This month I continued to heal from surgery, participated in my 9th Six Items Challenge with Labour Behind the Label,
celebrated Fairtrade Fortnight 21, had my Covid 19 vaccination and attended the Spirit Awards with World Pulse.
For those that don't know I was admitted to hospital after a few weeks of excruciating pain in my left ovary and required urgent surgery.
My cyst was removed 17th March 2020.
My consultant informed me that the cyst had ruptured and had welded itself to my colon and left ovary. He removed the white ruptured cyst cleaned me up. but could not see any signs of Endometriosis or PCOS due to inflammation.
I was in two minds about attaching photographs of my ruptured cyst and decided against it.
Thank you to all my friends and family who sent get well messages.
I'd like to begin this blog with love and gratitude for my beloved mother who returned to her maker April 2016.
My beloved mother Mrs Meshar Mumtaz Bano who encouraged me to participate in my very first Six Items Challenge 2012
Thank you for your unconditional love, compassion and kindness.
You taught me to live my life with dignity, honesty and compassion.
Miss you always! X
video here tba
Hello and Assalaam Alaikum (peace and blessings) everyone,
So here I am for the ninth consecutive year participating in the Six Items Challenge with Labour Behind The Label.
This year the challenge commences 17th February - 30th March 2021.
I have decided to participate and support the Six Items Challenge for the ninth year because I started to campaign for garment and factory workers while caring for my mother who had been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
The six items challenge means I choose six items of clothing to wear for six weeks.
Don't worry!
This does not include under garments or exercise gear. You can wear an endless supply of these. :)
This year I hope to up-cycle some of the clothes my mother purchased for me before she passed away.
It is a long term ambition to design a fairtrade slow fashion collection in memory of my beautiful mother Mrs Meshar Mumtaz Bano and support fair trade certified cotton farmers, sustainable and ethical producers.
My beloved mother was a great advocate for women's empowerment and education.
I believe she would have been happy and proud of me to continue my campaigning for the millions of countless individuals producing clothes and accessories in factories and workshops around the world.
Hopefully by the end of the Six Week Challenge I would have educated a few people and raised a few pounds/dirhams.
Fast fashion is a term the fashion industry uses to entice consumers to purchase new trends, products and accessories every six to eight weeks. Some collections can be produced within a 12 day time frame.
Most of the products are cheap, poor quality and mass produced by workers in factories, work shops around the world.
Workers are paid low salaries, endure long hours and work in poor conditions to support their families.
Many are as young as 14 are the only bread winners and often forfeit the chance of a decent education and future
Many factories use hazardous chemicals to dye their fabrics and this water is discharged into rivers and the sea polluting eco systems and depleting fish stocks.
I hope to record vlogs and raise awareness about garment workers over the next coming weeks.
Best regards to all the Six Items Challenge participants.
Love and regards
Sabeena X
This year I celebrated Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 alone shielding in London, UK.
This year the Fairtrade Foundation's campaign is about Climate Change.
Day 2
Meet Bernard Njoroge, Senior Programme Officer at Fairtrade Africa and Coffee Farmer.
In this video Bernard talks about the impact climate change has had on coffee farmers.
Video courtesy of the Fairtrade Foundation UK
Day 3
I participated in a webinar with actress and patron of the Fairtrade Foundation Adjoa Andoh, Actor and Fairtrade Foundation Patron, and her guests discuss the role creative expression plays in climate activism.
Guests
Tracey Zengeni
Stefan Crawford
Tolmeia Gregory
Jocelyn Longdon
Meet Marike de Peña, Managing Director of a smallholder banana co-operative called Banelino in the Dominican Republic. In this video Marike talks about how farming communities are struggling with low prices and climate change.
Day 4
Many thanks to the Emmanuel Community Church Vaccination team, medical staff and volunteers and MP Stella Creasy for inviting me to take my Covid 19 vaccination.
The whole procedure took less than 10 minutes.
Many thanks to Dr Margaret, what a star, a doctor for 28 years and still smiling through her mask.
After the vaccination I was very achey for a few days.
This year I have decided to make a conscious effort to attend as many World Pulse webinars as was pleased to attend the Spirit Awards 2021 with World Pulse. Congratulations to all the winners.
This webinar took place February 26 2021
If you've made it this far, I'm seriously impressed! :)
Thank you for reading my blog and watching my videos.
Love, peace and blessings
Sabeena
Living with Endometriosis, PCOS - Sabeena Ahmed
Six Items Challenge 2021 with Labour Behind The Label
Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 with Sabeena Ahmed (TBA)
This month I supported fairtrade fortnight 2024 and celebrated Fairtrade's 30th Anniversary.
This month my right shoulder is still very painful and I have struggled to record this vlog and type this blog.
I finally managed to record videos for my Six Items Challenge 2024 and upload them to my YouTube Channel.
Translation in Urdu