Finding Purpose, Giving Back & Raising Conscious Kids with Noora Sharrab

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Marhaban, welcome to Sidhi Stories, a podcast dedicated to amplifying the voices and highlighting the achievements of Palestinian women. I'm your host, Neila, and today we're joined by Nuda Sharab, co-founder and CEO of Siddhi's Social Enterprise. She is a dedicated advocate and leader whose work is rooted in community empowerment and social impact. Nuda has spent years championing opportunities for Palestinian women and youth, ensuring their stories are heard and their futures are bright. In this episode, we will hear Nuda's story. Nota, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for having me. Before we talk about your journey, we love starting with a Sidhi-inspired question. What's a tea or coffee memory with your city that reminds you of home?

SPEAKER_02 0:55

So I have my two sites. One of them, I actually didn't get the privilege to spend so much time with her because she was in Egypt and we actually grew up in the Emirates before we moved to Canada. I think I saw her a total of like maybe three times of my lifetime. But I do remember memories of her baking us fresh bread. She le she actually passed away in Khanunis in Razza. Oh wow. And I remember us telling her, you know, why don't you leave and come and move with us? And her words kind of struck with me. And she was like, I will never leave my land and I will die in my land. And that's exactly what she did. And so my memories of her is really that of a woman that raised her sons and her daughters and and was attached to her land. And I guess that somehow stuck with me.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Thank you so much for sharing that. So let's take it all the way back. Can you share a bit about your background and where you grew up?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

I a daughter of immigrants here in in North America, but most importantly, both my family, my parents were born in Ghizza. So my mom was born in Giza, my dad was born in Khanunis. Later on in the years, both my grandparents relocated to Egypt as businessmen. And so they ended up moving their families in Egypt. And that's actually where they met. They met in Egypt, got married in Egypt, and then shortly after their wedding, they moved to um uh to the Emirates, where me and my siblings were born. I was born in Dubai, and then in 1992, we Hajagna basically we immigrated to Canada, and I guess that was our new life. From there, that's where we survived, I guess. We knew it was part of like our new beginning. And I think the thing is with any child of the diaspora, it's always about finding who you are and finding your identity. And I don't think I truly understood what that meant until probably I hit university where I kind of found my voice because I was never Canadian enough. It's always trying to a balance of really trying to fit in. And I didn't grow up in a community where I had a lot of Palestinian or Arab or Muslim friends. I think we were like the only Muslims in school. And so now as a as a mother of three, I look at my children and the privilege of like the community around them. It was like we didn't have that growing up, right? Alhamdulillah. But I think it kind of teaches you something about who you were. I think growing up, I was always a little bit apologetic about what we st what we stood for, you know, whether it was like eating halal. I remember getting made fun of um for eating halal or something, like something so ridiculous, where I think kids were like, Oh, you eat halal food. And then I was like, No, I don't. And I don't think I even understood what it meant. And I remember going home that day and telling my mom, like, why do we have to eat halal?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

And they for sure didn't even understand what I don't even think anybody understood.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

It was kind of like the, it was like, how do you label out the other? And now I grow up and I tell my kids, we only eat halal. Like now I think I'm the polar opposite of what I was growing up of like, we are unapologetic, you like it, this is who we are. You stand your ground, you you really kind of hold your identity high. And if the person in front of you doesn't understand, that's their problem, that's not yours.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Yeah, yeah. No, it's always so interesting to see like how our identity shapes the path that we take. And it's clear that your identity and experiences pushed you towards creating so many impactful initiatives. In 2009, you co-founded a nonprofit organization called Hopes for Women in Education. Can you share with us a little bit more about that and what the inspiration behind it was?

