Fauzia, 39, is a widow and the mother of five children — three sons and two daughters — from Uruzgan Province. Before returning to Afghanistan she lived in Pakistan, where she supported her family through tailoring. For her, tailoring was more than a skill: it was the income that met her children’s needs.
Because of the difficult situation facing Afghan families in Pakistan and pressure from the Pakistani authorities, Fauzia was forced to return to Afghanistan. Back home, she no longer had the equipment and resources to continue her tailoring work, and she struggled to find a reliable income to support her five children.
Her situation changed when she joined an intervention supported by the Mrasta Charity Foundation (MCF) and WMCO in Tarin Kot, Uruzgan. Through the project she received literacy, tailoring, and protection training, which strengthened both her practical skills and her awareness of important protection issues. After the training, WMCO provided her with a tailoring kit so she could restart her work and earn an income from home.
For Fauzia, the tailoring kit meant much more than material assistance. It gave her the chance to rebuild the livelihood she lost when she returned to Afghanistan. With her experience and the new support, she is now better placed to use her skills, serve women in her community, and build a more secure future for her children.
When I returned to Afghanistan, I had the skills but no means to continue my work. I was worried about how I would support my five children. The training and tailoring kit gave me hope and an opportunity to start again.
Fauzia
The intervention was implemented through an agreement between Freedom Philanthropies, the Mrasta Charity Foundation (MCF), and WMCO. It coordinated literacy and tailoring training for 40 women-headed households in Tarin Kot, Uruzgan Province, with the aim of raising awareness of protection issues and helping vulnerable women-headed households improve their self-reliance and livelihoods. (December 2024)