People gathered for the grand opening of the Global Market pop-up shop at CityScape on Friday, where more than 20 refugee women have been given the opportunity to sell their handmade items and baked goods.
The store was jam-packed with people as Vice Mayor Laura Pastor gave her speech and cut the ribbon to officially open the pop-up shop.
Among the items for sale are international sweets, soap and organic body care, art classes, henna tattoos, glass, woodwork, canvas paintings, photography services and more.
100 percent of the proceeds go to the individual refugee vendors.
Three graduate students from ASU’s Office of Global Social Work, the office of Vice Mayor Pastor, and three ethnic, community-based nonprofit organizations for refugees– the American Muslim Women’s Association, Syrian Sweets Exchange, and RISE (Refugee Integration, Stability and Education) — worked together to create the Global Market project.
Their goal is to help talented refugee individuals to become successful entrepreneurs and share their different cultures with the community.
26-year-old Tahmina Besmel is originally from Afghanistan. She came to the U.S. with her mother and two sisters.
They fled to India from Afghanistan and lived there six years before moving to the U.S.
“We were not allowed to go out for a job, for school, or for having a normal life like others–that is why we escaped,” Besmel said.
Besmel joined the American Muslim Women’s Association when her friend told her about the organization’s sewing classes.
“Sewing is my dream,” Besmel said. “They helped me with the sewing. First off, they show us how to sew. Then, what we sew, they sell them and give us back the money.”
When her family first arrived, they did not have any income.
Now, Besmel is the only one in her family who works.
Her mother is 65 and both of her sisters are deaf and mute, so the money she makes from sewing is the only income her family has.
“When I came here, I didn’t have any friends. Now I have a lot of friends and I know a lot of people. That makes me happy,” Besmel said.
Another refugee vendor at the pop-up shop is Luma Abdulbaqi.
Abdulbaqi is originally from Iraq, and she came to the U.S. with her husband, her mother-in-law and four children five years ago.
Eleven months later, she gave birth to her fifth child.
Abdulbaqi learned to make mirror etchings in Iraq, and she is selling her mirror etchings at the Global Market pop-up shop.
“In the Middle East, they like to learn everything,” Abdulbaqi said. “I know etching mirrors, cooking, baking, sewing, and everything. They love to learn. RISE gave me a chance to work and display my stuff, and get me in touch with people.”
Within the past five years, more than 19,000 refugees resettled in Arizona, most of them families, said Alyaa Al-Maadeed, ASU graduate student and administrative coordinator for Global Market.
“We decided to make this opportunity as a way for them to start communicating and engaging with a community, and to be known for their talent and for their skills and for their assets” Al-Maadeed said.
“The program is developed in a way where our three ethnic-based community organizations are putting a sum amount of money at the beginning to get started with the program, and then the three of them are utilizing the same space for their vendors” Al-Madeed said. “They are just helping them sell their stuff, have them engage with the community, and for their brand to be known, so they can establish some revenue and be more self-sufficient.”
She says she modeled the idea after pop-up shops that big companies like Amazon and Google use.
“It is a low-cost and low-rent cost concept that you can use as a business owner to engage with the community and have your brand known,” Al-Madeed said, “I was able to create a program with my team where this concept can be introduced to the world of nonprofits.”
Carolyn Landry heard about the pop-up shop from her friend and decided to check it out.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Landry said, “I think the products are beautiful. Everything I have seen, it’s just really nice.”
Heidi Pettigrew heard about the event from Facebook.
“I have been praying for this to happen because I have been getting to know some of the families,” Pettigrew said, “When I heard about this I said, ‘I am going to be there all month!’”
Pettigrew met some of the women through a Syrian Sweets event at her church, Central Christian in Mesa.
“There was a sign up for reading to kids to help them learn to read and write English, so I volunteered for that, and that’s kind of how I’ve gotten plugged in,” Pettigrew said.
“These are stories of great hope, great spirit, and I am just so happy to be just a little part of their life today, and to help open up the stories and be able to be part of it and make it part of the city,” Pastor said in her speech. “So, what I want to do is thank all of you for your courageousness and the willingness to get up every morning not sure what you are going to face, but you are going to do it and you are going to do it with pride and with a smile, and you are going to push. That is usually what most women do.”
Contact the reporter at hplotnik@asu.edu.