SPEAKER_02 4:17

I was doing my master's at York University, and my thesis was around refugeeness in general, but more precisely, my thesis was around the intergenerational differences of identity of Palestinians living in refugee camps. And it was very interesting for me because as a Palestinian, I didn't grow up in a refugee camp. Grew up in a very privileged household. You know, my father immigrated to Canada. I never knew what a refugee camp was growing up. I don't think my parents even talked about it. We weren't one of the people that were forced into camps, whether it's 1967 or even 1948. And so I had a very different experience as a Palestinian. And learning and kind of peeling through that layer of history was really painful for me because I was like, why didn't you guys talk about it? Why didn't nobody say anything? And so in 2008, I actually traveled to Jordan, and that's where I visited my very first refugee camp. And as you guys know, there's 11 unofficial Palestine refugee camps in Jordan, two unofficial camps. And there are obviously camps across Libnan, Syria, even in the West Bank, you have internally displaced refugees within Palestine, and even in Reza, you'll have the refugee camps that you'll see that were UNRWA run. And so when I visited my first camp, I remember kind of feeling very odd and feeling like, okay, why are people still living in these conditions after five decades? And why hasn't anything changed out of this? And with that came the conversation around education. And primarily in my conversations with women, there was always this separation between women and men and their higher education. So as you know, with UNRWA education that is offered in the refugee camps, school goes up to grade 12, offered for free by UNRWA. And then once grade 12 and they're done, they graduate, they finish Taojihi. Then if the family can't afford for the for the child or they don't get a scholarship, then usually they they cannot continue. So a lot of the times it's going to debt, or it takes them years and years to finish four-year degree. I remember meeting um these twin sisters that took them maybe I think 10 years to finish a four-year degree because they would take turns every semester on who would go to school first. Wow. Because again, the family has to take on debt to be able to put their children in school. So the idea of Hopes for Women in Education was around this idea of education is a right, not a privilege. I wanted women to never think twice about having to go to university because there was also this understanding, and I think it's it's fading out probably now than it was over like two decades ago. At the time, through my primary research, I realized that women were not as supported. And if the family had to choose between putting the guy to school than the girl to school, the guy was prioritized most of the time over the girl in the camps. And so I made it a point that scholarships were offered primarily to refugee women and that it should not be a caveat to not be able to afford university. Alhamdulillah to date, I think we've had over a hundred or two hundred scholars that have graduated, that have gone on to finish higher education, and some of them, you know, are in the labor field. So we've seen that like transition over time, but it stemmed from this recognition that there was a gap. And I was like, who's gonna solve this gap? We have to do something about this.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

And I guess that's literally how I remember I we had no money to start this nonprofit. People are like, who's gonna fund you? I was like, you just ask people for money. I I was so naive. I was like, you just ask people for money.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

No, that's amazing, though, that you took the initiative to take that on. You saw a need and you saw a space, and you were like, okay, well, I'm just gonna be the person to do that. And I think everybody needs to take their own small little part into creating that impact and that change. When I found out about Hopes for Woman Education, it really touched on my heartstrings because both of my sithis they were illiterate, not by their own choice. It was something that they were both very upset about. It was just unfortunate circumstances in their lives. And at different times in their lives, they both tried to learn again, but again, due to circumstances, it just didn't work out. And so they both really valued education, and I really understand the value of education so much so that I have a master's in higher education. And so I love that you're able to provide that for others. That's pretty great. So then you then went on to co-found and are the CEO of Siddy's Social Enterprise. How did that come about? Did that kind of come from Hopes for Women in Education?

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Um, so I never intended, I guess, to get into the business of selling soap. So this was 2014. I was working full-time uh with Anurwa at the time in Jordan, and I was running Hopes on the side. I would spend all my weekends bin Mukhayam in the in the refugee camps when I wasn't working. I remember at the time my co-founder today came to my house with a box of soap. She's like, We have this soap we're trying to sell. It was a bunch of women from the from the camp, from the Jagash refugee camp, that were offered uh a training by the Italian embassy on how to make cold-pressed olive oil soap. They finished the training and these women were left with boxes and boxes of soap and they didn't know what to do with it. But they were trying, I guess they were trying to sell it, and it was really hard to sell the soap because they were paying more on transportation than how much they were making on the soap itself. And so I remember Sophia came to my house with a box of soap and she's like, trying to sell this, we don't know how. You know, a little bit resilient, a little bit tough, and a little bit of, you know, that zeal. And a little bit of olive oil. And a little bit a lot, you know, a lot of olive oil, actually. But it was that. It was about these women. It wasn't anything else. And I hear people all the time, they're like, Well, you know, you did sity. I'm like, I don't even know how to make soap, even to this day, eight years into this business, actually don't know how. I actually don't have the recipe. It's not even in my brain. I will say that it's not me, it's the women. And sity from there became to be this idea of these grandma-approved natural products that are inspired by nature, inspired by our traditions, inspired by our ancestors, inspired by things that would give people essentially hope. And that became our pillar: you educate, employ, empower. And how do you empower a community? It's by giving them the tools to take life in their own hands, giving them the job so they can put food on the table. Because I was working in Hopes for five years prior. I saw that it wasn't enough to just give the girl a degree to put on the wall. After she puts the degree on the wall, she's gonna need to put food on the table. And the degree is not gonna do that on its own. And so we wanted to create a facility to then help create employment for these women. It was that idea is how do you then create sustainable solutions to put people out of poverty? That's where the social entrepreneurship kind of idea of, okay, whether it's our soap dish that is made by a person with disability at a rehabilitation center, how does he pull himself out of poverty by he knows a skill, how does he utilize that skill towards something that is sustainable with the scales of economy, within the within the confines of his environment, to then push it on a global scale. And that's where I think we came in as city of we can be that medium to really be able to take that skill set, perfect it, refine it, package it beautifully, tell the story to the world, and hopefully it resonates enough for people to say, wow, I want to invest to get this. And I say this because and I say invest because I'm aware that we're not the cheapest soap bar in the market, right? We're not the cheapest. But we what we do offer is something more than just a soap bar. I do think it's one of the best soap bars in the market. Me being biased, possibly. But again, it's it's more than you're you're really honing in on a story of a community that for decades have had no other alternative mediums to do anything. And this is now an opportunity for them to utilize their skill set and be able to contribute to their family at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah, Mushallah, accomplishing all the amazing things that you've done for women in education takes vision and persistence, but also a deep personal connection. Here at City Stories, we love shining a light on the wisdom of our cities and how their resilience and traditions continue to shape us and everything we do. On the City Soap website, I actually saw that you have a quote saying, City Soaps is named after the heart of our homes, our cities. Can you share with us a little bit about your cities?

