New Delhi: After the ASSA raid, a former school teacher in Afghanistan, arrived as a refugee in New Delhi with his family eight years ago, it took a while to rebuild his life.
In November 2019, he got a boost when he got a job in Sahiwali, a social company in Delhi who ride waste cloth from a garment factory to make handmade products for export to the United States and Europe.
His colleagues are also Afghan female refugees, most of them are the only stakeholders in their family.
ASSA, whose husband loses a job at an Afghan restaurant at Malviya Nagar when the pandemic closes it, says, “When I reach Delhi, I don’t know anything that can help me make a living.
I am happy that I learn crafts and can support my family.
I also felt empowered because it was able to help other Afghan refugees to get a job here.
“The 45-year-old player is a team leader and guides the women in handmade products such as dolls, bags and bouquets.
ASSA’s husband was a journalist in Kabul but the threat of the Taliban forced him to move his family to India.
Silawali’s idea came to the designer of the textile and French residents Iris Strill when working with Afghan female refugees a few years ago.
He and her husband, Bishwadeep Moitra, approached the UN High Commission for refugees with the idea of ​​utilizing Afghan women’s skills by sewing and embroidery.
“We collect waste cloth from the textile industry abroad and also from factories in Delhi-NCR to make home decoration items,” Strill said.
“We have 90 Afghan women who work with us, including 15 paid while others make products at home that we pay per item.
Most of these products are exported.” Sailiwali is a gift for refugees, most of whom don’t have aadhaar cards and Other documents.
And because they can’t speak Hindi or English, it’s hard for them to get a paid job well.
Shikiba Ahmad, 45, a single mother of five children, baked cake for years before she got a salary post in Sailawali.
“There is no need for me to work and make a living back home.
But after the Taliban caught our gas station, two cars and a house and we had to escape from our country, work and income was a necessity.
I have to take care of rent, food, and Education My children, “Shikiba said when she sewed her face with a doll.
His eldest son was 24 years old and had been unemployed for about a year.
The flower is nine years old.
Najib Hussai, 23, who sew the dress for the doll, also brought his family’s responsibility on his shoulder.
Dropout class V, Hussai, his parents and two sisters have been in Delhi for seven years.
“My father has hearing loss,” he said.
“I used to make carpets in a factory in Kabul.” His friend, Moghgan Gawhary, 24, was educated and had a bachelor’s degree in computer science.
He was employed in the IT company in Kabul before migrating to Delhi in 2018.
“The first years here are difficult,” Gawhary said.
“But I don’t give up and today I can get income for my family.” His sister was hired by a restaurant, while his four siblings were at school.