Help BindiDesigns family 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 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 lose 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;

• Minimum Vital Income
• Renta Garantizada
• Catalan Housing Agency
• Pandemic Business recovery aid

We have been trapped in this illogical bureaucracy due to the fact that in order to qualify for other aids my partner needs to give up her 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 loses to our business due to extended lockdowns. But as explained we have been denied any meaningful aid.

Yasmin has received a small amount of Business 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 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 only created more stress and uncertainty.

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 all 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.

In resume we are raising money with the aim of being able to pay our debts and be able to move! Once again we were forced to closed our business and now we have been evicted, with your help we will be able to secure our new home, pay out our debts and most importantly we will be able to move to our new home in less than a month.

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. 

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

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 help no matter how small, it would help to contribute to getting us back on our feet. 

Thanks again for reading our story and do not forget to spread our story 

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