SPEAKER_02 13:07

I mean, I remember one of my grandmothers, till the last memory of her, she would only use olive oil soap and she would always carry it. But also, whenever we produce a product out of city, I always ask the question of, is this city approved? Like, would City approve this product, right? Whether it's our bags of meramia or our thyme, because it's really easy for us to come and source randomly or do things randomly. But I always ask myself, like, is the city approved? Would this be something that my city would love or want to be part of? I always want to bring it back. I always ask myself, like, when we're bringing products, when we're sourcing, when we're partnering, is this something that embodies what our city taught us? Um, and it could be like the preservation of culture and heritage. It's it's being unapologetic to who we are from that capacity. My mom's mom is from Ber Saber. When Beir Saber was taken over in 1948, they moved to Reza. She got married in Reza. And then my grandfather shortly after moved to Egypt, to Cairo, to become a businessman. I remember he had like several shops across downtown Cairo. When we were kids in Cairo, we would like go to their shop and, you know, be like, this is grandpa's shop, right? So it was entrepreneurship, I guess, runs in the family because my father also was an entrepreneur himself. He had his own fashion line store in in Dubai. And so I think that kind of stems a little bit where when I when I look at my um, you know, what they grew up, they all kind of were in the line of entrepreneurship. And I guess that's where I took it. But specifically with my grandmothers, both of them, they both didn't work. They both supported their family. Um, and they were so committed. My my mother's mom was very religious. And so my memories of her was literally just praying 24-7. Like it was like she was always like in salah somehow. But I think it was it's it's that it's that devotion and it's that like commitment to to really give everything to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and realize like our purpose in life. And um, and she I remember she never spoke ill of every any of anybody. She was really kind of to herself and taking care of her family. And it's it's that commitment and it's that love. Obviously, she would always feed us, and that was her way of like telling us that we were welcome. And and I think it's part of Palestinian hospitality or just you know, Arab hospitality in general, around you always feed people whenever, whenever you can, even when you have little words to say, I recall that she had a difficult life and maybe it wasn't the easiest thing, and she made a lot of sacrifices. But what I do know is that she she always kind of refrained back to like her greater mission to kind of serve her family and just commit her life to Allah. And I think that is sometimes the greatest blessing that you can have is that you can just learn that our purpose here is really to kind of serve and obey and and we do our best in that process. And if we can can do, if we can do that and and end life in that capacity, then I guess we've done our job. Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Sure she sounds a lot like my grandma. Oh so Palestinian women, especially our city's have been the backbone of preserving our culture and identity. In what aspects of your Palestinian identity do you feel most connected to your Siddhi? Gosh.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

I guess now as a mother, I think of what I can offer to my children to be proud of. Like I think of my her dedication to not leave the land and to want to stay and die in her own house and and not want to be pulled away. Um, and how she kind of stuck to very traditional means. I I I still remember the taboon oven in her apartment in Cairo and how she would make us fresh bread. I would ask my dad, why doesn't she just go downstairs and to the bakery and just buy a loaf of bread at the supermarket? And he's like, no, we don't do that. It was a tradition. They don't, they'd never buy bread from outside. It was always this thing that they held on to them. And I think even the form of baking bread, and and we see it today, we see it today with people in Ghaza baking their own bread. Sometimes you hang on to the things that connect you closest to the earth. And it's that thing that gives you the sense of um that connection. I wish one day I can learn how to bake bread. I think that's something I'll I'll work on. It's my uh my 2025 goal potentially. I think it's it's it's reconnecting to who we are.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yeah, I'm Filahil. Both of my parents are from the same village, and my husband's dad is Arakian, so he grew up with like, you know, he eats meat five times a day. We didn't grow up like that. My dad, when I asked him, okay, dad, like come over, what do you want me to make you for dinner? He's just like kelaya and zahar, with khob is whatever is, you know, so close to the roots and humble.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

