Connecting communities
Bringing a wider awareness of @schoolforsdg4 to my community.
I've been chatting with @azizbd about the mothers programme at @schoolforsdg4
Over the week while we've been talking I have been researching Bangladesh, specifically Syhlet.
What a beautiful place.
We all live in our own bubbles to a certain degree. I wanted to know about his country and understand the customs of the woman I wanted to connect with.
Particularly with reference to gift giving I read that often there is an expectation to reciprocate. That people are proud, and an overly generous gift would leave them obligated. Gifts are humbly received and are often not opened in front of the person who gives them.
That sounds a lot like how I feel about gifts too actually.
We have had a biannual clean up in my area last week. I was astounded by the degree of waste. People were throwing out so many items that could have been given to charity stores and sold to someone who wanted them (post to follow).
Something else I had read about gift giving when visiting Bangladesh, was that beauty products and cosmetics are a gift all woman across the social divide liked to receive in Bangladesh.
I looked up some local stores and found that brands that we come across easily in Australia are highly sort, by even the affluent woman in Bangladesh.
It got me thinking about the things I have in my own home that I haven't even used.
As a low maintenance type of girl I imagined some of my friends medicine cabinets were no doubt overflowing with products.
After seeing the excess waste on the streets and also wanting to be sensitive to the obligation of gifts, I decided to put a call out to my local friends.
I asked them to consider clearing out their cabinets ahead of Christmas and to bring unused items to me, to share with my new friends. These women do feel like new friends. Following them on steemit and their children has been an honour.
Yesterday I put this on facebook to create a sisterhood between our communities.
Not a charity.
Not a gift.
An initiative to share with other women, the items we will not use.
An effort to also reduce the amount of waste in my own community.
I have heard from a number of friends, some who I haven't spoken to for a while, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to reconnect too.
A number of them are comparative fashionista compared to me, so I'm excited to have them on board.
A few people are now collecting within there own groups as well. I have asked for as new items only and for them to be sourced from their homes.
I have also had the opportunity to share the wonderful story of the school and it's passionate founder @azizbd and the courageous mothers who are working with him to secure a future for their children.
When I first asked @azizbd for ideas for an appropriate gift to give the mothers he suggested a new year gift of a new sharee each.
I researched the wonderful world of Bangladeshi sharees and was bamboozled by the array of styles.
I decided to commit to saving up the SBD from all my future posts until I have enough to transfer to @azizbd so they can buy a sharee of their choosing.
So the earnings from this and all future posts will go towards the New Year New Sharee initiative.
A new sharee for the coming year sounds great.
Tea plantation shot credit -maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com