More than 50% of students at Palam’s school are girls. They have graduated and gone on to become teachers, nurses, biotechnologists, accountants and IT specialists. Two are currently studying to become doctors.

Kousalya grew up in the Palam community where her father earned a living at the soap workshop, funding her degree in biotechnology. Now she proudly puts her education to use as the soap unit manager there. For this community in South India, it’s more than a bar of soap, it’s a bridge to equality. Their plant-based, eco-friendly soap funds generations of upward mobility. The word Palam stamped into each bar means bridge. With ingenuity, hard work and long-standing partners like Ten Thousand Villages, the soap makers have created a bestselling product. They have overcome discriminatory social systems and stereotypes to build an award-winning school and a sustainable, thriving community whose members are respected in society. It’s a story of shared prosperity and well-being.

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