Embers International Inc. is a global organization that seeks to (i) protect, restore, and empower victims of injustice, and (ii) catalyze sustainable transformation by creating access to opportunities and resources. We strive to break intergenerational cycles of exploitation and prevent human trafficking by uplifting the marginalized through our programs and advocacy. Our current operations are strategically focused on helping the mothers and children in India’s slums and red-light districts through critical partnerships with local NGOs. 

There is hope for restoration, healing, and empowerment, even in the most desperately challenging life circumstances. When you look at an ember, what do you see? As an ember flickers, we don't see a fading end to a tiny light; we see the potential of a roaring fire. With a little fanning, a whole new future is possible. 

The Japanese art form known as Kintsugi is a beautiful process through which broken pottery is restored and made new. The broken pieces are not thrown away but instead beheld by Kintsugi artist for a while. After the fractures are named, they are mended with gold, being made into a more beautiful and valuable piece than the original. Pottery that might have otherwise been discarded is given a new life—restored to be new. Importantly, the pottery’s fractures are not hidden; instead, they become a beautiful and integral part of the pottery’s future. 

We do not cover over the pain of the past—rather, we seek to walk alongside our clients, offering tools and resources by which they might begin to mend the fractures of their past. We walk with them with the desire for our clients to experience freedom that leads to flourishing. Our work is generative love in action, furthering our clients’ stories of freedom by helping them break the cycle of violence and exploitation for themselves, their children, and their children’s children.

“Kintsugi masters in Japan look at the fractures and they look at [the broken pottery] as if it is complete in itself—that it is beautiful. It has its own meaning. And then they will mend, but they will mend to make new, rather than trying to fix it.”

– Makoto Fujimura

Artist Advocate of Embers International