You know what? I think it's something too about the way and when you're talking about the way we eat, it's really interesting because whenever I speak to my aunts pre-genocide, I would say, like pre-October, um, and we would talk about Ramadan. A lot of the times it was very simple. It wasn't like lavish. On my father's side, it was it was very simple upbringing. It wasn't, it wasn't like, you know, this concept of we have to eat lahma all the time. It was really in line with a lot of the sunnah of, you know, the combination of what they ate. I think it's a combination of both their capacity and their capability, even from a financial perspective. But I think also just connecting to that allows us to think of our privilege and how much we take advantage of what's around us and thinking that it's the norm to have meat on the table all the time and why that becomes actually more harmful for our body.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Do you see parts of your Siddhi's life or personality, like the things that you were kind of describing? Do you take that in the way you approach your own life and the challenges you face?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

I wish I had the privilege to spend more time with my grandmothers. I'll tell you that much. Because my memories of them was always like in and out of like our visits to Cairo and seeing them, or you know, the little bit that we would spend here and there when we were like like en route. Um, like I was kind of still very much a child that I didn't fully grasp and appreciate and understand like the value of my grandmother. She was also very quiet to herself. I don't think I sh took the opportunity to do it. And I think because I never had that relationship, I'm very keen that my kids now are very close to their grandparents. I make it a point that even if, like, you know, my mom is in the room and I'm there and my kids ask me something, I'd be like, Why did you ask Tita? Why don't you ask, you know, your grandpa? Because I feel like it's that intergenerational connection that we may not have had because we were forced in the diaspora, before because we were forced to live apart. And it's it's part of I think every Palestinian's dilemma of like, you know, we left because we wanted to give you a better life. We love your family. And it's it's this, it's this separation that we weren't able to have that connection that we normally would have had. So we start having these romanticized afflictions around our identity and who we are. And it's it's part of, again, the the dilemma of the children is of the diaspora. So with my kids, now I'm like, go to Teta, go to go to your city to let her kind of tell you. And I I feel like if I can give that back to my kids, something that I wasn't able to have, then it's something that hopefully they can learn a thing or two that I wasn't able to have.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Yeah, I love that. And I think I think distance plays a massive role in like your ability to connect, especially for like our generation. We didn't have FaceTime. Our kids are now so lucky that like even if like their cities are like somewhere where they don't live, well, you could just like FaceTime them and it still kind of feels like you're there with them. So I love that you're able to give that to your own kids. Actually, one of the ways that we carry that wisdom from our cities forward is through mentorship and community building. How do you think we build those spaces for Palestinian women? You've talked about a lot of it overseas, but here in North America.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

I think creating spaces and hubs to recognize the things that we need to build on. I mean, here at City, as you know, we just launched our shop. Yes, beautiful. Thank you. So we just had a uh Tatariz workshop right here in the City hub, I guess. And it was so beautiful to see that connection. And there were people in their 40s saying, This is the first time I've ever done Tataris in my life. And I think it's that connection where we need to kind of dig deeper around our roots and what we stand for. I see my kids at school, they have Palestine solidarity days. I mean, they go to an Islamic school, but even just saying, like, Mom, I want to wear my thhob to school, or you know, if their dad's traveling to Jordan or something, they'd be like, Baba, I want a thhoab when you come back. I don't remember asking for a thhoab when I was a kid their age. And I think it's just so beautiful that you want them to appreciate and cherish and understand the honor of Tatariz, the honor of our traditions, and even just we push that forward. And that's a way we preserve it. We preserve it by by sticking to the things that are so dear to us. And it's it's by teaching them these small elements to say, hold on to this because it's not just fashion, it's really more than that. It's about what this teaches you and what this represents for you. I think if we can, if we can do that, it is a way of honoring our cities and their stories and the things that they may not have been able to pass down to us because. Of the separation because of the fact that they were forced to move from place to place.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

