Bringing Skills From Syria To Jordan
Manar lives in Jordan with her husband and two daughters. She is a Syrian refugee and a mother with big dreams. Manar dreams of having her own small business to support her family side-by-side with her husband. As a skilled embroiderer, she creates pieces of decorative art with colourful threads using her fingers alone. With a passion for being creative, she enjoys teaching her daughter knitting and making dresses for her dolls.
“I wish I can buy a computerized embroidery machine to produce higher quality pieces and train the women of the neighborhood”
Growing Manar’s embroidery hobby into a business felt impossible. Living with her husband, and daughters live in a rented house meant that they were left with little money to place into a business. The house they were living in was also in bad condition. The walls were crumbling, the floor was dangerous and the ceilings leaked. This also meant that any income the family made was often poured into trying to make repairs where possible.
When Manar was introduced to Habitat for Humanity Jordan, the family were supported through the MERCI programme. A project that aims to build, rehabilitate, and repair homes for Syrian refugees and vulnerable local communities.
Turning Manar’s House Into A Home
Habitat for Humanity conducted rehabilitation within the family home to ensure that it was a safe environment for the family to thrive. The work completed included installing health units, repairing electrical wiring, plumbing, and changing the old rusty main gate for security. In addition to the improved home facilities, Habitat for Humanity Jordan were also able to connect Manar and her family to local organisations that will also provide the family with basic social services to improve their overall quality of life.
Since the work to the house has been completed, Manar finds that her health and the health of her children has improved. Now that there is a safe, lockable gate the children can now play outside without fear of strangers. Manar is also happy that she can spend less time cleaning and repairing the home and focus her attention on her embroidery. This additional time has meant that she has been able to produce more products and has been able to grow her number of customers.
As Manar’s business takes off, she is already closer than ever to being able to purchase an embroidery machine and now has the ambition of becoming a trainer in the skill.
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