Rebecca Parnham on founding Krama & Co, Giving Seeds of Love and the power of weaving Community

Nov 11, 2019

Rebecca connects people and through that weaves community across traditional divides.  She does this through starting her own initiatives as well as supporting others with theirs.  The number of people she mentions in this interview who have helped her or been involved in different things is an indication of the value she places on community - just have a look at the 24 names and links below for evidence! 

In this interview we hear about her life story and trace back to her childhood, what motivated her to start her social enterprise Krama & Co., the impact of attending an Impact Lunch and the connections that led to starting Giving Seeds of Love after the attacks of 15 March as well as her thoughts about the future.  Too often we hear negative stories so it is nice to hear some good ones too.

Rebecca sent me links to all the organisations and people she mentioned:

In terms of Krama & Co. https://www.facebook.com/Kramaandco

I talked about meeting you at Parry Field https://www.facebook.com/parryfieldlawyers/ to discuss how to set it up was pivotal.

I talked about Flame Cambodia https://www.facebook.com/flamecambodia/

and Home and Family Society https://www.facebook.com/HomeAndFamilySocietyChristchurch/

I talked about Danielle Poyzer https://www.facebook.com/danielle.poyzer

In terms of Giving Seeds of Love I talked about meeting Bel at a Seeds Podcast Impact Lunch https://www.facebook.com/SeedsPodcast/.

I then talked about Jo Bailey https://www.facebook.com/Jo-Bailey-Author-1885813798178188/

who founded Uniting Canterbury Women https://www.facebook.com/UnitingCanterburyWomen/

along with Zahra Hussaini who is part of Who is Hussain? Christchurch and Canterbury Resilience Foundation https://www.facebook.com/whoishussainchch/

and
https://www.facebook.com/crfchch/

Also in the team is Amber Johnson who runs https://www.facebook.com/CraftWithoutBorders/

Naeema Arefi and very importantly Dr Hafsa Ahmed who is a trustee of the Lady Khadija Charitable Trust https://www.facebook.com/ladykhadijatrustnz/

who we have partnered with to look at running the Giving Seeds of Love initiative next year. In talking about the project I mentioned consulting with Sarina Dickson from The worry bug. https://www.facebook.com/TheWorryBug/

and also consulting with Jessie Kendall who practices NLP and Empower Me Now has https://www.facebook.com/empowermenow.co.nz/

I spoke about having a space at https://www.facebook.com/EastxEastChch/

which is run by https://www.facebook.com/LifeInVacantSpaces/ for the unity garden.

I spoke about the Unity floral tribute. The artist is Simone Johnston from https://www.facebook.com/FlowerGirlOfficial1/ who I was introduced to years ago by Ministry of Awesome as she also has a social enterprise supporting women in Guatemala. called Mano Fair Trade https://www.facebook.com/ManoFairTrade/

We were lucky enough to have Janneth Gil https://www.facebook.com/jannethgil.fineart/ follow the process and get some great photos for us. 

We donated it to the Muslim Association of Canterbury https://www.facebook.com/MacNewZealand/

and arranged for it to be then donated to the Canterbury Museum https://www.facebook.com/canterburymuseum/

We have been running workshops and were lucky enough to be invited to run some at Al Noor Mosque over the school holidays and also for https://www.facebook.com/Jane.Goodall.Institute.NZ/ when Jane Goodall came to Christchrcuh 

and met children who are part of the Roots and Shoots programme https://www.facebook.com/rootsandshoots/

We have also run a workshop for Who is Hussain - Auckland https://www.facebook.com/whoishussainakl

A reflection written for Rebecca based on our conversation:

Seeds of Love

We talk and in every second sentence I hear
Someone else who helped, another name
While division was his goal, it’s clear
As seeds of love are planted, unity draws near
Even if life will never again be the same

For in those brief moments of that day,
last breaths were stolen from so many lives
The way things were can’t remain or stay
And yet still a smile, for come what may
With empathy, love and hope still strives

So let’s turn our faces together, not apart
Learning to talk, uniting for brave deeds
Like laughing and listening, it’s a start
And maybe it will help heal each heart
Giving us courage to plant more seeds