“Not in my dreams I expected to get this”
How the life of a 18 y.o. girl and her family has radically changed, to being more valued in life, being independent, and finding financial safety with the training of the Cash For Work project.
Sauaad is 18 years old and lives in Kusher village, in Bani Qaiss district. She lives with her family, but her family has no source of income. No house to live in. And no possessions as a result of the ongoing war . They are IDPs — Internally Displaced People*.
For some time, her family was hosted by an uncle. But they had to leave and went to live in a small hut nearby. The bread winner of the family was her father. He was a rocks carrier when he used to work in the construction of houses. He lost his work and with it the only opportunity to provide his family with the simplest needs to survive. The situation was increasingly worsening every day. Neither men nor women could find any source of income in the area.
Kusher village was selected for the implementation of the activities for women through the Cash For Work project, implemented by Vision Hope International**.
“Not even in my dreams I expected to get this”, said Sauaad.
And the tears start falling down from the innocence of her eyes.
She is a high school graduate but she had no work.
Sauaad did not imagine that she was going to be her family saviour.
That was the beginning for her dream to become true — joining the activity selected by the villagers there — tailoring training.
Sauaad started her successful journey in collaboration with her colleagues, the village girls, and her trainer. The training was supervised by Vision Hope International. The organisation was supporting the trainees with all they need to acquire for this profession: a good trainer, fabric textiles, sewing machines and other tools. All the required materials. As time was passing, Sauaad was getting better day-by-day, learning everything about tailoring — starting by holding the scissors properly, to making uniforms for the groups of working men in Bani Qaiss. The first product from the women workshop was sold immediately to the groups of working men in the nearby villages.
Sauaad did not know that she was not only supporting her family financially by the salary she gets at the end of each month, but also contributing to the development of all of her local community by producing different models of dresses saving them time and money. Instead of spending too much time and money traveling to Hajja City to buy dresses, the local people can now get it easily and cheaply from the Sauaad and the other trainees. They can get all models they need from Kusher women’s workshop any time they want.
She feels that she is the whole society, not half of the society. Because she does not only borne half of the society but also support the other half. Sauaad is saving half of the salary every month. With that she was able to build a small house to shelter her and her family in a small piece of land which her grandmother gave them. This was a turning point for the whole family. Even if the house has no windows nor a door, Sauaad plans to finish its construction of the house with her salary from the coming months.
While being a member of the women working groups, carrying out the selected activities — tailoring learning, and contributing to the development of the village Sauaad feels that she is an effective part in her family. The same is valid for local community as well, by being a good example for her peers as well as for her family. The type of the selected activities implemented in the village (Tailoring workshop). With the end of the works in the road people started to use it as it facilitates their transport between the villages.
By providing the trainees with a regular payment, in the form of a salary at the end of each month, the trainees could support their families with all basic needs. In addition, many of them now have the goal of becoming employees within the project. They even gained some experience in construction works outside the activities implemented there.
* According with the UNHCR — United Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees, in November, there were more than 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 956,000 IDP returnees in Yemen. The armed conflict created more 150,000 new displacements (as of September) approximately, in 2017 only.
** The project Cash For Work is part of a series of efforts for rural development which come to reality with the ERRY — Enhanced Rural Resilience in Yemen, a joint programme of UNDP — United Nations Development Programme, WFP — World Food Programme, ILO — International Labour Organization and FAO — Food and Agriculture Organization, and funded with 38 million Euros by the EC — European Commission.
