Emily Earl, Clare Muhiudeen, Phyllis Hatfull, Mara Gardner and Zehan Albakri at the Lady Mayor’s Show in November
Welcome to our PAWA Winter Update
As we welcome the new year, it presents a wonderful opportunity for reflection and setting future aspirations.
In this winter newsletter, I invite you to join me in celebrating the efforts of our PAWA teams over the past few months. Together, we have successfully promoted PAWA in the City of London, fostered social connections within our community, and expressed our gratitude to those who have supported us over the years. I would especially like to remember Sri Owen, whose cookery books remain a treasured reference for all of us.
Looking ahead, we have an exciting and busy year in store, starting with our WRAP/IWD fundraising campaign. I’m looking forward to purchasing my 2026 t-shirt, and I hope you’ll join me in doing the same!
Thank you as always for your support.
See you at our annual meeting!
Clare Muhiudeen, Chair of PAWA Trustees
supporter – has passed away peacefully at the age of 90.
The author of one of the first English-language recipe books dedicated to Indonesian cuisine, Sri Owen was instrumental in popularising Indonesian food culture in the UK.
Credited by New York Times columnist Melissa Clark as one of the writers who “deepened the conversation around food to address questions of culture, context, history and identity”, her seminal work The Rice Book (1993) was chosen by The Observer as one of the 50 Best Cookbooks of All Time.
Sri and her late husband Roger joined PAWA at its inception and remained loyal donors for the rest of their lives. Sri hosted many memorable PAWA events.
In 2012, she organised a colourful Nyepi Dinner to celebrate the Balinese New Year’s Eve. And her last event, in 2023, was the launch of the new edition of The Rice Book.
Sri supported PAWA’s work wholeheartedly as education had transformed her own life.
Always enthusiastic, always inspiring – Sri will be greatly missed!
PAWA Sends Five to Historic Parade
Mara Gardner, Zehan Albakri, Clare Muhiudeen, Phyllis Hatfull and Emily Earl at the
Ironmongers’ Hall, representing PAWA before the Lady Mayor’s Show
Phyllis Hatfull’s account of the brilliant November day
“2025 was a special year for the City of London, with its first-ever Lady Mayor – the third woman to hold the office, and the first to use the title. To mark the significant occasion, Dame Susan Langley celebrated women at the Lady Mayor’s Parade, inviting 697 women to take part in its 697th edition.
PAWA was delighted and honoured to be asked to send five participants. Clare, Zehan, Mara, Emily and I made up the team. We decided to make a splash with bright orange jackets, our orange PAWA caps and PAWA banners.
We were part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ladies’ bus, which was a real buzz with lots of excited chatter and everyone in their colourful national dress.
We started bright and early, meeting for breakfast at the Ironmongers’ Hall together with the Ironmongers who were in the parade. Thanks to the generosity of Julian Verden, who hosted us, we had coffee and sustenance before the parade began.
Slowly, we set off from London Wall and walked along the route from Guildhall and past the guild halls where aldermen were standing outside in their fine livery. All the church bells were ringing for us, and crowds of people were cheering and waving.
Zehan Albakri, Mara Gardner, Clare Muhiudeen, Phyllis Hatfull and Emily Earl with PAWA Honorary Council member
Mei Sim Lai, whom we sincerely thank for giving PAWA the opportunity to participate in the parade
As we passed Mansion House, we greeted the Lady Mayor and other dignitaries. We stopped for lunch by the river, then made our way back past Mansion House where we gave the Lady Mayor three rousing cheers and finished back at London Wall.
I was very glad we’d dressed in PAWA’s colour, bright orange. Walking in a line, side by side, we did catch people’s attention. I was struck by how many people read our banners and gave us a thumbs up. We were also captured on TV. We all stayed the course and walked the entire route.
I felt very proud of our team and of PAWA.”
Phyllis Hatfull, Head of PAWA’s Impact Study Team
Festive wishes from our projects!
The new year has started, and we wanted to share a couple of the lovely cards and thank you messages that we received from our partners at the end of 2025. Rebecca and the team at Learning for Life reached out to say:
“As we come to the end of the year, I wanted to send our thanks, on behalf of everyone at Learning for Life, for your generous support of the Songlap programme aboard the floating schools.
“Your commitment has played a key role in supporting adolescent girls and ensuring continued access to education and life-skills learning in communities that are often hard to reach. We are very grateful for your support and for the strength of our partnership.”
And, we had this card from the girls at Aruna Bhawan, the social services centre in Nepal run by the Nepal Jesuit Society. Visiting the Centre was one of the highlights of the autumn Nepal trek that was featured in Autumn’s Newsletter. Serena Janssens scholar Samikshya created the card for PAWA.
The PAWA Projects team would like to wish all our projects the very
best for 2026 and we look forward to the year ahead together.
“On Sunday, November 2nd, Lazarus Halstead, Head of the Department of Chinese Art at Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers, graciously led a private tour for an intimate group of PAWA’s patrons, benefactors, and friends.
We were thrilled to offer this special experience as a heartfelt thank you for a wonderful year of support toward our mission: empowering underprivileged girls across Asia through the transformative power of education.
Lazarus guided us through a series of curated exhibitions, from Chinese art in The Marsh Collection: Art for the Literati and Painting the Dao, to exquisite Japanese paintings from an important collection, as featured in Beauties, Beasts, and Blossoms.
As an added delight, our guests had the unique opportunity to meet the celebrated artist Hugh Moss, whose works were on display.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Lazarus for his generosity and for sharing his time with our supporters during the busy art season.
To learn more about our community, or to join us for inspiring events like this, please don’t hesitate to reach out!”
Kristie Lui, Supporters’ Secretary
PAWA’s Annual Meeting
Please save the date for PAWA’s Annual Meeting on 10th March (evening) at the WTW Offices in the City of London.
Please join us to hear about PAWA’s achievements this year and plans for 2026 as well as for hospitality afterwards.
Click here for more details and to reserve your space.
Meet PAWA’s Honorary Secretary, Emily Earl
Emily has a background in intergovernmental trade negotiations and now calls London home after growing up in New Zealand and living in Hong Kong and Switzerland.
Joining as Honorary Secretary a year ago, she supports the work of the Trustees and helps ensure PAWA meets UK Charity requirements.
She says, “I was immediately drawn to PAWA’s mission for educating teenage girls throughout Asia, and have been fascinated to learn about how each programme we support works to overcome different local barriers to educating girls.
“As a PAWA volunteer, I have enjoyed connecting with a diverse and inspiring group of volunteers, and I love that we have such a wide range of ages and experience in the PAWA Community.
“From dragging myself around Battersea Park for the PAWA Run to learning about Thai textiles and getting to know our Volunteer community at the newly launched PAWA Socials, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself this year and am looking forward to continuing to help deliver PAWA’s mission in 2026.”
IWD 2026 Wrap T-shirts
On Sale From February 23rd
In anticipation of International Women’s Day on March 8th, 2026, PAWA and Wrap
are excited to announce a second collaboration.
Following the overwhelming success of last year’s partnership, Wrap – a family-run, London-based womenswear brand with over 18 years of experience – have made a limited-edition jersey t-shirt, with all proceeds going to PAWA once again.
Check out the gorgeous print created by Wrap’s head designer, Ellie. This lovely, breathable tee is a must-have for spring!
(Until its launch, please keep this incredible design under wraps)
The IWD theme for 2026 is Give to Gain (#givetogain). From the 23rd of February, you can Give by encouraging your friends and family to buy, wear and post the t-shirt on social media – in turn ensuring the girls we support Gain new opportunities through education.
We are so grateful to Wrap for their continued support of PAWA.
