16 March 2023: Transcultural Vision Circles at CORO India & Mahila Mandal Women’s Federation, Mumbai

We celebrate the paradigm-shifting work of the women grassroots leaders of CORO and Savitri Mahila Mandal: Women’s Federation, our exemplary Home for Humanity in Mumbai, India.

While India suffers a deepening of polarisation and communal division, these grassroots

women leaders embody the power of collaboration and co-existence across all divides, as they boldly rewrite history and reshape society.

On 16 March, we as co-founders of Home for Humanity, together with Dr. Eda Elif Tibet (Founding Family of Home for Humanity, and director of the upcoming Home for Humanity movie) were privileged to participate in deep vision circles with grassroots women leaders.

The first vision circle with the women spearheading the ‘Right to Pee’ campaign, to demand their rights to sanitation and health, and who run the community toilets across their marginalised urban settlements (‘slums’) of Mumbai took place in the Sai Baba Hindu temple in Vashi Naka, a mixed settlement of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.

The second vision circle was with diverse women leaders of CORO flagship Women’s Empowerment Programme, and was held in the Madrasa-Mosque in Bainganwadi, a primarily Muslim settlement, in the presence of the local Maulana (Islamic teacher and leader of the Mosque), and several of his young Qur’anic students!

The final vision circle, with members of CORO’s dynamic Youth Forum programme, was held in Buddha Vihar, a Buddhist shrine in P.L. Lokhande Marg, a primarily Dalit (Buddhist) settlement.

Each vision circle included a demonstration of the remarkable practical achievements and impact of women leaders within the respective communities, against all odds.

This intensely enriching day brought vividly to life how CORO and SMM’s grassroots women leaders of all backgrounds have supported each other year after year in finding their ‘power within themselves and mobilised collectively their ‘power with each other’, in order to exercise their power to transform society, by defying oppression and marginalisation with dignity and creativity. They awaken our collective conscience and responsibility to transcend all man-made divides and collaborate harmoniously across diverse cultures to “Co-create Home on Earth” for all life.