Eva Obeng brings colour and insight to Club Members on a wintry night in St Albans
Having been born in Ghana and come to the UK at the age of 16 with her father, Eva embodied the spirit of Soroptimists as she talked passionately about her desire to help and support women in Ghana to become entrepreneurs. She purchases beautiful, well-made and brightly coloured handbags, rucksacks, purses, handmade baskets and shea butter from women in Ghana and sells it for them at local markets including Enfield and St Albans under her trading name of Akra Home Interiors. She spoke about a poignant visit to Ghana to bury her father during which she visited some of her producers and talked with young women about how social attitudes are changing. There is a national policy of education for all, and TV programmes now question traditional stereotypes. Hard-working women, with a basic education, can turn their lives around with access to small amounts of finance and some business knowledge and training. Eva cited examples of women in Accra working in textiles, and in the rural areas producing Shea butter oil. All these women striving to do the best for their families and put food on the table.
Eva kindly sent us her notes which include more detail and pictures of the women she spoke about. Please click on this link and scroll through to see the pictures at the end – so colourful! Eva Obeng Talk Jan 2020 – in full
Eva is pictured above (top) second on the left with President Kat Clark, Mary Moran (who introduced us to Eva) and Barbara Saunders. In the next picture the group are standing in front of some of the wonderful products that Eva sells – in this picture we have lost Mary and gained Ameeta Sabharwal and Janet Tansley (at the back attempting to put a hat on Ameeta’s head!).
What a great way to start the new Club Year!