Autumn marks the beginning of the festive season in India and especially in Bengal. We look forward to the Durga Puja. People from all walks of life, whatever their occupation, take time off to buy new clothes, and do up their homes and themselves. This also the transition from summer into winter, the days are shortened and the temperature cools considerably. And tourists throng to the city at this time of the year, as relatives start coming down too, to be with their families. We, at Sasha, bring out our best collections from our artisans to gratify the spirit of the festivities with PARAMA and TSUTRA.
Sasha and RASA were extremely happy to have participated in the recently concluded National Convention and AGM of Fair Trade Forum-India from 19-21, September at Bhuj, Gujarat. It is always a happy moment to meet fellow Fair Traders, invite new members into the family and exchange notes.
This month, as a run-up to the Gender Campaign launch, Debanjana & Roshni from SSA conducted a workshop on Fairtrade & Gender awareness at a renowned girl’s college, Basanti Devi College, Kolkata.
Oxfam-Magasins du Monde visits Sasha
For the same campaign, a four-member team from Oxfam-Magasins du Monde visited Sasha. The team comprised of Sebastien & Douchka from Oxfam-Magasins; and two representatives from the Belgian press to conduct a photo shoot, interviews and make documentaries. They visited six of our producer Group and also interacted with the campaign team at SSA and Sasha staff.
The India School Project
We were invited by a Switzerland based foundation ‘The India School Project’ to assess the viability of social businesses in the villages of their on-going interventions with women for as larger women empower program. On 12th September Roshni & Debanjana visited Sagardwip II to facilitate a participative discussion with the women to identify need-based Income generation opportunities in the community and rank them to help prepare future strategies for business development.
T-sutra : an exclusive exhibition
Sasha organized T-sutra -an exclusive exhibition in association with renowned fashion designer Sonam Dubal to respect Fairtrade values, traditions and the environment through contemporary fashion & design from September 18th to September 20th, 2015 at Alliance Francaise, 72 Lodhi Estate, New Delhi. This is our third outing with Tsutra and we already look forward to the next one.
PARAMA, our customary, pre-Puja exhibition began at the Sasha Shop. PARAMA brings together an eclectic collection of sarees, indo-westerns, scarves, stoles, accessories, fashion jewelry, home textiles, furniture, decorations, gifts and natural body care for women of today. PARAMA will be on from 21st September.
November will be a very eventful month for all of us at Sasha & SSA. We have the launch of the multi-nation Gender Campaign on 12th November at the ICCR, Kolkata and the Annual Fair Trade Fair at Ice Skating Rink, Kolkata from 15-19, November.