Story of Sonia Noori, TVET successful case

Sonia Noori is a 33-year-old woman who is a housewife and a mother of a street child, and then became one of the beneficiaries of the reintegration of the most vulnerable children through the provision of TVET and employment facilitation for 1600 people in Herat province’s “OSAA-016 (AFG118-22)” project in Ansari VTC. She learns advanced tailoring skills at the Ansari Vocational Training Center.

Before coming to Ansari VTC, Sonia had a difficult life. Her husband is a laborer, and his child works in a carwash. Her financial problems had been so much that every day she borrowed 100 or 200 Afghanis from the neighbors. Although she was interested in tailoring, she could not attend any vocational courses due to financial problems. She was faced with a real challenge.

Her biggest challenge is that she had no private home. In other words, they live in a rented simple house. She had to move to 3 houses in 4 months. Because of this problem, she could not have permanent customers, and moving to a new house takes a lot of time and energy.

“I have to move to a new house because my family could not pay the amount of rent due to my financial problems.” She said

She learns a new skill (advanced tailoring) and sees that this is a way that she can change her and her family’s lives. Besides this, she could achieve approximately 24000 Afghanis from WFP. She also receives the transportation fee (from her house to VTC) each month. She could learn a skill at no cost (such as a tuition or transportation fee), and her family’s food would be provided during this time. Now she is familiar with different subjects of tailoring. She can measure the sizes and draw patterns according to the standards. “I never had the courage to cut a cloth for sewing a coat or a fashioned cloth. But after coming here, I can sew different models.” She said.

She was able to learn advanced tailoring skills after receiving the mentioned assistance, and her family had enough food. So, she could learn the vocation with a calm mind. Now she is a tailoring trainer in the (Ekhlas) course, and with confidence and knowledge, she accepts the customers’ orders. Both the number of customers and the fee have increased. She can sew different models of clothes with high precision. She increased her tailoring fee. She can earn money by teaching tailoring to other women in the course.

She wants to continue her vocation and dreams of having a workshop. She wants to produce clothes for districts because she knows what kind of clothes have a market in districts. “Until when will our society be a consumer, we have the capacity to produce the clothes, not import them at a high cost from abroad. I want to make a job for myself and for some other women and young girls in my city,” she said.

Besides, she has the dream of sewing pants and Monto to export to Iran because in Iran the cost of clothes is higher than here. She said that Iran is our neighbor, and exporting clothes is easier for us. On the other hand, this country is in a boycott, so the cost of clothes is higher than here. ”

Sonia is one of our most successful students who tries to have her own vocation in her neighborhood and always motivates her classmates to have their own business.

Nowadays, she sews a coat and skirt for 600–700 AFN, and her tailoring fee for pants is 200–250 Afs. She says, “I feel confident that I am a highly skilled tailor. I can sew every model to the world’s standards. I have the precision that an experienced tailor has. ”

She says that she is seeing a lot of changes in her life, and now she can pay for her children’s needs. She can be a big help for her husband at home. Today, there is enough food for me and my children in the house. “This issue makes me calm,” she said.

Nowadays, her neighbors come and borrow money from her (one day she had this dream), and she can earn money and help with her husband.

She wants to train other women or be employed as a trainer. But she is not familiar with courses. She can work in two shifts. She is grateful to OSAA, HELP, and all their partners for making this project possible for her and other women like her.

She said: “I really appreciate OSAA, Help, and other partners for holding this kind of project for us.” I really find myself powerful. By having this confidence, I can follow my dreams. My dream is to have a workshop and produce different clothes for my community or even for export. I really want to train other women to produce clothes and earn money for their families.

She wants to continue her vocation and not be jobless at home. I do not want to return to my previous lifestyle. I want to work and have my own private home. ” She implied