Fatima Abbadi from Capelle aan den IJssel, near Rotterdam in the Netherlands, is a TRC volunteer and teacher who specialises in Middle Eastern embroidery, especially that from Palestine and Syria. As part of her many activities she is giving various workshops at the TRC about Palestinian cross stitch (22nd October) and Jordanian rekme embroidery (12th November). She is also working with various other groups to promote Middle Eastern embroidery and to help preserve this important part of the cultural heritage of the region. Below is an account of one of her recent successes.
A panel with six Palestinian embroidery samplers, worked by the women of an embroidery group in Capelle aan den IJssel, 2021.
Last winter, during one of the embroidery lessons, I asked the women of the embroidery group, what was their dream? Among many of those that spoke out, one of them expressed the desire to do something for the municipality. A sort of a 'thank you' gift for what the municipality is doing for the refugee women in Capelle aan den IJssel.
Consequently, we decided as a team to work on her dream and after some discussions and brainstorming we came up all together with the idea to create a big panel with embroidered samplers to be donated to the municipality where we all live.
At the beginning it was a big challenge due to the Corona pandemic. We had continuous lockdowns and some of the participants were even afflicted by this virus which made it more challenging. Luckily, after all this adventure we managed to set up the project and started working on it. Six women selected six different motifs from Palestinian traditional clothing, and each had a sampler of cloth to embroider. Once all the pieces were completed they were stitched together to form one large embroidered panel. This large piece was framed and made ready to be presented to the Council.
A Palestinian panel with six samplers worked by women in Capelle aan den IJssel, presented to the wethouder Welzijn, 23 September 2021.
On the 23rd of September a small party was arranged for the occasion by the Welfare Committee of Capelle aan den IJssel, in the presence of Marc Wilson, one of the Council's Wethouders (aldermen). All the team were enthusiastic and thrilled by this moment. Emotionally it meant a lot to them. They prepared sweets and Arabic coffee for the occasion. The framed and embroidered panel was ribboned in red and given to the Wethouder with a small ceremony. A dream had come true, a voice that was finally heard, and maybe a new beginning of hope in their life.
Fatima Abbadi, 1 October 2021
