Embroidered drinks coaster with olive branch design made by the women of Idna village, located in the southern West Bank. 100% cotton, cotton lining on back, machine washable.

Size: 10cm x 10cm

Artisan: Idna Ladies' Association (West Bank)

Idna is a remote village of some 20,000 people located in the hills southwest of the Palestinian city of Hebron. Despite its beautiful hillsides, the village suffers from critical unemployment, adult illiteracy, and inadequate health and educational facilities. The Idna Ladies' Association (estab. 1998) began as a small local income-generation project for women to learn skills in product design, sewing, quality control, inventory, financial management, and organisational skills.  The Association has since grown from one room to a workshop equipped with sewing machines and worktables and is well-known for their original products of exceptional prettiness and practicality.  Many of the women are the sole family breadwinner, and their work with the Association has seen many now able to provide their daughters with opportunities for higher education that they themselves were not able to do.