Candles Helping to Fight Poverty

Gather + Harvest's beautiful candles helps to fight poverty, by working with a group of underprivileged Mum's living in Bali to create our unique candle jars.  

Gather + Harvest works with the Bali Street Mum's Project in Indonesia to assist Mum's living or begging on the streets of Bali to find work.  Through our candle project street Mum's are taught where to collect glass bottles from cafes and restaurants and how to clean, cut & sand the bottles into candle jars.  The Mum's are paid a fair wage for their work and provided with additional services, such as education and health care to help support themselves and their children out of poverty.   

In mid 2019, when we started making candles, we were working with one mum. Within 18 months Gather + Harvest has grown to now supporting nine mum's with paid employment.  Ketut, our first Mum we worked with, has been able to move her family out of the slums and into a small house with running water and electricity, as a direct result of our candles.  

WHY DO WE DO THIS?

We want our candles to not only smell great and look beautiful, but to also make a difference in the world.  Empowering women with safe and stable work options benefits not only her, but also her family and the community. 

The OECD reports that:

Women’s economic participation and their ownership and control of productive assets speeds up development, helps overcome poverty, reduces inequalities and improves children’s nutrition, health, and school attendance. Women typically invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their families and communities than men. 

By employing women and supporting them with employment opportunities we believe we can make a positive impact to the future of their lives, their children lives and the community around them.  

The simple act of reducing waste by recycling glass bottles and empowering women with work options is our small part in making our world a better place.