I was honoured to interview Dr Badar Siddiqui of The Al Falah Trust and Embroidery Project, December 2011.
The Al Falah Trust and Embroidery Project was founded by Mrs. Shahina Siddiqui in 1995.
The organisation supports disadvantaged and marginalised women from, Taluka, Mirpur, Sakhro, Thatha (Tatta) in the province of Sindh.
Traditional embroidery and home accessories are produced using traditional patterns and colours that promote their rich heritage which would otherwise be lost or forgotten.
I thoroughly enjoyed the course and my participation with all the other candidates.
I also enrolled on the second course Social Enterprise: Turning Ideas into Action.
Lesson 3.11, all participants were asked to submit a video about their social enterprise and enter the International Social Innovation Challenge 2016.
I won my social pitch and would like to congratulate Palma Milicevic and Emma Butler who were awarded consultancy and support.
Thank you to all the candidates who entered and voted for me.
Many thanks to Dr Sara Calvo, Jeremy Wade and all the other mentors.
Best wishes to everyone with their social enterprises.
This month I completed the WFTO Asia - Introduction to Gender course and my Six Items Challenge 2017.
Attended The Muslim Lifestyle Show said hello to the Macmillan Cancer Support volunteers and purchased fairtrade dates from the Zaytoun stand.
Travelled to Manchester, UK to pay respects to my parents. A year has passed since my beautiful mother passed away from metastatic breast cancer.
Enjoyed a vegetarian lunch and interviewed Dr Sara Parker who has designed two fairtrade puppet sets with fairtrade producers in Nepal.
Celebrated Fashion Revolution Week.
Continued to mentor and support my World Pulse Change Maker Joanna in Poland.
Last year I had a couple of lovely online conversations with Abi Weeds Managing Director and Emma Hopewell of Odylique - Essential (Organics) Ltd.
I was particularly interested to support Odylique as it is a leading brand of cosmetics based in the United Kingdom that pride them selves on promoting their organic, vegan, fairtrade, cruelty free ethos and specialise in treating problematic sensitive, reactive and allergy prone skin.
This November I finally managed to meet with Heather Masoud and the team at Zaytoun.
I had an instrumental and life changing meeting to discuss fairtrade with the Muslim Council of Britain, attended a debate organised by the Brent Fairtrade Network about the future of fairtrade.
Produced bean to bar chocolate with Bruce Crowther MBE in Garstang and enjoyed a beautiful Emirati lunch with Mr Andy Biggs Chief Operating Officer at Traidcraft and his wife at the wonderful Sheikh Mohammad Centre for Cultural Understanding, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
This October I was delighted to be interviewed for Anti-Poverty Week by marketing strategist and humanitarian Anna Sadeghpour for her blog Anahata Dubai's Community Service Blog.
Volunteered with the Pink Caravan UAE team for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Visited Ms Le Thant Thuy and Dr Mike Thair of Indochine Natural and met artists at the Stepping Stone Centre, Penang, Malaysia
Was nominated for an Environmental Award by the Super Sisters of Dubai.
This October we are honoured to have been featured in an interview by Dubai writer and digital marketing strategist Anna Sadeghpour. Read our interview below:
October 16 marks the first day of Anti-Poverty Week, a week dedicated to strengthening public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship around the world. I met with the spirited Sabeena Ahmed, creator and owner of online store The Little Fair Trade Shop. To say the least, Sabeena is a beautiful lady on a big mission! At the forefront of the fairtrade movement in the UAE, she’s all about promoting the principles of fairtrade as a means to fight poverty.
Fair Trade Lebanon
In this month recap I've talked about my Ramadan reflections and participating in my first ever International Fair Trade Towns Conference 2016, Baskinta, Lebanon.
Fair trade Banana Lesson Plan
I was invited to teach fairtrade to a group of 25 children at the Star International School, Mirdif, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The children were enthusiastic and eager to learn about fairtrade.
I decided to introduce the banana supply chain and used role play cards for them to understand and emphasise with the difficulties and challenges faced by farmers and banana workers.
My Visit to Traidcraft
I recently visited Alistair Menzies at Traidcraft's head office, Gateshead, UK and was invited to provide input for a video the Traidcraft team is producing for FairtradeUAE.
This was my second visit to Gateshead and I was interested to learn about Traidcraft's new initiatives and fair trade products.