Recently, more than 1,500 women graduates of AMMACHI Labs’ unique computerized vocational education and life-enrichment education courses poured into Amritapuri, Kerala for the two-day event “A Celebration of Empowerment.”  This was the capstone event of AMMACHI Labs’ Women Empowerment project, co-funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and Amrita University.

The chief guests of the celebration, who graced the dias along with Amma, were Her Excellency the Governor of Kerala Smt. Sheila Dikshit; the Head of the United Nations in India, Ms. Lise Grande; and renowned film actor Kunchacko Boban.

Ms. Grande praised the AMMACHI Labs’ Women Empowerment project, saying, “[The United Nations] scours the world looking for the best projects, the most innovative projects, the projects which will have the highest impact. The one we’ve chosen for India is this project, and we chose it because AMMACHI Labs is the most creative way of empowering women. Of all of the projects which the UN funds around the world, this is the one dearest to our heart. It’s the one were most proud of. And it’s the one that we intend to take to the rest of the world so that they can learn from what you have achieved.

Over a span of 18 months, 3,136 women were trained via the 28 Ammachi Labs’ Women Empowerment Centers across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, both permanent and mobile. In the process, they set up 30 Self Help Groups, seven small businesses, and earned a collective income of more than Rs. 10 lakhs within 3 months of completing the course. Courses included plumbing, fabric-painting and jewelry-making. Furthermore, the graduates also led more than 70 community awareness and action campaigns, ranging from alcohol abuse to environmental protection.

Governor Dikshit praised Amma as both a humanitarian and a spiritual leader. “Amma, in the spirit with which she works—with love and compassion and an ever-smiling face—gives us all the courage to stand up and live by the ideals that she has taught us. … My congratulations and grateful thanks to her for having given confidence and equality to our women.”

Award-winning actor Kunchacko Boban offered his support of the project and said, “Women Empowerment … is something the Mata Amritanandamayi Math understands, not just in words, but in deeds.”

The program concluded with a short talk by Amma. “Today is a day of joy and satisfaction,” Amma said. “Women face many difficulties and challenges in daily life. It is good if we can help inspire them. The difficulties that the common woman faces in her family and social life are not small. There are economic problems, family problems, safety problems… For women in such circumstances to be able to find a profession and thereby stand on their own two feet comes as a great source of relief for them. That said, even then, problems persist—problems at home, problems with their children, problems at work… When these combine, it can be a tremendous weight to bear. When such women are provided with self-confidence, training and wise-counseling, their lives develop new meaning. In reality, the key to woman’s liberty lies in her own hands. In order to realize this, women need determination, forbearance and constant effort. On our part, we need to provide them with a little encouragement and guidance. If provided with the right opportunities, any woman can become a role-model for society.”
 
Amma has hugged more than 32 million people in 20 countries around the world. When asked where she gets the energy to embrace so many people while simultaneously building and running a world-wide humanitarian movement, Amma says simply, “Where there is Love, everything is effortless”. Amma’s humanitarian projects network, Embracing the World, active in 40 countries, has developed a reputation for outstanding disaster-relief work and humanitarian activities

Amma will be at the Best Western, 181 Boston Post Road West in Marlborough, MA from June 27th-29th and all are invited to receive a personal blessing. Programs include inspirational music, meditation, spiritual discourse, and personal blessings. Numbered tokens for individual blessings are distributed prior to the start of each program and are limited by time constraints.

Free programs are on:

·        June 27^th at 7:30 pm (tokens at 5:45 pm)
June 28^th from 11am till 5pm (tokens at 9:30 am)
June 29^th at 10am (tokens at 8:30 am)
June 29th at 7 pm (tokens at 5:30 pm) - Devi Bhava, a celebration devoted to world peace.

For program info, visit ammanewengland.org/tour, call 716.226.6223 or email ammanewengland@gmail.com.