Nadia, who joined Sindyanna in 2016, is our Visitor Centers Manager and Lead Group Facilitator. A long-time peace activist, she has two daughters and lives in Nof al-Ghalil. Nadia is an internationally certified compassionate communications (NVC) trainer, as well as a certified group facilitator, designer of ecological gardens, permaculture and hydroponics, and a reiki, meditation and mindfulness healer.
What do you like most about your job?
Meeting the groups that visit the Visitors Center, their curiosity that helps spread our message, values and knowledge in the field of fair trade, organic farming, olive oil and living together.
How has your life changed since you started working at Sindyanna?
Knowing that I am going to meet more new people from different parts of the world helps me wake up in the morning with motivation and enthusiasm.
Tell us about a significant moment you experienced at work
Two weeks after I started working at Sindyanna, my mother passed away, and even though I was new, I felt surrounded and embraced by the team.
What did you learn from your colleagues that you didn’t know before?
I learned a lot about fair trade, olive oil tasting, olive growing, basket weaving.
What difficulty have you overcome which has made you particularly proud?
Teamwork. I am a very independent person and like making my own decisions, but at Sindyanna I learned to work collaboratively
What values are you passing on to your children, and have they changed as a result of your work at Sindyanna?
Values of common humanity, respecting the different and the similar. Respecting the person as a person regardless of their origin/religion/belief, solidarity, respecting myself and who I am. All these values have been strengthened in me since I started working at Sindyanna
What special family recipes do you like to prepare using Sindyanna oil?
Grape leaves stuffed with rice with the Cortina olive oil variety, eggplant salad with our house blend and carob syrup, and fruit salad with the Picual variety and carob syrup.
What is your favorite olive oil variety and why?
It’s hard to decide which one is my favorite, so I experiment with a different one every time. Now I use the Picual at home, before that I had the Coratina, and so on.