Hayam is originally from Sinjar but was displaced due to conflict in 2014, and now lives in Essyan camp. “We suffered a lot,” she recalls. “There was death, hunger and we spent a terrible week on Sinjar mountain. When ISIS attacked, they captured people and killed them, taking some as hostages. Everything was bad, and our lives were in danger.”
When Hayam heard about our She Leads in Food Security project last year, she decided to apply. The project focused on improving the economic status of displaced people, refugees and returnees through income-generating initiatives and climate-smart agriculture, and also included business training for participants.
The project was well suited to Hayam, because in the past, she had been talented at sewing, but had few opportunities to pursue her ambitions. “I used to borrow a sewing machine from a friend and make dresses and sell them,” she says.
After taking part in our business training sessions, she was selected to receive a financial grant, and this enabled her to set up independently. “I bought my own machine and opened a sewing shop. It has been good for me,” she adds. “I am thankful for my successful job.”
Using her skills, Hayam makes and sells various different types of clothing to the community, including traditional white dresses worn regularly by Yazidi women – which you can see in the pictures.
We delivered the She Leads in Food Security programme in partnership with Care Iraq through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project has also seen many other successful businesses launch – including several farming and agricultural ventures, as well as a café for girls. We also handed over the running of eight previously derelict greenhouses to a group of women at Essyan camp, so they can feed their families healthy foods and sell vegetables to the local market.
We love seeing how the project is providing so many opportunities for women to be self-reliant and economically independent…
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