By Jumiati Nevi
It will be so exciting and inspiring to meet the women that COMO Foundation has been helping at Lua Nova.
Being selected as a 2014 COMO Foundation Ambassador is a dream come true. It makes me proud to work at Parrot Cay and COMO Hotels & Resorts, knowing the difference we can make in the lives of women in need. I think it is wonderful how Lua Nova provides young mothers who have suffered with addiction with medical care, counseling and training, while being able to keep their children and help care for them. I hope to be able to contribute my background in finance, cooking and baking to help them improve their projects and help the women of Lua Nova prepare themselves for jobs after they complete their treatment.
Before my travels, I worked on getting my visa for Brazil since January. My first application at Miami was not successful, so I was a little worried. Fortunately, I was successful when I tried for the second time at the consulate in the Bahamas. Today, March 11 2015 I received my yellow fever vaccination before I travel to Brazil, so I am ready to go!
I am preparing some gifts for Lua Nova, including Batik from my native Indonesia, tshirts and shirts from Parrot Cay boutique store, and shell corns I collected from the beach at Parrot Cay.
Batik is a technique of wax-resistant dyeing applied to cloth. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines with the resistant wax with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the resistant wax with a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colours are desired.
I worked with the Parrot Cay boutique store managers Mary and Jessica to arrange for old clothes stock to be donated to Lua Nova. I have collected 19 orange polo shirts, six blue polo shirts, 31 white shirts and 45 black shirts. These old stocks are normally sold to staff and have a total value of USD 353.
I am proud to represent the COMO Foundation at Lua Nova, and look forward to learning more about their work first hand.
Ambassador Journey 