Shakila overcame her depression at Zardozi
Bibi Shakila is one of the Afghan mothers who lost her 22 years old son to the war. After her son’s death, Bibi Shakila’s oldest son decided to join the Afghan army forces and fight the enemies who took away people like his brother. Dreaded by the death of her second son, Bibi Shakila could not afford to lose another son and begged him to not to go to army. Instead, she worked hard to learn embroidery and tailoring by joining Zardozi.
Since Bibi Shakila’s son and ill husband are jobless, she becomes the only breadwinner for the family. She started with taking some business and tailoring trainings from Zardozi and practiced embroidery at the Community Business Center (Manbeh) near her home. At the meanwhile she started sewing clothes for her neighbors. Within first two years, Shakila tremendously improved her skills and she could find good earnings as she found many customers who were happy from her work. Currently, Shakila does not only have a tailoring workshop where she has hired six female tailors but she also opened a beauty parlor with Zardozi’s loan money. While pursuing interest in both embroidery and fashion, Bibi Shakila explains, “fashion became my passion when I used to watch beautiful tall women walk on floor in TV shows. I always wished to design clothes and deal with cosmetics treatments for women. Economical difficulties led me to learn these skills.”
During the talks, Shakila said, “My son’s death was my life’s biggest tragedy but as they say what does not kill you makes you stronger, I found my strength and courage here at Zardozi. Work keeps me busy and stops me from negative thoughts.”