Dignita: The Store with A Story

In the streets of the Red Light District, where hope shatters for most women who were being trafficked and forced into prostitution for a living, lies a cafe called "Dignita", a former brothel transformed into the store with a story....

100% of profits gained from the store and cafe goes towards supporting the work of Not For Sale (NFS).

And every Tuesday and Thursday night, volunteers will come and distribute food to the prostitutes working along the Red Light District.

Curious about how the organization works, I asked them a few questions...

How does this organization helps in tackling human trafficking?

They provide food and comfort in any way they can to the women working in the Red Light District. Policemen do investigate if the women there are being trafficked or are there voluntarily. And if the police finds people who are being trafficked there, we provide training for the victims to be able to sustain themselves in the future, having to leave their old life of prostitution behind the window or glass doors.

Does it matter if the women chose to be there willingly? And how would you be able to find out who is there voluntarily rather than being trafficked there? 

It doesn't matter if the women chose to be in the Red Light District willingly or not because most of them do not choose to be here. 

The store sells pretty cool items for you to buy in support of the organization and has a small seating area for a group of 3-4 to fit and watch videos on human trafficking that often occurs behind the Red Light District

They even sell quite affordable tea & coffee ! There was no reason not to support their cause especially after watching the video again and again, which really got to me....

The soup kitchen is also part of the cafe....

And they also store their supply of basic clothes, footwear and drinks for the ladies in the store...

It was literally the light at the end of a dark tunnel,

You could even come on Tuesdays, or Thursdays-Sundays at 6PM to get free information about the Red Light District. The informative talk will give an inside look into the history of the Red Light District, The Culture and Realities of the Red Light District, Legalization of Prostitution and Life Behind the Windows which will only take 30 minutes of your time

I've even attached a link of a very interesting yet viral short clip tackling the issue of human trafficking in the Red Light District down here, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uta5xdGJcqI

You can find the location on Google Map as 'Dignita Retail' but nevertheless, here's the address,

Oudezijds Achterburgwal 82A,

1012 Dr Amsterdam

Please do visit and support their cause :)

Also, please do share this post to inspire others !

The Cookies, The Camera and My Adorable Mum

As you all would've known, that's my mum ! (and yes you can obviously see how 'obsessed' I am about my parents with the amount of posts I've dedicated to them hehehe). But this is kinda a different kind of post though. 

So, you know, I've stocked up pictures and took many shots of our cookies before I left to study back in the UK. 

And as you would've expected, I'm starting to run out of pictures and our cookies have been progressing that we needed new pictures to update our lovely customers ! 

Beyond that, mum had this great idea to put all 3 types of cookies into a gift box for people to give to others for birthdays, weddings etc which is super awesome ! And she passed me the pictures for me to edit.... (Note that my mum do take great pictures just maybe today was just not her day hehe, love you ma)

Anyways, she sent me a picture from inside the house, which I thought was taken at a great angle (speaking as if my photography skills are like a pro)... but the lighting was bad in the house

So, told mum, 'Maaaa, can you please take picture outside? The lighting is better outside'. Then she went like, 'Hujan la'. (Oh yes, I forgot that we were thousands of miles away from each other to know that KL was raining haha) But she still managed to take a few pictures at the patio, which had pretty decent lighting ! 

Not bad riight ? But I wanted to post a picture from a side angle, like how she took the picture on top (well, sorta). And I wasn't sure how to tell her the angle of the box that I wanted so I took a picture of a box that was in my room and asked her to take a shot with the same angle ....

My picture taken from my uni's room 

Mum's picture taken from home

(Haaah, can't see you the lengths we go through for product pictures ? Haha)

But this time, I was the 'dumb' one cause I forgot our box had a 'window'. So....

Me : Oh maaaa ! I forgot that our box had a 'window'. Can you please take a picture again but with the box standing ? Hehehe

Mum : EISHAAAAAAAAAA !

*although we were only whatsapping, I could imagine her shouting my name across our hallway at home already hahaha*

And yes, as you have guessed it right, my mum isn't a huge fan of doing this haha ! Which makes me appreciate more whenever she tries to do so for our cookies :) 

Oh, and it means a lot whenever she types more than her usual 'ok'. So, when mum types, 'Eishaaaaa', you know she really meant it well hahaha

But she still did it anyways.... 

Which was too senget for me to edit so yeahhh. I liked the angle from the first box, really. But I didn't want to kacau my mum with my perfectionist needs for a better picture so I found a way around things...

