SINGAPORE. Women in Travel Retail (WiTR) will stage a full in-person meeting at TFWA Asia Pacific next month, its first at the event since before the pandemic. It will feature an appearance from Maitreyi Karanth, Founder of the Koma Karanth Foundation, WiTR’s charity for 2023.
The gathering will take place from 17:30 on Tuesday 9 May at the TFWA Asia Pacific Lounge at Marina Bay Sands. WiTR said that members are welcome to bring along others interested in joining the association.
Actor, producer, writer, humanitarian and stand-up comedian Karanth with be joining for the first half hour of the event before departing for another event the same evening.
Koma Karanth Foundation’s mission is to build a Koma community in the impoverished municipality of Gloria, Oriental Mindoro in the Philippines. It will provide homes, education, old age community centres, medical support and support for single women as they strive for self-sufficiency.
WiTR is aiming to raise funds of at least €15,000 (US$16,440) this year, which will cover the cost of building three homes for the community.
To date, the Foundation has built 24 homes, an old age community centre and a tutoring centre for children. It has also provided solar streetlights, drilled water wells and connected them by pipe and pump into water tanks for the tribal community of 26 families.
The Foundation also provides transport for these tribal children to go to school and provides their school lunch. It has also built and equipped convenience stores, as well as a cake shop, tea shop, and other enterprises for single mothers to own and earn from.
The Singapore WiTR meeting follows a well-attended meeting organised by Steering Committee member Lois Pasternak at the IAADFS convention in West Palm Beach this week. The event also generated funds towards the Koma Karanth/WiTR project. Coverage of the event can be found here.
For more information about WiTR and the meeting, email contactus@womenintr.com. 
