Sewing course empowers Syrian refugee women

Описание: (7 Apr 2017) LEADIN:
A training programme in Toronto is helping newly arrived refugee women to develop their sewing and business skills.
Dazee was created to empower women and enable them to create opportunities for themselves.
STORYLINE:
Walking beneath the Canadian flag this group of Syrian refugee women laugh and smile as they head to their sewing class.
They are three of a group of twenty women enrolled onto an eight-week programme called Darzee, which mean "stitch" in Arabic.
Every Saturday morning they brave the cold of Toronto to come to this community centre to learn how to sew. Some of them commute for hours to get here.
Darzee is a social enterprise aimed at helping refugee women perfect their sewing skills so that they can become small business owners.
Julie Mahfouz Rezvani is the project's Executive Director. She started running it last February as a pilot project and says the response was overwhelming. From 80 applications she had to choose 20 participants. She says Darzee wants to convey the message that "anybody can be successful".
And that message appears to resonate with the women on the course.
"I learned solidarity and love from this group. I leaned how to start a business", says Darzee participant Sahar Busboos. "Our director Julie helped us a lot, she taught us a lot. We learned to operate a home business and manage it well and be organised. We learned a lot from her.''
Sahar Basbous is one of 25,000 Syrian refugees resettled in Canada less than a year ago via private or public sponsorship.
They escaped war-torn Syria with their families and moved to either Turkey or Lebanon, before they got their refugee application approved by the Trudeau government.
The Darzee sewing programme teaches these women more than just sewing and business skills. It helps them develop their self-confidence and gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment they haven't experienced in years.
"I'm very happy, I feel I'm becoming successful here in Canada", says another refugee on the programme, Samia Al Qardoor. "I'm a newcomer and of course I'm proud to work and to see that people are happy with my work."
The women are working on a myriad of products including scarves, pillows, hand-beaded ornaments, t-shirts, children's clothes and even dog accessories.
Lately the women have been focusing on Canada-specific products as part of the celebration of the country's 150th anniversary.
For 31 year-old Kholood Mawazini who arrived to Canada a year ago, this is her first working opportunity as she has always had a traditional homemaker role in Syria.
Her disabled husband is unable to work, so she's learning a new skill to make her more financially independent.
"Honestly, I didn't know anything about sewing. I came here to learn so I can get a working opportunity. So no one says that as refugees we came here to take advantage of Canada and that we aren't contributing", she says.
She adds that this kind of work is perfect for her since it allows her to work from home and stay with her husband and young children.
Upon graduating from the Darzee program, these women will work as independent contractors and receive support to market their merchandise online and via major Canadian retailers to make their business sustainable.
And as Julie Mahfouz Rezvani explains the women are keen to have complete control of their new enterprises:
Mahfouz came to Canada from Pakistan when she was a year old and she's married to a Syrian. She says that helping refugees integrate is a personal duty to all Canadians, regardless of their background.

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