The matter was far from her imagination, as she is a university professor, with a different taste in Arabic language and literature studies, but the matter changed overnight, as Professor Mayada Al-Issa became chased by the Syrian regime, and threatened with arrest at any moment during the Syrian revolution in 2011.
The sixty-year-old woman came out with a handbag in cover of darkness, feeling her way of emigration from Syria to the Ottomans, and from her luxurious life to the country of exile.
University professor Mayada Al-Issa, owner of the "Daughters of Zeinab" project (communication sites)
Mayada emerged from the land of revolution and dreams, dragging the trails of a dream lost between the regime and the militants. She has the remnants of dreams that she carried in her handbag, with a needle and thread, which are the legacy of her mother Zainab for her and her sisters.
This captive hobby for a university professor in her spare time, as she is a woman who does not like gossip and is unable to ruminate painful memories, so thread and needle were her means to move away from everything that harms her soul, but after weeks and months of settling in Turkey Umm Zina (Mayada) began to get acquainted with a community Displaced people from Syria to Turkey.
It was not difficult, as she did not prefer unity, and always liked to meet people, but she did not like women's gatherings devoted to gossip and gossip, so she found her mother Zainab's legacy a new task, so she collected Syrian expatriate women, and deposited her project for the next time.
Dr. Mayada Al-Issa told Al-Jazeera Net, "Throughout my life, my sisters and I used to sew our girls' sweaters, clothes, school bags, etc., their teachers were fascinated by what we make, and many of them showed what our daughters wore in order to make similar ones for their daughters."
And the university professor added that the first thing I thought about after settling in Turkey was not to remain without a job, and at the beginning it was a wool keffiyeh bearing the colors of the Syrian flag, which she used to give gifts to her friends and to the Syrian youth in various activities, both as a flag and as a symbol, for an unfinished revolution. It was 50 keffiyehs for an event in Istanbul, she was not able to work alone, she involved girls who loved the idea, and wanted to acquire a new skill, and from here was the start of the dream project.
Keffiyehs carrying the Syrian flag were the beginning of the "Handyat Banat Zainab" project (communication sites)
Mayada expanded her project, and the rest of her sisters joined her in Turkey, Egypt and Idlib in Syria, and the keffiyeh is no longer the only project in the Syrian flag, but the shawls, pillow covers, bedspreads, bags, and dresses are all woven thread and inlaid with Arabic words and letters.
It takes inspiration from the revolution a special taste, and has become a distinctive trademark of Mayada Al-Essi and Banat Zainab's products.
Mayada tells about her designs for her daughter Zina’s dresses, “I design and implement the dresses of my daughter and daughter’s daughter,” who works in the journalistic field, and which appeared in distinctive dresses of distinctive designs, bearing the signature of her mother in many international forums, and the Arabic words on the dresses were of the most attention. ".
Zeina's dresses that caught the attention of many and asked her about her distinctive designs, she was very proud when she told them, "I wear my mother's taste and love." And for this love, Mayada was unable to provide distinctive dresses to other un-adorned ones, perhaps for reasons such as size differences and the need to follow up face to face, and perhaps because What is made with love must be used with love itself.
From the daughters of Zainab to Mako, the daughter of the Emperor of Japan, a gift that carried the spirit of cooperation that began to combine the threads of “Zainab's daughters” and the Japanese passion for handicrafts, and a new market was opened in Tokyo, where a feminist organization in Japan interested in supporting women around the world participates.
Distinctive shapes of the famous Japanese pin, special masks that suit Japanese faces with small features, Arab shewls, cup sets, bedspreads, pillows, and sets for beds and seats;
All products are exported to Japan, and are displayed in distinct exhibitions held there to support hundreds of Syrian families.
Mayada tells about the participation of young girls in thread and needle and their diligence in the hobby they loved.
"I used to tell them to consider this work as a personal expense, until they buy a piece of clothing that they like, or a" promotional pen "that they prefer. We are displaced and their families do not even have the ability to provide their food, and they have to reduce the burden, and indeed it was, even the one who was wrong, she was She takes her reward, for this is the reward of her labor and the work of her hands, so that the new piece will come out as best it can be. "
But the Corona pandemic also had a share of "Daughters of Zainab";
So the Egypt branch has been busy manufacturing hand-held masks with special designs that have met with great demand, whether they carried Quranic verses, or those that carried distinctive and modern designs and drawings.