Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is an active philanthropreneur who has managed to help secure livelihoods for many individuals all over the world. She tells Rupinder Kaur that she plans to introduce tea rooms which will serve a free cup of chai along with 'a moment' which people often need
There must’ve been a trace of apprehension visible on our faces as we huddled inside a regal suite that prompted Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, to say, “You can ask anything you want to, don’t be worried.”
After a bit of shuffling and finally settling down with our voice recorders on the table in front, she pulled them closer to her side adding, “Are the tape machines onIJ I think that’ll be easier.”
We were also joined by entrepreneur Harshavardhan Reddy and Vadodara royal Asharaje Gaekwad.
Ferguson, who is the ex-wife of Prince Andrew (the second son of Queen Elizabeth II), was on a three-day visit to India to further extend her ongoing charitable efforts here. She is already associated with three foundations in India The Elephant Family, The Indian Head Injury Foundation and Women’s Interlink Key To Freedom
“There is a new organisation coming in where I will support schools for the underpriviledged children. I want to do a lot of work with children in this country. Most people want to work on children’s books, but I always wanted to do a channel since I believe in primary education and also in reading and writing,” she shared while quickly adding, “Do you know in America, they’ve taken handwriting off the curriculumIJ The computer does the work for you by checking the spellings and everything. I mean I know I’m old-fashioned, but please that is ridiculous.”
Fergie, as she is popularly known, has been on a mission to give every child the right to be imaginative. “Otherwise, where is the imagination. I’m writing a book about it and it has fairies, both boy fairies as well as girl fairies.”
She went on to elaborate a dream she had a while back, “I had a dream last week that imagine if the whole world was black and white and I was the only one to see colour. It would be really difficult, wouldn’t itIJ But there is colour and people will be like ‘No, it’s black and white’. I don’t want that, I want to keep the colour. That is what India has given me, which is a sense of colour. Here, when you go in your car, it might take four hours instead of two hours because of the rush, but you see this wonderful colour in the field with this woman working.”
Bringing in tea rooms is also on her agenda, where she’d make sure that “once a week, people can come in and have some tea without having to pay for it. It’s good because it is about giving back. Why is it always about takingIJ Someone is entitled to that moment. I might just call the tea rooms as ‘take a moment’ and it’s just a cup of tea and some biscuits. It is that one moment where this person can be listened to.”
The 56-year-old philanthropreneur has also been working towards supporting young people and entrepreneurs in various countries. “I’m taking an individual who is in the middle of nowhere and has never got an opportunity and I help them train in different skills so they can do something. It’s like giving them a fishing rod and they can fish their own fish,” she explained.
To give an example, we took a look at a slideshow of her “friend” Phalishia. “She lived on the street with nothing but wanted to bake, so we taught her that and now she has her own tea shop in Africa. She feeds, clothes and educates her whole family of 20 people and she’s only 18,” smiled the elegant Duchess.
We were then interrupted as she was to immediately leave for the HRV Baroda Cup 2015. We decided to carry on with our conversation on our way out. She then draped herself with the Key to Freedom scarf for a quick photo shoot. Key to Freedom provides a business structure for women in vulnerable situations in India who can sell their wares through the British retailer Top Shop. “The money goes straight to them. This helps them build self-esteem, and self-confidence. They have their own bank account and can look after their own families,” Ferguson told us. She has also authored various children’s books including Budgie the little Helicopter, little Red series, et al.
“If you go to the Ground Zero museum, you’ll find a rag doll called little Red. She was the only object that survived the 9/11 attack. One of the things I want to do is bring out little Red in the tea rooms because it is a sign of hope. She represents children’s rights and I’ve written four books about her already. Now, I want to bring her forth for primary education. She is much about charity and it’s also about teaching the children to give back so it is very powerful,” she shared.
photo Sanjeev Kumar