Our Mission
I dream that if a person knew the intention behind Sundari chocolate, their taste buds would be even more receptive and would cause such an internal stirring that it would move that person to also reach out and share, care for others.
— Michele K Palmer, Owner Sundari Chocolate
Chocolate that Makes a Difference
More than 50 percent of our proceeds support RHEST, a non-governmental organization that works with Nepalese women. RHEST helps prevent human trafficking, child exploitation, and supports education around women’s reproductive health and nutrition.
Each year thousands of Nepalese girls are trafficked into the sex industry in Nepal and India…and beyond.
Your purchase of Sundari Chocolate helps stop this.
Aruna’s Story:
It started in 1992. Dr. Aruna Uprety was attending a seminar on HIV/AIDS in Mumbai, India. While there, she visited several brothels where Nepalese women and girls worked as sex slaves, and she found that most were sold by traffickers who offered them false hopes of a good job or marriage. She found girls as young as 14 whose dreams of receiving an education were shattered. Her journey has helped them and done so much more.
Because of Dr. Aruna Uprety, 13,000 women in the last decade have been able to visit a doctor – many for the first time in their lives – thanks to her organization, RHEST, and STOP Girl Trafficking health and surgical camps. The camps are a lifeline to care for poor rural women with on-site evaluation and advice from female doctors. Most women receive immediate treatment, but for the most extreme cases of uterine prolapse – a debilitating condition caused by returning to heavy work too soon after childbirth – RHEST coordinates and pays for corrective surgery. But, more importantly, RHEST is educating the village women about healthcare, wellness, and proper nutrition.