I think I think it touches upon like the Maslow's like hierarchy of needs. So like when our parents or our grandparents were moving around from place to place, they didn't have time to really think about how am I going to shape my kids' identity? Like they're not like consciously thinking about that. And then with our kids, it's something that we're seeing. We want to like kind of infuse this back into them. And my daughter goes to an Islamic school as well, and her teacher made them passports. She had them get dressed in thobes. And she was so cute, put their little chairs next to each other, put on the projector of the screen a video of Fallstein, and they like took a trip to Fallstein, which I thought was so special. Yeah, because my daughter's never been, and like because of everything happening recently, like we haven't gone. And so she's just like, When are we gonna go to Fallstein? So it was just it was such a sweet way. We're now like really looking at things differently and kind of like giving our kids those experiences.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

I think it's really interesting because growing up, my parents, again, because they grew up in a as Palestinians in Egypt, they were forced to be apolitical so they don't get arrested or get in trouble. And I don't think I truly understood that till I grew up. I recall in university getting in like my first protests and going home really mad at my parents saying, like, why didn't you guys ever like talk to us about this? My dad had this philosophy, I think, for the longest time, which is like, and just do what you need to do. We're like, don't muddle with politics. Like it's not our, it's not for us to muddle into, you know, and you should just do your best, finish your schooling, get a good job. Like, that was kind of the goals that we were trying to hit at. Don't get in trouble. Don't get in trouble, don't talk CSA, like, don't talk about politics. I only later I understood that he was forced into that mindset because of what the consequence would be that if he spoke about muqawama or anything like that, you were gonna be arrested straight up in Egypt. Like you were not gonna be able to openly talk about the freedom of your political opinion. And for the longest time it was really repressed. And when I was kind of digging through our own history, I was like, what? Like, how do you not know? And interestingly enough, when October 7th happened, we were all paralyzed. Like a lot of us were just as as the as was the world, but also around the sense of like we couldn't keep it in. And the anger and the emotion and the sadness was like I would cry like all the time around my kids. My kids are like, Mom, why are you crying? And I remember we sat around the kitchen table. I think it was like late October, and I think I was planning like a press conference or something. And my son's like, I'm so mad, and this is not fair. And he's 10, right? And I said, You know what? Put your feelings on a piece of paper and let's write a letter about how you're feeling. We held our first planned press conference, families with, you know, it was families in Canada with families in Gaza. And it was a it was a way to kind of get the story out of our demands and calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid, all that. And I invited him, I said, Do you want to be a part of the press conference to say your letter out loud to the media? And he was like, Yes, I'm gonna do it. And I brought him, and I think it was very empowering to see it was all it was beautiful that let me as a mother where like I didn't grow up with the mindset to be able to be political, to tell my kid, you have the power and you have the voice to say that I don't like what's happening and I need to make sure that it stops. And to be able to reiterate that as a child is really important. Then following that, he ended up doing like, I think like another talk in front of like hundreds or or you know people in a in a main hall. And later it was on like live TV to talk about how he felt. But that for me was like I gave him a medium to be able to say, yes, it's not fair, but you also have a voice to be able to utilize that.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

I guarantee you he's never gonna forget that moment. That's gonna be his catalyst of, inshallah, he'll be a huge change maker in politics for Fallstein, but I guarantee you he'll never forget that and always draw back to that moment.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Two weeks later, after that happened, I was invited with a group of the community to then give our concerns to the prime minister in Canada. I remember going to my son and saying, I'm gonna go see the prime minister of Canada and I'm gonna tell him that this is not right. And I remember printing at the time a list of, I think at the time it was like 5,000 people in a document that was compiled by the Department of Health. I printed it and I was like, I'm gonna present this and show them that these names and these people that died have names and they have families and they have people that love them and we cannot forget them. And it was really for me, again, a message for my kids that like our voice matters and we need to be able to get that voice across. Being able to show that to my kids was really, really important. If you have a problem, okay, what how can we fix it? It kind of goes back to literally hopes for women, which is this idea of like we have a problem with education. Okay, why isn't anybody doing anything about it? Who's gonna do something? Okay, why aren't we? Okay, let's solve the problem. Let's be the ones that are actually creating the change.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Where do you think that comes from for you? Because not everyone has that. How do you have that go-getter attitude of nothing's gonna stop me? Where does that come from?

