Giv-Wear: Jewlery Company by Sukria Malique

Picture: Handmade jewelry created by Sukria Malique

How it Started:

I was born in Bangladesh, the world's eighth most populous country. The "country of Bengal" is known for its long sea beach, national cricket team, and the Bengal tiger.
I was fortunate enough to have a good childhood. My family and I lived in a modest house, we had sufficient amount of food, and my sister and I were able to go to school. Poverty was common in my area, but no one lived in life-threatening conditions.
I arrived to the United States at the age of five and lived in Metro Detroit ever since. Since I lived in Bangladesh for a short period of time and did not travel outside of my region, I was unaware of the rough conditions many people in Bangladesh face.
To understand more about my country and culture, I liked "GMB Akash" on Facebook. GMB Akash is a Bangladeshi documentary photographer who shoots documentary photo series. It works like this: he visits different locations (mostly poverty-stricken), interviews people, takes pictures of them, and shares their stories on social media.
I did not know that the Bangladeshi community faced many difficulties: forced prostitution and human trafficking, lack of medical care, coastal flooding destroying property, death of a loved one as a result of poverty, and child labor.
Child poverty is the issue that struck me the most. I remember reading one of his stories about two child laborers. These boys work all day at a factory and only earn a combined income of $12 per month. This is their story:

Over the last few months, I volunteered as a tutor for three students at a Detroit Public School. The children I volunteered are 5-6 years old, and I can not bear to see them working in a factory instead of getting education.
That's the thing about child labor. In many countries, children as young as 4 years old work in unfavorable conditions. The work in these type of industries: agriculture, mining, brick kilns, etc.
Currently, there are around 218 million child laborers throughout the world (United Nations).

My Solution:

GMB Akash posted a thought-provoking post:

In some countries, children work for 13 hours for less than 20 cents a day. I wanted to help out and on the same day GMB Akash posted this picture, I started my company: Giv-Wear. I have had past experience in creating jewelry, and I wished to use my talent to make a difference. My goal is to make jewelry and sell them for low-price ($2-$5). A certain percentage of the money profited will be donated to organizations that fight child labor.

As of now, I wish to start on a small scale and focus my attention to donating money to organizations that fight child labor. As my company expands, I would like to expand services to other countries facing this situation.

My biggest desire is to see these children back in school.