What are must-buys from your country?

The International Bazaar and the Spouses of the Heads of Diplomatic Missions have been very busy preparing for the much-awaited and grandest bazaar in the country with the theme “Hearts and Hands For Charity” to be held at the PICC Forum on Nov. 16, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

These goods will be sold tax-free. Thirty-two foreign embassies and five consulates will be selling the best-buy items from their countries at rack-bottom prices. It’s like bargain shopping around the world. 

The IBF and SHOM partnership has made possible financial and material donations to various charitable institutions. Your participation at the International Bazaar will be a big help towards their vision of reaching out to those in need.

So we asked the wives of ambassadors what the best buys are at the bazaar to help you shop around the world in just a day.

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For inquires, call the IBF secretariat, Department of Foreign Affairs, at 833-1320, 834-3054, 834-3036, or e-mail ibf_dfa@yahoo.com, ibf.dfa@gmail.com.

YASKO KATSURA, Japan: We will be selling beautiful Japanese porcelain and lacquerware. We have handmade handicrafts made from colorful Japanese paper by wives of the Japanese embassy staff based in Manila. For children we will have a lot of Pikachu items, from pencil cases to dolls and notebooks. Great Christmas gifts are quality towels made into different shapes like sandwiches, strawberry cupcakes, wine bottles. They look so real you wouldn’t know they’re cotton towels.

ANILA NAEEM KHAN, Pakistan: We will be bringing in new designs of gold and metal jewelry. We will also have precious and semi-precious stones, such as rubies from Azad Kasmir and Hunza, peridot from Kohistanand, emeralds from Swat Valley, and pink topaz from Mardan made into beautiful necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets done by the Pakistan Gems and Jewelry Development Company. Best buys will still be our hand-embroidered pashminas and slippers in different colors. Additional items are wooden frames and onyx from different parts of Pakistan.

BRIDGETTE MAC DONALD, European Union: We will be selling collector’s T-shirts, canvas bags and desk folders with the European Union logo. We have ethically produced agricultural goods from the Philippines, which were financially supported by the European Union.

MARY SELVERAJAH, Singapore: Since this is my first time to join the DFA International Bazaar, almost everything in the booth will be worth buying. We will be selling specially designed pieces of jewelry made by a 65-year-old Filipina using materials all from Singapore. Aside from the famous Singaporean snacks, there will be handmade fabrics made by Single Moms, which is a well-known charity organization in Singapore.

OYA BASAGA, Turkey: Silver purse mirrors, which are handmade in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, hand-embroidered scarves from different parts of the country. We also have the evil-eye good luck beads sewn on scarves, and handmade into bracelets, jewelry and key chains. Hulya Coskun, a well-known jewelry designer, will be selling one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces. I will also try to bring in Turkish apple tea.

PHAM THI QUYINH TRANG, Germany: Coming from Germany are the chocolate Advent calendars, which represent the 24 days before Christmas. Each Advent calendar has 24 windows that reveal yummy chocolates in jolly Christmas shapes. It’s a German Christmas tradition and children would open a different shape every day. There’s a milk chocolate treat behind each door that will lead up to Christmas Eve. We will also have German cookies, gingerbread cookies and gingerbread houses, all homemade in Germany. Puma will also be selling items at very low prices and all theses are all originals from Germany. We will have Claus Sudhoff shirts, which are made from all German materials and produced in the Philippines but sold only abroad.

SOL LAVINA DE ARIAS, Spain: We participate every year in the food area. Our paellas are cooked with authentic ingredients just the way they are cooked in Spain. We will also have chorizos, salchichon, olive oil, vinegar and lomos sold at very low prices. Our Spanish fans are handmade, hand-painted from select wood and high-quality silk. Hopefully our beautiful mantons will arrive on time, which will be sold at special prices.

CHRISNA VERMEULEN, South Africa: What we’re going to have are fresh proteas, which are beautiful flowers from South Africa. We will also have very special wines from Winelinds and dolls from the Netebele tribe. There are different groups from South Africa and they will decorate their homes with a similar pattern used in the dolls and traditional outfits. We will also be selling the Zulu hats or Isicholos, which originate from Kwazulu Natal, the stronghold of the powerful Zulu nation of South Africa. Theses hats are traditionally worn by married women for ceremonial celebrations. They are hand-woven from cotton or rope or vegetable fiber, dyed with ochre and covered over a basket frame.

KAVITA MITTER, India: There will be bio-organic full-leaf teas from India, as well as the handmade coin purses, scarves and sarees with gold thread. Each handmade saree has intricate, colorful and beautiful designs that will surely catch your attention.