It's Charity Tuesday and as part of Trustees Week we are delighted to share with you today's trustee, Ruby Porter, MBE.
Ruby Porter has been an integral member of the board of trustees for 17 years and thoroughly enjoys every minute of the work she does in making a difference to the lives of the mothers and their children at Sreepur!
Ruby has visited the project 47 times and on each occasion has not only dedicated her time to the mothers and their children but she has also shared her passion, expertise and knowledge in embroidery classes with the mothers.
Ruby has showcased embroidery alongside other handmade products made by our mothers through exhibitions all over the country and this year she kindly hosted a fascinating webinar online which explained kantha embroidery to our supporters from it's history to it's culture and design.
An inspiration to our mothers, Ruby continues to help empower their families with hope for a brighter future.
We asked Ruby if she could describe The Sreepur Village in three words what would she say:
A mother of two children Sheli sought shelter from Sreepur Village, Bangladesh, in May 2018 when her husband died in a road accident. Her husband was a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver. Sadly, road accidents in Bangladesh kill and permanently disable thousands of people each year.
North Eastern Bangladeshi residents build their houses at that height to prevent floods from washing away their homes. Nevertheless, this year floods in Sunamgonj district in Sylhet division wiped out lots of houses as well as many lives!
Throughout her three years at Sreepur Village, Shilpi has given emphasis to tailoring - she used to do some basic tailoring in her village. Upon arrival at Sreepur she initially completed all of their basic tailoring training but for the last year and a half she has been focusing solely on bag making.