DONATE BEFORE DISCOUNT on Black Friday 🙏

DONATE BEFORE DISCOUNT on Black Friday 🙏

Instead of giving discounts on our handmade, high-quality natural products, we want to rather donate 25% of our turnover today 29.11 to humanitarian crisis work for children in Gaza, as a counterbalance to Black Friday.
By Renate Lunde
Part

The war in Gaza is hitting civilians who have nowhere to hide. I say that Plan International Norway : The world must do more, and in the meantime we must do everything we can. Because it is urgent!

We are against Black Week and Black Friday at Vossabia ✊. We are anyway, but especially in a time when it is as black as it can get for so many of our fellow human beings. It is pitch black every single day in Palestine. The people of Gaza are living under an extreme genocide so cruel that it is incomprehensible 😔 It is so totally surreal that we witness the most cruel acts carried out by Israel every day, and then we can do nothing to stop it. And those who can stop it don't... What a black, black time we live in.
We ordinary people can pressure politicians and shout Listen to the UN, demonstrate, boycott, share and we can sign and send this pre-written email to the Norwegian Petroleum Fund and the Ministry of Finance stating that we do not accept that the Norwegian Petroleum Fund is investing heavily in occupied Palestinian territory 📧
We can also donate to organizations that do very important work for people in the most extreme need 🙏 And that's what Vossabia will do on this day, this year as last year 🐝

Earlier this year we gave 163,000 to emergency aid and last year we donated 88,000 to Save the Children and Unicef after Black Friday. Small drops, but we believe that every contribution is important! 🌎 This year we have chosen to give to Plan International Norway, which is working hard with humanitarian crisis work, bringing in emergency aid packages with food, water and first aid equipment in Gaza. Plan also collaborates with local partners who cook hot meals for thousands of people, they provide psychosocial support to children and families, and much more 🙌

I cannot believe that state leaders and ministers who are parents themselves can watch and not stop this unimaginable thing that has been going on for not only well over 400 days, but for actually 76 years.

My Egyptian/Palestinian friend Noha experienced being in a forest for the first time in 2016 here in Voss, a powerful experience!

 

Many of us feel deep sorrow every day for each and every one of the over 43,000 people who have been killed, and the well over 100,000 who have been injured, and the over 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza who are suffering from extreme man-made famine. The UN has said that Israel's actions are genocide, and that nearly 70% of all those killed are women and children. 44% of all those killed are children. The children who will survive this are so injured that they will be traumatized for life. They depend on aid organizations, and we can contribute so that organizations can actually do what they are good at: helping in crises and humanitarian disasters 🙏
 
WE ARE DONATING 25% OF OUR SALES on Friday, November 29th to PLAN INTERNATIONAL NORGE and their work for children in Gaza.
Here you can also help contribute, while perhaps securing the Christmas gifts you had planned to buy anyway. That was the idea. That there are many of us who simply contribute to people in need, and that by doing something that is useful and good for ourselves and the environment 💛
 
Everything Vossabia makes is of course useful, environmentally friendly and locally produced, and therefore great to give to those who have everything and those who might need something clever. At least that's what I think 😉 🤩 So below you will find some tips for calendar gifts for beautiful children and young people 😉 and Christmas gift ideas for those you love (including yourself! 😘).
gift guideVossabia's natural products are very popular Christmas gifts
 
In this way, we contribute something positive, and not to overconsumption and shopping mania. Vossabia is also fundamentally against Black Friday, Week and Month. We are against the call for overconsumption and mass production of goods that statistics show quickly end up in landfills around the world, and pollute at all levels ✊

Black Friday, Week and Month also hurt small businesses. If anyone thinks that giving huge discounts to small, independent stores is economically sustainable, then the answer is probably a resounding NO. I know many store owners are struggling with these days, with shopping chaos, hoarding and then literally no profit. Businesses are going bankrupt because of Black Friday 💔

There are so many great ways to buy gifts for your loved ones that don't involve getting carried away by crazy price cuts. Buying from local manufacturing companies that create jobs in the local community, buying used and vintage, donating to charities and good experiences for yourself and your loved ones, and I love that! 💖 So I choose charity today, for children who are suffering, in the name of humanity and human dignity 🐝🌎

From 1995 – 2009 I studied and researched Middle Eastern history at various universities. If you want to learn more about life under Israel's brutal occupation, I recommend these the documentaries:
  • Tears of Gaza (2010)
  • Born in Gaza (2014)
  • Death in Gaza (2004)
  • 5 Broken Cameras (2011)
  • Jenin, Jenin (2002)
  • A World Not Ours (2012)
  • The Gatekeepers (2012)
  • The Oslo Diaries (2018)
  • The Occupation of the American Mind (2016)

Hedda Hosås


If you've read this far and are thinking that it's so wrong of Vossabia to have opinions and viewpoints about anything other than herbs and skincare, I'd like to remind you that being human is about caring, supporting each other, and getting involved. For me, everything is connected, we are connected to each other, and how can you care about nature and the ecosystem, and not get involved for your fellow human beings? It's that simple, I think 💛

 

Warm regards,
Renate, Queen Bee 🐝 in Vossabia