I whatsapped my brother asking for his help to take more pictures of the box with the cookies and soon-to-be-bought ribbons ! Hahaha. Thanks abang for volunteering to help take pictures from home :) I bet you enjoyed hearing how me and mama were trying to figure the pictures out hehe

Anyways, let's just maybe finish this post off with my mum's pictures which were pretty legit ! 

Our cookies at Meteora Cafe, Subang Jaya

But I guess yesterday was just not her 'good photography day'. You know, like 'bad hair day', 'bad hijab day' and stuff. Hehehe. 

Sorry ma, just had to write this post of our rather 'cute' experience as a memory for both of us to always remember. Hehehe. Love you ma :) 

Cheers to my adorable mum and our many attempts (and still counting) ! *giggles*

The Skinny Bakers : My Mum, The COO

Many of us would decide to start a business with either their friend or partner or some random investor. Well, atleast that was how it nearly went for me as well. But things took a turn. Rather than going around finding for someone who I can 'trust' and would work as hard, possibly even harder than me, my mum was right there in front of me this whole time !

I couldn't have imagined growing this empire with anyone else than my mum. My mum is super hard working, definitely more hard working than me, and is very experienced in doing business. She's been my strongest motivation my whole life, that I'd do anything for her. In business terms, I'd do anything to make this business a success for and with my mum. And insyaAllah growing it to become our next empire ! Beyond that, she loves doing business and practically has been doing it her whole life ! I told her that I wouldn't want to be part of the business not learning anything so she would have to tell me every single step of the way on how the business grows, although I'm far away.

So here's how things work between me and my mum. We both need each other to make this cookie business into our next empire.
I got the recipe a few years ago and my mum got it from me over Summer. I work on the tech side of things, such as photography, social media, sticker designs, website etc. Its also cause I'm far away from home so yeah. And mum now handles the production at home ! (Yes, here's the answer to many of you who has been questioning me who has been doing the production of cookies since I've been away).

While I was in KL, I would approach cafes with our cookies, proposing our cookies to be placed at their cafes. Even when I was occupied by my internship, I'd go to cafes after working hours. And on the weekends, I'd go to cafes with my mum.

Since I've been away pursuing my degree here in the UK, mum has taken over that part and has been approaching places beyond expectation. Alhamdulillah, we've been getting orders for weddings and birthdays since we started, only a few months ago ! Our cookies are now available at Petron Manjalara and Petron Bandar Utama. Not to forget, we've placed our cookies at some event organizers office as well !

With the pace of how things have been growing great for us, it looks like I've got to save more money to have more capital in order to achieve our goals for this cookie empire !
But what are our long term plans for the cookies? Hmmm, It's still a secret. Hehehe. Till next time !

Part 1 : The Skinny Bakers

My first attempt on starting a baking business started off when I was 12. Typically, it was during the Eid celebration and it was the season for biscuits 'kuih'. I sold a few pineapple tarts with my mum and gained about RM 200. Then, my pursue in my baking business stopped as I was busy pursuing other interests throughout highschool.

Only a few years ago (3 years ago to be exact), I started baking again. And it was for my friends and family. I never baked for myself, really. But surprisingly, the best 'turn-outs' for the many recipes I've tried are usually the ones based on what other people requests of me to bake for them. But the one recipe that really stayed was our 'Chocolate Chip Cookies' that some people would even say, that it tastes better than 'Famous Amous' !

Then it begins ! I started baking for my sister who was pregnant with our first niece when she craved for freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Next thing you know, I started baking for my niece, nephews and even my own friends requested for orders. But I was still busy catching up with my A-Levels, so introducing the cookies into the main market was never part of the plan (especially since I was preparing to study abroad)

A year passed by and I've completed my 1st Year of my LLB Law studies, came back for my Raya Holidays and my family requested for the cookies again ! Even after a year away from home and baking, I came back with people still requesting for the cookies, especially my lovely niece and nephew. My mum started learning how to bake the cookies from me, since I was to go back to UK and continue pursuing my studies (at least ada la for someone to bake the cookies whilst I was away). And next thing you know, BAM ! The idea to start a business just came with the flow (Also due to much encouragement from others, which are most definitely much appreciated).  Our motives & plans for the future of the business you may ask ? We'll definitely keep you posted in the future blog posts. 

So, here it goes. To the first 3 weeks of pursuing our business, 'The Skinny Bakers'. With everything going well so far (alhamdulillah), much gratitude goes to those who have been supporting us from the very beginning. Cheers !