Women’s Empowerment

In many cases, the head of a refugee family or the main breadwinner will be a woman, which is not so common in the Middle East. The men may have stayed behind to fight or were arrested or killed in the civil war, leaving the women and children to flee to a refugee camp. Life in the camp is not easy and as assistance declines or they leave the camp, they must find a way to provide for their family. To help women make the transition from homemaker to breadwinner, we developed several training centers to teach seamstress skills. We provided portable buildings to hold the lessons and helped to provide sewing machines that the women not only learn their new skill on but also get to take with them when they complete the training. When the Afghan refugees arrived in the Puget Sound area, we quickly found that sewing and tailoring was a skill many had and could translate that into earning opportunities. We were able to distribute numerous sewing machines and supplies through our refugee center in Renton, WA. In addition to the sewing, jewelry-making was an easy to learn skill that could be easily learned and produce a product that is easily sold. We provided supplies and tools to women in Jordan who then created jewelry we are able to sell in Seattle for them, sending them the money to provide for their families.