Financial independence helped Marzia achieve her dreams
Marzia was never the one who could be content with staying at home, doing housework and raising children. Not that she didn’t love to shower all her attention on her six-year old son; but she also wanted to do more.
Marzia dreamed of being able to support her husband and of being able to pay for the best private education for her son. She often considered her skills. “I knew how to sew clothes. I sewed most of our family requirements at home,” she shares. However, she wasn’t very adept at this. “For the more complex sewing works, I had to send it to the tailors in the market,” she admits.
Earlier this year, Marzia heard about Zardozi for her friends. The enterprising woman that she is, Marzia jumped at the opportunity to become a member. Unfortunately for her, there wasn’t a local Manbeh (business centre) in her area, which meant she had to travel quite a bit to visit the nearest center. Not that this deterred her spirits.
An enthusiastic Marzia tried to start a local chapter in her area. She offered her own house for office space for the Manbeh. “However, since my home wasn’t very convenient to the other clients of Zardozi, so we decided on another location in my area,” she narrates.
Once Marzia completed her trainings, she was a much better and more confident tailor. She send samples of her dress to shops and other likely customers. “Within no time, I managed to develop a regular clientele for my products,” she says happily.
Marzia recently secured a large order to sew skirts for the Azghari market in Mazar, that deals mostly with Turkish products. Her business has grown in the last few months, so much so that she now employs three apprentices to work with her.
“I’m very happy with the work I do,” she says. “I earn an income of nearly 8000 Afs, and is an addition to our family income. It allows me to help my husband with homes expenses. I have kidney problems, but now I can buy my own medicines. But most of all, it helps pay the fees for my son’s school,” she says with pride. “Finally, my dreams are coming true.”