2023 Letter From Amina

2023 has been an incredible year filled with anticipation, challenge and hard work followed by sadness, heartbreak, madness and tears.

Now we are at the stage of resistance and resilience with anticipation and hope for a better future for all in our region.. because if we don’t hope we don’t persist and we must persist to exist.

Key words that sum up the year for Amina’s Natural Skincare:

1. Growth & Expansion: Building and construction work at factory’s with orders for new equipment and machinery for production.

2. Preserve & Observe: Nature appreciation protection & observation.

3. Give Back: Resist and persist and support local charities.

Growth & Expansion

As part of our vision to produce safe effective organic skin care and make them available to as many persons as would like them, we took our planned leap into the future! Amina’s Natural Skincare grew in the local market, regional markets and European markets which made this year very exciting for our team. Preparing, meetings and training new partners in these new markets. Our product range also grew to include face toners and hand soaps.

CONSTRUCTION

The factory extension that was started in November 2022 is progressing. A challenging time, as our factory had to remain operational while the contractor carried out all excavations and building.

Our eco factory is starting to take shape and blend into surrounding hills. See below image of our new equipment and production line being assembled, super exciting!

Nature Appreciation, Protection & Observation

Observation:

Wild asparagus find! This was my first time spotting one and I was truly delighted about this experience. The plant grew taller than 3m before branching and hardening.

Protection:

As part of our continued commitment to safeguarding nature and our native plant heritage, we decided to stretch this year's Earth Day campaign to a month dedicated to raising money and awareness about native plants and their importance in the Jordanian ecosystem. Plants were purchased and planted around eco factory.

OLIVE SEASON

Olive picking time of year with our amazing ladies from Gaza refugee camp. Always a delight to spend time together. An important part of our ethos is working with and supporting women from vulnerable backgrounds and refugees. We do so in many ways. It has been particularly heartbreaking this year to witness the sadness and loss and feel so utterly helpless.

While these ladies were picking our olives we got the news from their relatives in Gaza and Palestine about the 7th October events unfolding. It has been a challenging and sad time for them, their families as well as the whole country, region and world. We continue to pray and hope for peace, light and goodness to prevail.

OLIVES & ALOE VERA

Our Aloe Vera and olive farm surrounding factory obtained the organic farming certification from CCPB. This recognises our efforts over many years to observe natural farming methods that support and work with nature.

Observation

A native centennial oak behind the eco factory was hit by lighting! The force split off its bark in several areas vertically... We are hoping it will survive this shock. The forces of nature are quite impressive.

Update: she did indeed survive!

Observation

I met a baby bat with the umbilical cord still attached that fell from its nest! I realised that it needed feeding and that they ate milk. An international bat sanctuary helped with information and I did my best for several days, feeding it drops of warmed milk. It was such a treat to care for such a creature and I was blessed with this encounter, even though it was brief and I was unable to help it survive more than a few days.

Give Back: Resist & Persist

At Amina’s, we have committed to giving back to local charities and NGO’s which has always been part of our ethos and woven into our work.

We support local charities that support persons with disabilities, women from vulnerable backgrounds and refugees. By direct donations and by commissioning them to produce accessories for sale in our store we provide valuable sustainable items to purchase and gift. Through these purchases you can feel proud and happy to have contributed to supporting local charities while you enjoy these unique items.

We support local charities and look forward to working with them to increase our collaborations so we can all support each other and grow through mutual benefit.

As part of out deep respect for nature and our commitment towards it we constantly strive to improve on our set standards. Our new factory will have:

• Water treatment plant for treating waste water generated from the factory, so that we can reuse every drop of waste water.
• Composting location for treating factory compostable waste and we are undergoing ongoing training on how to best achieve the needed compost for reuse into organic farm
• Waste sorting facility to weigh, record and to differentiate factory waste. After which we repurpose on site in the farm many items and then send paper, card, plastic and tin to be recycled.
• Aspire to reduction of plastic use in the manufacturing site and in our store seasonal decoration.

Repurposed shipping crates that contained the new equipment are used in our new organic garden planted with native grape vines.