SPEAKER_02 27:01

I don't know because I know that like looking at my parents, they're very like to themselves conservative. Like, and I'll tell you, as a child, I didn't grow up very confident either. I think it might have been this like trigger point when I saw myself live a life of privilege and I went to the Mukhayam and I was like, wait a minute, there are people on the other side of the world that are just like me, but they don't have the privileges that I have. They don't have running water like I have. If I'm hungry, I can overeat it really fast. Like, you know, there isn't these, like all these privileges that we that we think is so adi, that's so normal. And I think that was like my thing of like, what makes them different than me? Why them? Why, why me over them? I think the biggest thing, maybe it's out of maybe it's for my mom is this sense of contentment, this sense of like, it's not about getting the most. It's about like being a ragdiya. You have to have the idah. And the idah is really, really important because you can always strive for more, more, more, more, more. But it's also like, what do you do with that? After you've kind of got to your peak, like, what do you do with that? And gidda doesn't have to be like I have a million dollars and I'm, you know, living it up in a yacht. Like Riddah can just be like, I'm just content with how things are and okay, what's my purpose? And I think it's this sense of we all have a purpose in this world. God doesn't just put you here so that you can eat and sleep and I don't know, go on TikTok. There's more to life than that if we don't find our purpose in that, like live life, enjoy it. But I think it's there has to be the sense of purpose. And aside from having a strong iman, our purpose is to be slaves at the end of the day. I I ask myself and my team all the time, like once we we finish something, I'm like, okay, what's next? And they're like, No, that rest for five seconds. I'm like, no, because it keeps you going. There's so much that needs to get done.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

I think you're content with everything except with making change. Me and my husband talk about this a lot because alhamdulillah, we live a more privileged lifestyle than what we each had individually as kids. And now with our you we have three little girls, we're always thinking of like they have all these privileges that we didn't have. Alhamdulillah, we feel so content with what we have, but how do we teach that to our kids to be content with what they have and not just like stop it there? Be content with what you have, but also learn how to be empathetic and care about social justice and care about the world around you and help other people. I would say don't shelter them that much. Yeah, that's that's kind of what we've come to the conclusion.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

I remember um my kids complaining. I mean, they were young, they were like six and seven or something, and they were complaining about what they were eating. You know, and I was like, you don't understand what you have. You don't understand the fact that you can open the fridge and take whatever you want, that you can have water whenever you want. You guys need to understand. And so for me, it's about exposure. I get my kids to read a lot of books around whether it's the Syrian Revolution or refugeanists, or I think sometimes we're like, oh no, they're too young to understand. They're never too young to understand. There are people that are suffering and we have it better, and we need to be thankful and you need to understand why this is happening. And there's good and there's bad. And you have to kind of peel that layer because if you wake up one day and you realize I've been living in a bubble my whole life, and mind you, me and you are in a position, or a lot of us in our generation are in this position because our parents busted their butts off to put us in this position. It wasn't without hard work and sweat and tears. It was a lot of work to get us to this point. But now that we're at this point, it's not that we're trying to go backwards, it's that we're trying to make sure that our history is paved for our kids. This was not passed to you. The fact that we can put you in an Islamic school or the fact that you have five Muhammads in your class, that's not normal, right? Or have masjids around the corner every five minutes is not normal. It's because people work towards getting it there, right? And I think it's it's making sure that they are aware of it because when they go to other areas and they don't see that, they're like, wait, what's going on? There isn't halal everywhere. I'm like, no, like that's just because you live in a community that allows for it, right? And it's it's getting them out of these bubbles. And I think travel can be one of the biggest gifts that you give your kids. I remember taking my kids to the Mukhayam for the first time and saying, we're gonna do a food distribution so you can see how what that looks like. Um, and then when they were more cognizant, when they were, I would say like 10 and nine, and my little one who was like six or five, but they remember, they know, they see it, and they'll tell me. I remember when I took them when they were younger, they'll be like, oh mom, is this the Sabuna? Is this the soap that like the women that we visited in the camp make? And I'll tell them, like, Dad, these are for the women, this is the story of the women. These are the people you visited, these people that have faces and families and all of that. I think it's really important to create a connection because people we're so disconnected. We're in a very busy go-getter life and yella yella yella, pay your bills and pay your rent and your car lease and this and that. And we get lost in in the fact that we're in this space. Yeah. But like you said, we have things in right in the palm of our hands that we didn't have 20 years ago, which was the FaceTime and the TikToks and the and the Instagrams that shows us people right on the other side of the world that we normally would not have been able to be exposed to.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

And we have to use that positively. I'm so glad that your kids, inshallah, have you as their role model to continuously encourage them to really connect with their identity. But I'm sure all of the things that you've been able to accomplish doesn't come without struggle or obstacles, especially running a social enterprise. I'm sure those obstacles are even more unique. What are the pushbacks that you see within the community?

