Rida Ghareb
Rida Ghareb was born in 1956, married to a Pharmacist Nasri Bannoura who stopped working since 2000 due to health reasons, where Rida started to be the only financial support to her family, Rida is a nurse who worked at St. John hospital in Jerusalem until 1994, due to restrictions in movements, she was not able to go there, so the same year she founded a workshop named Shepherds Field Embroidery. Rida is a very active woman; she is part from several Women movements as Women Union, Women developments and etc, she worked as a volunteer at an organization making courses of embroidery and trying to encourage young women to learn this traditional work, she says : since over 500 years Palestinian Women decorated their dresses with the cross stitch embroideries and this art style exists women of the bible too. Now woman is taking her role to support her family by doing this work. Rida is giving work to ± 30 women from their houses; she sends them all the necessary material, so they are able to work at their free time, and when the women finish their work she pick it from their houses, she knows how to distribute the designs and colors according skills.
She challenged many difficulties, situations of poverty, frustrations, fears, and family problems but always gave encouragement and not yields to any pressure. Rida says: I am proud of having this important role in my family, I love my work, I am always going through the net trying to find new models, always like to hear the advices or remarks of our customers and like to participate with activities which provide capacity of building, I have a willpower which is growing with my age instead of reducing, this is my blood, she believes that it isn’t that some people have willpower and some not, it is that some people are ready to change and some, not, RIda says : it is enough for me to know what I am doing to my family and what my work is doing to many women
She is happy that HLHCS is following the 10 fair trade principles and always taking her products at a very fair price. Also, she always is participating with HLHCS activities, she says : HLHCS informed us that our embroidery is going to organizations that are working to improve the level of living, equality of gender and all issues which involve dignity “trade with ethics,”, something that making me proud, because we have to work together to change the world