Help Bindi Designs / Undaba to get back on their feet!

Hi, we are the Bindi Designs / Undaba family team, we hope you have a few moments to read our story and appeal.  We are reaching out, to help us find our feet again, after being hit very hard financially by the pandemic.



We are a hard working family team.  We moved with our two young boys from Sweden to Spain in search of a warmer lifestyle to raise our boys. Yasmin is the original founder of Bindi Designs and I was lucky to meet her in Sweden at a Market, where she sold me some Thai Fisherman pants. We discovered we were almost neighbours and thru our new friendship we discovered we were just the same orange cut into half. That's how our real story began :)

After relocating to Barcelona, our main goal was to open a shop; Bindi Designs Boutique  We settled in the coastal town of Sitges, Barcelona.  After a great deal of searching and negotiations we managed to find a space and opened our boutique, at least for a short time.....

After a very positive first summer season we were feeling motivated and optimistic.  But then things took a sudden turn; first mass protests and riots hit Barcelona,  prematurely ending our first season and then it wasn't long after that news started to trickle out about a new virus and soon enough we were all in the grips of the current Pandemic and the extended Lockdowns soon began.  After failed negotiations with our landlords (both shop and home) we were forced to close our shop at great financial loss and we were being forced to move from our apartment too. 

Thankfully we still have our online shops but there have been ongoing challenges with supply chain issues and increased competition.  And as our housing situation is priority,  resolving this has consumed much of our time and energy since the pandemic began.

The much publicised and promised family and business aid from the Spanish government has been repeatedly denied to us;

We have been trapped in this illogical bureaucracy due to the fact that in order to qualify for other aids Yasmin needs to give up the business (autónomo - self-employed) and become unemployed.  For us this is a ridiculous way of solving our problems, since we are not ready to give up our online shops; Bindi Designs & Undaba.  And other work is harder than ever to find.  Our aim is NOT to become dependant on government benefits!   We only sought temporary aid due to the disruptions and financial loss to our business due to extended lockdowns. But as explained we have been denied any meaningful aid.

After 1 year into the pandemic Yasmin received a small amount of Business Social Insurance payments. But it is so small it only covers some bills and is not even close to paying the rent too.   And from that aid she must pay 280€ per month Business Social Insurance to keep her business registered.  And if she earns too much, the aid is cut and if she fails to cancel before the limit is reached a fine is issued.  This has added more stress and uncertainty to the situation. 

*Edit/update;  We have recently been notified that Yasmin is no longer allowed to 'suspend' the business and if cancelled within the next year, the Social Insurance funds will have to be paid back!

This is why we are now reaching out and asking for your support.

As mentioned our landlord (home) refused to lower the rent so we could qualify for family rental assistance.  And as our rent was slightly above the Catalan Housing Agency limits we have been refused rental assistance.  We have been repeatedly advised by them to find cheaper housing but without a permanent and fixed income and deposit on hand we couldn't move.  And at the time we were still under strict lockdowns, being told by authorities to stay home and stay safe! The only reason we could stay in our current housing until now was due temporary eviction bans, that have now been lifted.

We haven't been able to pay the rent since December last year (950€ per month) and now the owner is suing us and we are forced to leave the property at the end of Nov 2021 and pay the debt.  As you can imagine we are really struggling to get back on our feet.  We have decided we have no choice but to move out of Catalonia due to the high cost of living and we prefer for our boys to learn Spanish at school, so we are gathering the means to move to southern Spain.

This is the part where you can become part of our story, because lets face it without assistance in such circumstances it is near impossible to pull yourself out of the hole. 

We understand that many are struggling in their own ways and may not be in any position to help. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us. If you would like to contribute, no matter how small, it would help towards getting us back on our feet. 

Thank you for taking your time to read our story and appeal.

 

Click here to DONATE 

Thank you all & don't forget to spread our story & share the fundraising page. (Private) 

We have coinbase if you prefer to help us out using digital currency; we accept Bitcoin

BTC Address3PLTdu6YFGcMoYTT2ovGXoUwe8nLpcKaw5

We also use Wise (the cheapest way to transfer abroad)

 

You can also DONATE via GoFundMe