Over the past few years, several people fled Afghanistan and made their way to India owing to the ongoing terror from the Taliban that plagues the nation. A large number of these refugees have made their temporary homes in India, and have used traditional skills to earn a living. Enabling them to make ends meet is SilaiWali, a social enterprise that is employing these Afghan women refugees to make rag dolls and more, out of waste materials.
Vishwadeep Moitra, founder of SilaiWali, in conversation with India Today, said he started this venture in 2018 with his wife, Iris Strill, and the centre was opened with the help of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). They also add that 99 per cent of the products made are exported to Japan, Korea, and countries in the east.
Following the current regime change that’s taken place in Afghanistan, 24-year-old Moshgan, who came to Delhi in 2018, is fearful. Her fiancée, her grandparents and maternal uncle live in Afghanistan. “The situation is so bad that I can't describe it, and I don't know what will happen next. I did not feel safe there. It is also difficult for girls to go to school and wearing a burqa or hijab was also a problem. My mother told me that there are very bad people out there and what has happened in Afghanistan now is very wrong.” Moshgan, who is one of the many refugees working at SilaiWali, makes home decor items and hand-stitched dolls to earn a living.
45-year-old Afghan refugee, Razia, who also works at a SilaiWali centre, has been living in Delhi with her husband and four children, for the past seven years. “Due to adverse conditions and compulsions, I had to leave the country. It was difficult for women to leave home, study and work because of the Taliban,” she tells the newspaper. Presently, working in a sewing centre pays her just enough to run the household, expressing that she’s now worried about her relatives back in Afghanistan.
23-year-old Shabnam, who came to Delhi in 2015, shares her sentiments. “They don't know whether they will live or not. My relatives are scared. We want them to reach a safe place,” she says. She commented on the images she’s been seeing in the news, adding that she is thankful and relieved to be in Delhi. “Women were beaten up on the street for not covering themselves in Afghanistan under the Taliban. But after coming to Delhi, there is relief. There is an opportunity to work in a SilaiWali centre and from here we make ends meet.”
Image Courtesy: India Today/Twitter