SPEAKER_02 32:29

I think we have a great community. I think we underestimate how much support we can get when we stand up for something. Um, I think for the for the big part of City, I would say we focus around the storytelling of the women. And it was hard. It was hard to kind of get it to a certain standard and to have people listen. It's retelling that same story over and over and over again until kind of it connects. And I think what we dismiss around whether it's an entrepreneur, building a brand or whatever it is, is building community. And I always tell people it's city's more than just people making soap, like it's more than that. And it's about creating connection and knowing that as conscious consumers, that we can actually create a difference and that we have to think from that concept and that perspective. And so we've pivoted so many ways. We've had our lows and, you know, pulled ourselves out of debt and all of that. And also lost people that weren't aligned. I've had people that customers that would send me messages saying, you know, do you support Israel's right to exist before we can work with you? And I was like, well, we employ refugees who became refugees as a result of the NECBA. So you take that as you as you may, right? It's really interesting because you will have people that will ask you to let go of what you believe in. And maybe pre-October I might have been diplomatic in my answer. And now I'm just like, this is who we are. You like it, you like it, you don't like it. Here's the door. Like if you had this conversation with me, maybe you know, 16 months ago, I probably answer like in a very different way, but I think I've become more just blunt about this is like this is this is what we stand for. This is who we support. And if you can't stand on the side, if you can't see what we're doing, then it's not just about you making a sale. It's really about what we are what we're trying to pass on and preserve. It's what our cities were trying to do for us. And I think for too long, a lot of our community has felt like the need, like we have to be polite and demure and calm and this. And it's like, no, not while my people are being murdered alive.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Yeah, we don't have to be scared to take up space or to make noise. I think that's the exactly, exactly. So you touched upon we're able to make a difference through sharing the woman's stories. How do you kind of balance sharing their stories authentically versus not coming off Yeah, kind of as white savior? Yeah, I think because of the fact that you are Falustini, like it it kind of negates that to begin with.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

But was there ever a a struggle with that or a thought process around that? I'll tell you something. It's been really hard to tell the stories because we work in communities that are extremely conservative. And I remember like sharing stories in the beginning where we had women that were like, You're not allowed to show my face on social media. I remember we actually had one of our soap makers back in the day, she's no longer with us, but we put up her photo making soap. She was in full hijab and like abaya. She's literally just making saboon. And I remember getting a call, like a frantic call, like, we need to take down that photo now. I was like, what? We're just literally showing the people how the saboon is being made and we need to be able to tell that story. And it's all about the communications and the marketing of it. And I think for her, it was like preservation of her, like, I'm out there in the world, people can see me. And it took us a long time when we were working with the community saying, we have to tell our stories or people won't understand. I'm always very careful that, like, are we authentically telling these stories? Are we filtering in any dynamic? Are we editing anything off that should not be edited? Um, and I like you said, as a Palestinian, it's something I think about often. Am I changing the way I'm telling the story because I'm trying to make sure I'm not offending anybody on this side of the world? So I'm I'm conscious of these things. I think our biggest challenge was literally convincing the people we work with. And I would say, probably like the older generation, we need to get your story out and we need to document this because if we don't, it's going to get lost. We need to show the world because if we don't, we're not gonna have it anymore. Where did that shift happen? It's it's making sure that we're not just passer buyers. And what I mean by that is one time I visited a camp in Sabaga in Shatila in Lebanon, and I remember walking into the Mukhayam, someone told me, put down your camera. And they were like, Don't you dare bring out your camera. I was like, Why? Wow. And they were like, people will literally attack you because there's more photos of these people on the internet than they have of themselves. And one of the ladies was like, people come and they treat us like zoo animals. Look, poor refugee craft, picture, picture, picture, snap, stop, and then they leave and then we never see them again and we never hear from them again. We're just this like sad story that they tell people about. Yeah, they probably feel used.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

That's so sad.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Because they've gone through so many people, so many, the donors, the ref the people that will come through to look at the camp, the researchers, the, you know, people that just they're trying to do good, but they just, they're pastor buyers. They come by, they take photos, they feel really sad for that moment, and then they leave, they go on with their day and they'll never see them ever again. And I've had it told to me multiple times that I'm like, I can't be that person that says I'm gonna do something and then leaves and never does something. Or I can't be the person that says, I'm gonna tell your story and make sure that we're gonna change things and not be that person. Because it was literally said to my face, like, you are just like everybody else. You're gonna come, you're gonna take what you want, you're gonna do your little research paper, you're gonna leave, and we're never gonna see you again. And I was like, not if my life depended on it. That's not gonna happen. And so I it sticks in my head. I think about it all the time. I think about it the fact that like it's a responsibility. Knowing this information and being and having access to their lives and their stories is a responsibility that we have to pass on because it's not enough to know it. There's no point of holding on to this knowledge or to these stories or to this information if you're not passing it on or utilizing it in some capacity to better the people around you or to inform people better.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

