them slowly as their businesses grow. You will also be kept informed of their progress.

Read below for full details.

Rekha, Nirmala and Bharti, hailing from the Athani village of Belgaum, are women who have successfully escaped the clutches of the Devadasi system, prevalent in the region. In this system, young girls are offered and 'married' to a local temple deity and must serve the temple for the rest of their lives. Despite the illegality of the system, it continues to be practiced even today. Due to the social stigma associated with Devadasis, the price that these unfortunate women had to pay is that they have been left to raise their children as single parents. Despite the odds, they have successfully emerged as small-scale entrepreneurs dealing in clothes trade, Kirani shop and tailoring. Now, to generate more income, they have decided to apply for a loan of Rs 60000, using which they will purchase more raw materials and tailoring machines, and expand their businesses. With this, they hope to increase the standard of living of their children, so that they can be well educated and do not end up being forced into the same path as their mothers.

Becoming entrepreneurs also offers their children a better future, helps integrate them back into society, and eventually break free of the vicious cycle of prostitution that most Devadasis are doomed to.