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Sitti Soap: Spreading Hope Through Soap

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By Trisha Sales

Established in 1968 as a result of the Arab-Israeli war, Jerash Camp is locally known as Gaza camp in Jordan. According to the United Nations Refugee Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), there are more than 29,000 Palestinian refugees registered with many trying to live out of poverty.

View of Jerash Camp. Photo Credit: Bashar Alaeddin

Various services are available that provide refugees skill development and job opportunities. One of the projects that emerged through community development and fundraising was the Sitti Soap company. It grew out of the hopes of the NGO called The Hopes for Women of Education.

Sitti Soap aims to provide financial independence and skill development opportunities for refugee women.

Jaqueline Sofia and Noora Sharrab, the founders of Sitti Soap, collaborated to help women enhance their skills in soap making. They came across a group of women, who had the ability to make soap out of olive oil.

To the right: Noora Sharrab, Co-Founder of Sitti Soap

“When we created Sitti Soap, it was with the belief that no matter how small we started out, we were part of a community where passion for unity and change would keep our social enterprise driving forward,” Sofia wrote in the Sitti Soap blog.

The word sitti in Arabic means grandmother. The brand uses traditional methods in the process of making soap. Olives are pressed after the harvest. The oil is produced into tins that block out the light which preserves the pure quality of the olive oil. It is also made cold pressed rather than heated.

“Traditionally our grandmothers would make olive oil soap from leftover oil that they gathered from the farms… it’s known to be something very sacred,” Sharrab said.

Sitti Soap partnered with an NGO called Work Shelter in New Delhi, India that makes their tote bags. In return, the organization provides women educational opportunities to Indian women.

“It’s so critical for us. Even those we source to get other products made, they have to fall in line with the same ethical stance,” Sharrab said.

Sharrab believes that everything they do in the company should have a holistic feel- that any work put towards Sitti Soap should aim to have an impact.

Not only do they get their source of income but also a percentage of it is directed towards improving the services in the camp and also provides scholarships that help women achieve higher education.

Photo Credit: Jacqueline Sofia

“At one point we opened a mini daycare so women would be able to do workshop training. The main inspiration is to provide these women financial independence. We want these women to feel that they have the skills and ability to give something back,” Sharrab said.

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Block Travel Ban Ruling

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by Aysha Qamar

The U.S. Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a judge’s ruling that prevented the President’s travel ban from being applied to grandparents of U.S. citizens and refugees already being processed by resettlement agencies, Friday.

In a court filing, the administration asked the justices to overturn Thursday’s decision by a U.S. district judge in Hawaii, that limited those affected by the administration’s temporary ban on refugees and travelers from six predominately Muslim countries.

The Hawaii federal judge ruled that grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and siblings-in-law must be added to the list of close family members, who can still get visas to travel to the United States during the 90 days while the executive order is in force.

Last month, the Supreme Court announced it would hear a challenge to the travel ban later this year, but partially lifted an injunction that barred the order from taking effect.

The State Department said on June 29 that only parents, parents-in-law, spouses, fiancés, children, and children-in-law would be exempt from the ban on visas for travel.

It acted after the Supreme Court stated that while aspects of the travel ban could be enforced, people abroad with credible claim of a “bona fide relationship” to a person or entity in the U.S. would be exempt and allowed into the country.

In response to a motion by the state of Hawaii to broaden the exceptions, U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson said the State Department’s definition of close family member “represents the antithesis of common sense.” Grandparents, he said “are the epitome of close family members” and past Supreme Court decisions have defined the term much more broadly.

Watson, appointed by former President Barack Obama, was one of the federal judges who issued a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s initial and revised ban.

While the Trump administration argued that directive did not include grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews-Watson said that the administration’s definition of “bona fide relationship” was too narrow, and ruled that grandparents were also among those allowed into the country.

During the court filling, the Justice Department said Watson’s ruling on refugees would make the Supreme Court’s decision on that part of the executive order “effectively meaningless” as it included not just “close” family members but all.

The ruling would allow for refugees to continue to resettle in the United States, beyond a cap of 50,000, which was set by the executive order.

While the Supreme Court is currently not in session, it can hear emergency requests.

The administration’s application could be directed either to Justice Anthony Kennedy, responsible for emergency requests from western states, or to the nine justices together. If the court as a whole is asked to weigh in, five votes are needed to grant a request.

“The Supreme Court has had to correct this lower court once, and we will now reluctantly return directly to the Supreme Court to again vindicate the rule of law and the executive branch’s duty to protect the nation,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

Lawyers for the Trump administration have asked the Supreme Court to let the government use the list it compiled in June for deciding who can apply for a visa under the limited enforcement of the president’s executive order on travel.