Empower Women | Protect the Planet

Yani grew up in a small village in Central Java. Her father died when she was just a little girl.  Her widowed mother was only able to feed her four children from selling the vegetables she grew on their little farm.

Like her older sister, Ani, Yani had to stop school at a young age (15) to work and support the family. While Ani went to work in Jakarta (the capital city of Indonesia) far from the little village they grew up in, Yani went to work in a garment factory near her village, where she learned to sew.

The work days at the factory were long and the building was hot and crowded. All the money that Yani earned went to help their youngest sister finish school.

A few years later, Yani got married to a young man from a village about four hours away. Yani went to live with her husband for a couple years but life was hard in that village. While her husband worked on the little family farm and sold the vegetables he grew, Yani stayed home with their baby boy. The little family struggled to make ends meet. After several months, they decided to move back to Yani’s village where Yani returned to work in the garment factory.

To supplement their meagre income, Yani decided to join the FAVE Bag sewing team. She is able to work on the bags at home, sewing in the evenings and on weekends. Their hope is that they can use the extra income to help put their sons (10 and 2 1/2 years old) through high school, a privilege that Yani did not get.