Artisan: Rishilpi Development Projects

Rishilpi, a nonprofit, nongovernmental development organization in southwest Bangladesh was founded by two Italian missionaries who wanted to improve the lives of people of the "untouchable" Rishi caste. Embroidery, wheat straw, palm leaf and jute sections provide work for poor women from rural villages who have been widowed or abandoned. Some women twist jute into cord at home and others knot macramé crafts at the center. Men at the Rishilpi leather center, many of them disabled, fashion wood and leather products. Rishilpi Development Projects provides much needed income to more than 2,000 people who would otherwise be outcasts in the community.   Ten Thousand Villages purchases palm baskets, date leaf coasters, wheat straw paper cards and nativities from Rishilpi Development Projects.