Full Moon Revolution & The Lotus Flower
- Suzanne Bird
- Nov 4
- 8 min read
Words by Suzanna Bird
Photos by Tim Allen
So much more than a small seafront shop, the Full Moon Revolution on White Rock does sell intricate and colourful handmade kilim rugs created by Kurdish women in Iraq, but is also a community space and a centre for social impact.
I spent an enthralling hour talking with Taban Shoresh OBE about both the shop and her charity The Lotus Flower, which supports women and girls from underrepresented groups and those impacted by conflict and displacement. Taban is delighted that people go into the shop to look at the range of kilims and end up talking about where the rugs come from and about Kurdish culture, which often leads naturally to talking about the charity’s vital work in Iraq and the UK.
“Resilient and strong, the lotus flower grows in muddy water, only to blossom into something incredibly beautiful”
There is a beautifully cosy ‘Kurdish living room’ behind the shop, full of kilims and cushions. It has such a welcoming feel, I immediately wanted to sit and stay a while. This room acts as an informal workplace for Taban and the charity’s small UK team who are based here. I asked Taban whether it is important to her to have the daily connection with her heritage that this environment brings. “Definitely. Because Iraq is so far away, when we are working here for The Lotus Flower there’s always that distance, until we go and visit. So for me, bringing that element of Kurdishness here and doing our work in this space has made a massive difference.”
The ‘living room’ also provides a community space – an intimate venue for talks and gatherings that raise awareness of what’s happening around the world. The subjects for the first talks have been from a group supporting Palestinian women and about ‘being LGBTQIA+ where it’s dangerous to be seen’, giving a voice to grassroots organisations that would not otherwise have had this exposure here. These events will continue, helping to share the charity’s global footprint back home in Hastings. The space will also allow for future events in collaboration with like-minded organisations, particularly those connected with story-telling, the creative arts and acoustic music – “basically anything you could host in your living room”.
Taban’s story
Taban is a deeply impressive person. She is warm, friendly and modest, but she is also obviously driven and focused, and has already helped so many. Her father was a freedom fighter and poet in Iraq under the Saddam Hussein regime, and Taban is a child genocide survivor. She was captured with her family at the age of four and narrowly escaped being buried alive in a mass grave, then travelled under bombardment through a war zone for a year before being rescued by Amnesty International and brought to the UK. Having also endured an abusive marriage and serious health challenges, living with a stoma bag and Crohn’s disease, Taban remains committed to helping other women and girls to rise above their circumstances and determine their own futures.
I asked Taban how she came to found the charity. Put simply, the humanitarian crisis created by the 2014 Islamic State genocide targeting Yazidis in northern Iraq made Taban realise she could not stand by while this happened again. So she left her job, got into a helicopter and went back to Iraq as an aid worker. When she returned to the UK 15 months later, Taban started The Lotus Flower charity. It grew out of her personal experience, both as a child and from working in Kurdistan, along with her ongoing passion for supporting women and girls.
The charity’s project teams within Iraq work largely in Yazidi refugee camps for those who were internally displaced by the IS genocide and who still have nowhere else to go, but the work has grown beyond the camps and outwards in the region – and of course to Hastings. A fundamental aim of the charity is to always provide things that people themselves are asking for, as well as providing a positive working environment for its staff, some of whom have been recruited from within the camps. Taban mentioned one of the project workers who has been with the charity from the start, and although that is a thing to celebrate in one sense, it is heartbreaking to hear that she is still living in a refugee camp, ten years on. All of their 150 employees in Iraq are local (Taban insists upon this) and they focus on asking what is needed and then trying to provide it.
One key ongoing activity is a range of projects supporting women to create businesses and small agricultural enterprises, often within the camps, helping them to earn their own money or to grow their own food so that they have some autonomy and control over their lives. Other projects include ‘Boxing Sisters’ – teaching women boxing to boost their confidence, fitness and safety, whilst providing an outlet for their emotions. This project is the topic of a new BBC World Service documentary from local radio producer Jodie Taylor. It’s available online now and will soon be featured at a Listening Session at the shop. The podcast is called ‘Boxing Sisters: Yazidi women boxing their way back to health’. It’s a compelling listen. Against the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the camps’ futures, it showcases just one of the ways in which mental health is being prioritised through introducing women and girls to empowering activities that have not traditionally been available to them.
Ramping it up in Hastings
Skateboarding is another example of this approach. By the time you read this, a documentary film about the Skating Sisters project in Iraq will have been shown during Source Park’s Battle of Hastings at Badger Inc, its new arts and music venue. This film highlights the skating project in the camps, and Lotus hopes to build something similar here too, perhaps to bring skateboarding lessons to girls from marginalised groups in Hastings.
