It’s time for the team to celebrate at LittlePod HQ, for news has this week reached us from Tanzania, where Irine – our Voice of Africa – has graduated, having completed her studies, passed her final exams and qualified as a Certified Public Accountant. Irine has given us permission to share these beautiful images from her graduation ceremony in Dar es Salaam. Here at LittlePod, we couldn’t be more thrilled.

Janet first met Irine at her family’s farm having travelled to Tanzania to attend the 2019 Vanilla Symposium in Moshi. Having pledged to support the vanilla farmer’s daughter in her studies, it has been a pleasure indeed to follow her progress and see her moving ever closer to realising her dream during the three years that have followed. Having raised a toast to Irine when she received her final results this summer, it is the icing on the cake for us all here to be able to share these delightful photographs. In doing so, we send our congratulations to Irine as she prepares to embark on a career that, we are certain, will prove to be a great success.

When LittlePod launched in 2010, our aim was to help those around us to reconnect with the story of vanilla and its importance to the farmers and their families who cultivate this precious crop in the Equatorial regions. Our Campaign for Real Vanilla has given us the opportunity to get to know Irine and her family, and to learn more about their lives and about the crucial role that is played by the fragile orchid to which we are all indebted. For this we are deeply grateful.

To Irine and her family, and to the farmers and their communities right across the Equatorial Belt, we send our heartfelt thanks. With International Real Vanilla Day 2022 just around the corner, this news could not have come at a better time, and we look forward to celebrating and to raising a further toast to the vanilla farmer’s daughter, this time with our guests at the Chelsea Physic Garden on October 17th. From us all here in East Devon to Irine and her family in East Africa, vanilla hugs x

Like to join LittlePod in London this International Real Vanilla Day? Places are still available for our event at the Chelsea Physic Garden on October 17th. Please send us an email or contact us here if you’d like to get involved.