ACIP - Asian Classics Input Project

Dear supporters,

Thank you for joining us on our transformation journey. Your support has helped us to go through another year happily. And your help strengthens our back to strengthen women in Romania and to support them in their development.

Now it's about our vision for 2020. It's a joy to share it with you. I hope from the bottom of my heart that we will continue to accompany each other on our journey.

Dörte asked me a few questions about where the trip will be going to. I'm happy to answer them.

What will happen to the women who have already completed the programme?

It is one of our values to bring people together and to connect them with each other. In the last three years there have been two groups of women who have completed the courses. We encourage contact between them and help them to further improve their skills. I.e., we help them to collaborate and to work together. In the following year, we will focus on providing the necessary warm environment in which relationships can grow and prosper.

What concrete support will there be?

We will support both women's groups that have been involved so far with the following activities:

1. We start with a meeting of all women who have been supported by Threads of Wisdom since 2017. The aim is to bring everyone together, strengthen the community and further promote mutual support.

2. We will organize weekly meetings where they can share their goals for the future together.   Here they can share how they use the knowledge and skills they have acquired in the program to make the most of their own life and have success.

3. We will encourage them and help them to make a plan how they can plant seeds with a partner for their success in order to achieve their goals.

4. We will connect them with local designers and sewing centres to give them inspiration and help to discover their development opportunities and develop their skills.

5. We will support them financially by covering part of the costs arising from tool and material requirements.

6. We will put a "godfather" at their side, who can help them individually if necessary.

7. We will make an offer of regular meetings about "self-care". We have already had positive experiences with our partner Bourjois Romana, whom we will bring back on board.

Will there be a new group? With the same concept?

Our plan is to reach more women and therefore also to start 2020 with a new group. The interviews with the women who want to participate in the programme are planned for January and February. We hope that the new group can start in March.

We will, however, do this somewhat differently than before due to the learnings. Instead of the women staying among themselves and all learning in a sewing studio, we create an individual connection to a sewing studio or a designer for each woman. Provided they already have basic sewing skills. All others can acquire these - as before - in the ILBAH sewing studio. For this we need 3,000 Euro.

What's the next step for the women's group Nepal 2020? What support will there be?

The program in Nepal is an experiment from which we want to learn how we can help more there. At the moment there is a smooth cooperation with great effect on the lives of the women. We will be back in Nepal in December 2019 to see the results and talk to the women about their experiences and how we can best help him. On this basis we will then concretely plan the cooperation for 2020.

Furthermore we want to connect the women in Romania with the women in Nepal and thus establish a relationship to a physically far away place. We will suggest the team leader there to organize weekly meetings, as we do here in Romania.

What else are you planning to do with book covers and trips to Nepal?

By the end of 2020 we want to have 2,000 book covers ready, which we will make available for Mongolia in cooperation with ACIP, to save the huge collection there. In order to sew the book covers we need material (3,000 Euro) plus transport costs.

In 2020 we will travel twice to Nepal (July and December). We want to strengthen the group in Nepal so that it can produce the local need for book covers itself. In December we will then be able to collect the Learnings to plan 2020. If we decide on another three-month programme and train five more women in Nepal, it will cost 2,400 Euros.

So far we have mainly travelled to Nepal to deliver the book covers produced in Romania. It is cheaper to travel there in person and take the book covers with you than to send them by freight. The launch of the new women's support programme in Nepal was a courageous step and we will see how this will change our work. This step was only possible through your support and trust in our vision.

The program is growing and becoming more professional. This requires professional support and can no longer be done on a voluntary basis. That's why we only have to pay Nour Ibrahim a small salary of 1,000 euros a month, i.e. 12,000 euros needed for 2020. For the professional bookkeeping there are monthly costs of 100 Euros, i.e. 1,200 Euros a year.

With your support the project has come incredibly far. All the way to Nepal! And it does great things for the women and for the protection of the old wisdom texts.

Now it's up to you. Only you can give the tailwind it needs for next year. Regular donations help us to plan better. With which much more can be moved, of course.

We need at least 2,000 Euro per month. That's not really much for what's being moved with it. We already have 550 euros. Can you do the rest? - Every Euro helps!

I ask you from the bottom of my heart, continue to support us - gladly with a regular donation.

Thank you very much, also on behalf of the women, for your generous support!

Yours, Nour Ibrahim