Mahboob Shah

Afghanistan

Year(s) attended: 2010

Embroidered Dolls

In the midst of war-torn Afghanistan, the Women of Hope Project has found a way to develop local artisan traditions into a program that restores hope, dignity, and self-sufficiency to Afghan women and their families.

Eight years ago, the organization started an embroidery center, which now works with one hundred women leaders – each representing a larger group of women – to develop and market the traditional works of embroidery done in their communities.

Each ethnic group within Afghanistan maintains its own, distinctive, embroidery tradition that has been developed over hundreds of years. Many of the women in these communities are widows, or have unemployed or handicapped husbands and support four to ten children.

The Project provides vocational and business training, and fair wages, to help these women achieve respect, opportunity, and self-sufficiency, while at the same time preserving and promoting the beautiful embroidery arts of their communities.