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Afghanistan

Afghanistan: "One day, I hope to start a small business from my home"

Marilynn Johnston, Medical Adviser
As she sits at her hand-powered sewing machine in the room crowded with other students, Sheelah, a slight Afghan lady, is sewing a new outfit and talks about her family and her life.

"I am the eldest of five children. I have two sisters and two brothers. Our family is from Kabul but we had to flee the city in the early 1990's, when the different factions fought each other. We lived as displaced people in Jalalabad for four years. When we finally returned to Kabul we found that our house had been destroyed so we lived in the ruins. Sadly my father was killed a few years ago in an accident with a car driven by the Taliban. Since my father died it has been very hard for us.

In the last few years other members of our family have returned to Kabul and we are rebuilding our house. My mother, sisters, brothers and I all live in one room. In total there are now 28 people living just in our courtyard. We all share one water tap -- usually this gives water for a short time each day, but now it is the summer and we have not had any water for the last 3 days. When this happens my sisters have to walk a long way to the nearest street pump and carry the water back home.

I was lucky in that my father had allowed me to go to school, and I finished right up to 10th grade before the Taliban stopped girls from going to school. I was able to teach a few little girls at home to earn some money for the family. This had to be done in secret during the Taliban times, but since they left we could be more open.

My eldest brother sells small items on the street to help out, but he is only 14 years old. We usually eat vegetables and naan (the Afghan flat bread). Occasionally we can afford rice but we would only eat meat about once in two months.

Since I was accepted into this training project, I have learnt how to read a dress pattern, to cut out the pieces of material and sew them together to make "peron" and "tombon" (baggy pants, dress and scarf, also called "shalwar kameez"). At first it took me a long time to make one outfit -- we were all allowed to keep the first outfit for ourselves so that we would have something nice to wear to the training centres. The supervisors take different students with them when they buy materials from the merchants -- so that we can learn all about choosing the good materials and bargaining with the merchants. Our supervisors and trainers are mostly women as well -- it gives us confidence that one day we might run our own businesses.

The outfits I made at the beginning were sold back to me at a very low price as I was still training. Then I sold them on to my family and neighbours. Initially I could only make about 30 Afghanis profit on each outfit, but once people saw that the clothes were well made they started to ask me more about the course and began to order specific clothes. I bring small samples of the different materials home so that they can choose the colour and style that they like. I take their measurements and then our trainer helps me to design and cut out the material. Now I can earn 60-70 Afghanis per outfit and combined with the 55 Afghanis per day that I receive from the training centre, I can now cover the expenses of my family. I thank Medair for accepting me in this training and giving me the chance to support my family.

When I finish this training I hope to start a small business from my home, sewing clothes for my friends and neighbours. But I will need to purchase a sewing machine and a painted sign for the doorway."

Medair has been assisting poor women in Kabul city since 1996. In the present programme women learn new skills such as tailoring, machine embroidery, leatherwork and broom- and basket-making. They are encouraged to sell their work and are given business advice from the supervisors. As a further help for them, adult literacy classes are run every lunchtime for all participants. Learning to read and write is very important to the women, who value the independence this gives them, as Sheelah summarizes: "Now when we go to the shops or to the hospital we do not have to ask people to help us as we can read for ourselves."-