"I am still learning because there is always something new."

Rabila Aburkani - SAHARA COLLECTIVE SINCE 2010

Rabila Aburkani is the go-to person at the Sahara Collective. All the artisans there, young and old, respect her humility and eagerness to learn. Even though she's married to Aburkani, the head of the collective, they know she's worked hard for her position as manager and has grown tremendously in the last twenty years since she came to Mumbai.

"I was married very young," Rabila says. "I didn't even know the meaning of marriage. Life in the city was fast-paced and much more difficult than in the village. I learnt everything here," she says. "I am still learning because there is always something new."

Her experiences in the city and at Sahara have shaped how she sees her children's futures. "I was neither good nor serious in studies," she says. "I especially want my daughter to be independent and earn her own money. There's a confidence and satisfaction in being helpful to others and having a livelihood".

She often thinks about her father, who passed away two years ago. She misses him tremendously and remembers all that he taught her, which she had not taken seriously as a young girl. She wants to pass that wisdom to her childern.