Projects Update

With donations from the Serena Janssens Memorial Fund, PAWA is supporting the university education of three girls from two different PAWA projects. This is a letter from one of the girls, who was a recipient of PAWA funds at JMB Nepal and is now in law school. June Corpuz of JMB says of the letter:
“I hope you will find this very heart warming and fulfilling as we did at JMB. She has fulfilled the PAWA dream “Educate a girl, change a life, break the cycle” by her own admission. Her grades have shot up to GPA 3.44 which is 89% and in the UK that is beyond a first class at 70%. It is in the prize winning category. I am sure she will keep it up in her remaining 2 plus years at law school”.


Fund Raising

Past Events
PAWA Arts Jam, December 4

The night of December 4 saw a fabulous turnout for our annual Arts Jam. In partnership with the Temple of Art and Music (TAM), the evening featured some amazing artists — JoElise, Chiara Filomeni & Daniel Michalek, Jemilah Sharmarke, Marina Chan, Malala, Bianca Ventura — and a great band headed by Asha ‘Keys’ Elfenbein.
There was also a very successful raffle with prizes that included pottery, ceramics and original artwork.
A fun evening for all, and a great way to end the year. With special thanks to our volunteers Sophia and Tia for their impeccable hosting skills!
PAWA Champion Events
The launch of the new edition of Ibu Sri Owen’s ‘The Rice Book’ at the Indonesian Embassy, November 9th
“I felt really privileged to be at the launch of Sri Owen’s updated edition of her prizewinning ‘The Book of Rice’ at the Indonesian Embassy. Sri is a consummate story-teller and in her fascinating discussion with the FT’s John Aglionby she spoke about her life-long passion for rice and the journeys she undertook with her late husband Roger as they travelled the globe to hunt out the best recipes, resulting in this erudite, beautifully illustrated encyclopaedia of rice.
Sri has always been a passionate champion of and fundraiser for PAWA . She generously donated the funds from this event, which included a signed copy of her book, to PAWA.
HE Dr. Desra Percaya welcomed everyone and played his saxophone, together with the Indonesian Embassy’s anklung orchestra. There were tasty rice dishes from Warung Windsor as well as delicious tempeh donated by Protempeh. A big thank you to David and Silvija who helped organise the drinks and to Paul Bloomfield who donated the waiting staff. PAWA’s Betty Yao skilfully chaired the evening’s proceedings.
“It was a wonderful and unforgettable occasion.”
— Phyllis Hatful
Since this event, the ‘Rice Book’ has been nominated by the Guardian as one of the five best food books of 2023
William Lui’s concert, 30th November
“Four enterprising young musicians enthralled the audience on Thursday 30th November 2023 at the beautiful St. Barnabas Kensington, in a programme entitled ‘A Celebration of Women Composers in Classical Music’ – organised and directed by the irrepressible William Lui on the cello who was very deservedly awarded the coveted ‘PAWA Champion’ for his sincere contribution to PAWA’s incomparable work of supporting underprivileged teenage girls’ education in Asia.
Watched on by his supportive sister and his mother who had just flown in from Shanghai, William Lui on the cello was joined by Lucy Barratt and Roxanna Shini-Mehrabzadeh both on the piano as well as Yeva Volkava on the violin – these excellent young musicians performed beautiful chamber music composed by the iconic Clara Schumann, Indian-American composer Reena Esmail and by the beloved sisters Lili and Nadia Boulanger. It is indeed rare to find such excellent young musicians already embodying the elusive magic of giving to others less fortunate than themselves – a truly moving evening of exquisite music-making.”
— Bobby Chen
PAWA Partner Events
Japanese Women’s Association concert featuring Yuki Negishi, October 20th
“Concert Pianist Yuki Negishi gave us an elegant lunchtime performance. The opening of the Allegro from the Sonata in E by Marianna Martines was in a delightful and a graceful classical form interpretation.
Her second piece was Chopin’s Noctourne no 9 in which Yuki demonstrated Chopin’s imagination beautifully. This was followed by two Japanese pieces, Moshiogusa by Tsune Matsushima a delightful children’s song, and the second Kagome-Variation by Kisyoshige Koyama. Then came an Impromptu in E flat major Op.90 no 2 by Franz Schubert, a lyrical compostion which matched Yuki’s flying fingers. The next piece was Enigma by Melanie Spanswick with its very melancholic mood in the opening and a switch to the major key to bring light and hope to the ending. Superbly interpreted by Yuki.
The two simple elegant Claude Debussy of Arabesques were dreamy performances, which were followed by Sergei Rachmaninoff’s two contrasting preludes op23 no 4 and 5. Finally Yuki played the three George Gershwin preludes in a wonderfully classical manner. It was indeed a very lush and beautiful concert.”
— Marina Chan