www.womanthismonth.com May 2021 45 PEOPLE | interview After a conversation with a friend, I was advised: “If you can’t find what you are looking for, create it!” That conversation eventually resulted in the creation of Afkarech which translates to “her ideas” in a Bahraini dialect. I remember the very first Afkarech meeting with seven strangers. Despite there being only seven of us, we suddenly had a tribe - women drawn together for a similar goal. Four years later, I am thrilled to call these ladies not only Committee Members but my friends. Afkarech holds social events for like-minded women. How have you worked around the challenges presented by the pandemic to continue facilitating lucrative networking opportunities? To work around the difficulties presented by COVID-19, we reach our members in more creative ways such as Instagram Live talks known as “Afkarech Talks” in which we discuss numerous topics such as breast cancer prevention, alternative medicine and maintaining good mental health during COVID-19 aside from showcasing local female entrepreneurs in various industries to encourage members to buy locally. We also have fun competitions such as “Afkarech Social Distancing Queen” to encourage social distancing and give our members a chance to win prizes. We are hopeful that we will soon be able to meet again in person when it is safe as we are truly missing everyone! How many women are currently members of Afkarech? How has the group grown since its founding? We have over 180 subscribers to Afkarech Female Network & Think Tank; however, our core group consists of 45 members who regularly attend, are always proactive and engaged. Our membership steadily increased month by month and we are very thankful for media support and coverage for helping us become more known in the Kingdom. We have recently opened up membership again for anyone who would like to join. Could you kindly highlight some of your activities during Ramadan? How has the response to your initiative been since the start of the Holy Month? This Ramadan we wanted to do something different. We constantly strive to reach women in need as there are many women holding down jobs to support their whole families and barely making ends meet. The idea for ‘Eidiyataha’ came about in a Committee Meeting; we packaged and distributed boxes containing essentials and a “special something extra” to Muslim female domestic workers and those struggling in low-income jobs. Through these boxes we wanted to prepare each woman for Eid, not only in the sense of being able to eat and sustain herself, but also to savour the holy month and enjoy the sense of celebration. We would like to help those women who simply do not have the funds to purchase these items for themselves and are surviving on the bare necessities. You have had several successful initiatives and collaborations. Which do you consider your most memorable initiatives? There have been so many wonderful initiatives we have undertaken, but to me the two that stand out the most were ‘Safee by Afkarech’ in which we paid three months tuition for families who had been hit financially by COVID19. I am really glad we had the foresight to have helped people out in the early stages. School fees were one of the largest expenses being faced by parents and they were very grateful that we were able to ease some of that stress. The second initiative we loved was the Afkarech Care Packages for women living in shelters. We were truly blown away by how kind everyone was. The boxes contained everything you may need as a woman if you find yourself without accommodation and in difficult circumstances, aside from a card from the member that packaged the box. Handwritten notes of encouragement were included to help make each recipient feel thought of, supported and encouraged. What are your goals for the rest of the year? Our goals for the year are to host another women’s symposium and at least one more charity initiative. We created Intay in 2019 which was very successful with all tickets selling out. We have postponed our symposiums in 2020 due to the restrictions and keeping everyone safe however hopefully later in the year we may be able to go ahead Inshallah. We also want to do at least one more charitable initiative. To get in touch with Afkarech, use the handle @afkarech on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, email [email protected] or visit www.afkarech.com.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk0MTkxMQ==