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Geetha Pai: Chiles for Women and Orphans by Dave DeWitt 
| Geetha Pai at the Taj Majal |
New Mexico’s Geetha Pai is helping the people of India in two ways. In the first way, she gains jobs for the women who make her chile-emblazoned baskets and bags. In the second way, she donates all the profits from those baskets and bags to the children at Mother Theresa’s orphanage in Calcutta. Here’s how it happened. Geetha, originally from India, was disenchanted with her career as a restaurateur and spicy products manufacturer. While visiting her native land, on an impulse she dropped in on the orphanage of Mother Theresa and was immediately stricken with the desire to help. But she knew that just donating money was not the answer. She felt that she must lead a new project that had its roots in Indians helping Indians. But what? 
| A Chile-Emblazoned Jute Bag |
The answer came from her network of contacts in the Indian crafts communities in various locales. The country had talented artisans and a wealth of materials from nature–such as wood in villages near Bangalore, silk near Madras, jute in Calcutta, and banana and palm leaf fiber in the state of Kerala in the south. Geetha realized that Indian artisans could easily fashion these materials into boxes, book markers, coasters, bags, and baskets. But what designs should they have. Well, since Geetha would be selling the crafts from her office in Las Cruces, she knew that the designs would have to have appeal in the Southwest. The designs have lizards, cactus, roadrunners, owls–and chiles. Geetha’s company, Baskets and Bags, now sells eight chile-emblazoned jute bags, plus recipe boxes, napkin rings, coasters, trivets, pencil holders, and bowls with various chile designs on them. She sells them to hot shops, web retailers, and even large national chains like Cost Plus. She requires that the companies in India supplying these products hire a certain percentage of women, and she makes regular inspections to assure that they comply. Geetha is getting closer and closer to her goal of providing breakfast every day for each of the 380 children in the orphanage. Top of Page
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