I think it's because you're so conscious of that that it really reads as authentic. Does it the work that you do with City Soaps and City Social Enterprise really comes off as authentic? And I think it's because you're probably so conscious of that from hearing it over and over again. Was there a moment that you had in the line of work that you do that you're just like, even when it gets hard and when you're really struggling, where you kind of look back at and you're like, no, no, that is the moment that keeps me going. That's why I'm supposed to be on this path.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

I think it was multiple moments, but I I don't want the people listening to this think like I was freezing. I wanted to quit so many times because it was not easy. We were like making no money, and I was like, this is really hard. What's the point of this? And then I had to remind myself it's not about me. It's not it wasn't, it wasn't, it was never about me. And I had to remind myself of like, I can go and get a full-time job working in a corporate office and I'm cool, like nine to five and I'll go home. Like, but I that wasn't enough, like and I did that for a while, and then I didn't have purpose in life. But also when it got hard, I realized it wasn't about me. It got hard for me, but it was harder for them. It was always harder for them because I had another option, but they don't have another option. They don't have that privilege. They don't have that other alternative. And so if I shut the door, if I shut the light, if I turn it off, for me, it's like, okay, what did I do? Like it's not still not enough. And that's why I say it's not, it's not me. It's it's it's about what they are doing, it's about passing on what they're trying to hold on to. It's really about how do we scale what they're trying to do at that small scale. How do we tell them that after seven decades you have not been forgotten and people are still talking about you and we're willing to create a change of your life? How do we do that? Wow, so I think yeah, it's gonna be hard. I I don't think it's gonna be easy, but it's it's like it's asking myself, the why? Why do you do this? It's not about the money, guys. I wish I could turn it off. My kids say like stop working, but for me it's not work.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Yeah, I feel like it's making sure that our cities and and that generation and even maybe the generation above them, what they went through in Fallstein and what they've created in Fallstein just doesn't go in vain. What is next for you and what's next for cities? Oh gosh. I don't know, stay tuned. Well, you just opened up your brick and mortar every day. Literally. You opened up your brig and mortar in Canada, so you probably like need to take a break right now.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Possibly. I think immediately when I opened it, the first thing that I felt from the people that walked through the door was their sentiment around the fact that we don't have enough of this and that I was like long overdue. And for me, it wasn't, I mean, we sell online, right? We sell all over the world. The shop, we've been calling it the city hub because we we're doing so many things out of the space, but it's the it's the physical embodiment of the brand, but it's also what we can, what more can we do with it?

SPEAKER_00 41:06

Yeah, like workspace activities, like the Titris workshop you've had. Yeah, I think that could be a really powerful tool to encourage like Palestinian culture and identity and community. That sounds so awesome. Where can listeners support Cities and stay connected with you?

SPEAKER_02 41:20

You can go to sitysoap.com and you can keep us top of mind for all your gifting needs and follow us on Instagram at city soap.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Yes, they make great gifts. I can say this because this episode won't be out until after her birthday. But I bought my sister and it's gonna be so beautiful. And she's from Kazan, so I think she's gonna feel touched by it. It's really beautiful. So before we wrap up, we like to end things off on a nod to the way that we started with the Siddhi-inspired question. So if your Siddhi was here with us chatting, drinking her Shay, joining in on the conversation, what would she be most proud of? My god, you're gonna make me cry about my Siddis all the time.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

So nod. That's a tearjerker. I th I hope she's proud of the fact that we didn't let go and that we're holding on to who we are. Yeah, I'll I'll say that because then I'll turn into a mess. So I'll stop there.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

I mean, I'm sure she would be really proud you're carrying on such an important legacy and honoring her every day, even if that wasn't the mission that you set out to do, but just within the name. People are hearing the name, they're gonna have to look it up, be like, oh, what is this? What's Siddhi? And you know, think about your city every time. So I think that's really special. Thank you seriously so much. This has been such a thoughtful conversation and the work that you do and the person you are just radiate a warmth and resilience and dedication that were passed on to by Aspire Sitties. It's so inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. Thank you so much, Thela. I appreciate it. Thank you for listening to this episode of Siddhi's Stories. Nuda's story is a reminder that each of us has something meaningful to offer. Never underestimate the power of your story, your passion, and the difference you can make. Whether big or small, your impact matters. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love for you to follow, rate, and review Sitti's stories. It truly helps more people find these conversations. And if you're looking for a thoughtful, meaningful gift, check out Sithi's Soaps. Handcrafted with love, inspired by tradition, and perfect for any occasion. Check out Sithissoaps.com. I will put their website in the description. Until next time, stay rooted, stay resilient, and keep sharing your stories.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Mahasalama, you can't get the same.