One of the projects that’s already established here is Swimming Sisters, which Taban says is going really well. “It brings the chance of learning to swim to women from an asylum or refugee background, and those from marginalised groups such as Muslim women who wouldn’t otherwise have access to a swimming pool.” These are more than just swimming lessons; the women can overcome their fear of water whilst building new friendships and accessing mental health support.
The charity also has a Hastings project called Rise and Thrive, supporting women to start businesses (just as they do in Iraq). It is also involved with the Hastings Voluntary Action’s Links Project, that provides valuable multi-agency support and advice for asylum seekers and refugees. It is more difficult to build project teams in the UK, without the local development funding available in Iraq, but it’s important to Taban that The Lotus Flower contributes to the Hastings community. This is her home and she can’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be.
Back to the shop itself…
The Full Moon Revolution shop is a happy accident, really, arising from a need for premises and a landlord who is committed to the revival of the immediate area. They insisted on a retail element, and Taban has happily embraced this challenge to help to enrich White Rock. The shop is a family venture; Taban’s mother helps to source the kilims, her son works in the shop and her sister Wasan handles all the operations and online matters, with a new website that’s just gone live.
Taban told me, “I always ask myself, ‘What’s not catered for? What can I bring to the community? Let’s not duplicate.’ Things work when there is a nice balance and connection between your skills, your background and what you bring.” Taban recognised that much of the Hastings community is highly creative and it values handmade things over mass-produced items, so the kilims were an obvious choice for the shop. “And kilims carry stories. There is history in the patterns – themes of love, protection and community carried through centuries and cultures. They are representative of ancestral stories and what they carry, so you have all that history in the room with you.”
Taban also says, “I’m hoping that the shop will be a space that allows for community, creativity and culture to come together and bring about conversations. I think more conversations need to be had. We are living in a polarised world, we’ll have different conversations, but I believe we do need to come round the table and learn about each other’s worlds… The shop is a soft example of a way to invite people to learn about different cultures.” In spite of everything happening in the world today, Taban remains hopeful that this exposure can bring understanding about ways of life that are different from our own, and empathy for those that live them. The Lotus Flower conducts peace-building in Iraq, training community members to be peace builders and mediators; it seems especially appropriate that they are called Peace Sisters and Peace Brothers.
"I’m hoping that the shop will be a space that allows for community, creativity and culture to come together and bring about conversations"
Unsurprisingly, Taban has never trusted in governments or institutions to take care of everything, believing instead, “It’s best to look at how can you inspire people to make them realise that they are the ones who can make things happen”. The Lotus Flower is tangible proof that you can start from tiny beginnings and have enormous impact. She believes that “The Full Moon Revolution shop is going to be critical in connecting the puzzle for people and showing people that everyone can take action and find solutions. Conversations need to be had, cultural bridges need to be built, frontline organisations need more exposure, more stories need to be told. My big thing is how and where can I trigger people to realise that they are all part of the bigger picture.” Once they learn what The Lotus Flower is all about, people often want to help in any way they can, and Taban loves to hear them work out how they can use their own skills and experiences.
“My big thing is how and where can I trigger people to realise that they are all part of the bigger picture.”
I asked Taban what she is most proud of. She mentioned in passing the OBE she was awarded for her work in Iraq, but explained that she is most proud of the number of women and girls The Lotus Flower has helped in its ten years of operation. That number now exceeds 105,000. “When I started [the charity], I had a goal. I’m a survivor of the Kurdish genocide of Saddam Hussein, and 182,000 people died in that genocide. I wanted to help at least 182,000 people. I can’t believe I’m about 80,000 away! That’s a big, big milestone… and I think it hasn’t sunk in.”
So how can we best support The Lotus Flower’s vital work? I’d suggest visiting the Full Moon Revolution shop, maybe to buy a beautiful rug, but definitely to talk to the team and learn more about their work and Kurdish culture, to start building a new understanding. There will be no pressure, but you might also find yourself offering your own skills in some small way. The Lotus Flower has taught Taban that you can grow something from nothing and that anyone can. “I am keen that the shop, from a social impact perspective, will help people believe that they can take tangible action, more than just sharing content online, and that they can have direct and meaningful impact. It’s about taking that first step.”
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You can learn more about The Lotus Flower’s work, including videos, impact statements and Sisters’ Stories at:
The Full Moon Revolution shop is at 28 White Rock, it’s open Wednesday to Saturday from 10-4 and on Sundays, 11-4.
The shop’s new website is now live at:
..where you can also sign up to hear about future events by email: