The Green Tara Project

The Green Tara Project is what I have named my journey to empower women and girls.  It began as a feeling, in 2009, when I happened to come across  Nicholas Kristof’s NYT column about Assiya Rafiq.  Her harrowing story, her determination, her courage, and her will to stand up against overwhelming odds just floored me.  And then I followed the threads:  from Assiya Rafiq to Mukhtar Bibi; from Mukhtar Bibi to Half the Sky; from Half the Sky to Ruchira Gupta; and so on and so on.  Before I knew it, I had read about half a dozen women, equipped with nothing more nor less than their brains and spirit who were living to make a difference, not for money or fame, but because it was the right thing to do.  I wanted in.  And the more I read, the more ideas I got.  And The Green Tara Project was hatched.

My ultimate aim for The Green Tara Project is to be a people/training/ guidance resource focusing on self defense, karate, and cognitive behavior for any woman’s organization to supplement their empowerment activities for at-risk women and girls. There is a Triad that operates in my own life and has led me to heal my own wounds.  I strive to share what I have learned with women and girls who live in, or have been rescued from, extreme risk environments so that they may find the strength within themselves to gain self confidence and self esteem that will power them throughout their lives.

My trip to India is the first step in educating myself firsthand on the issues that women’s organizations face when working with a victimized population, on what has worked, what hasn’t, and explore the ways that a program’s success in empowerment is actually measured.