Sew for Syria: Dubai group teaches widows and mothers art of sewing

Group leader Barbara Evans with one of the Syrian children.

Carla Bygrave with Maria Iqbal and Theresa Tsui.

Maria Iqbal, centre, and Carla Bygrave, teaching a former lawyer and now Syrian refugee and widow, how to make a tote bag from scratch.

Maria Iqbal, measuring a Syrian refugee girl for a ruffled skirt.

Syrian widows cutting patterns to make shorts for boys.

Example of some designs the ladies made.

DUBAI // When eight expatriate women in Dubai decided to act to help Syrian mothers and their children fleeing the horrors of war, they didn’t want to just donate their money. The ladies flew all the way to Gaziantep, a Turkish border town that is 90km from Aleppo, to teach Syrian widows there the art of sewing clothes and quilts.

The plan was concocted by Barbara Evans, from the UK, who runs the initiative Rags to Riches, stitching old bedsheets and blankets into clothes for poor children, and Dana Dadoush, a Syrian NGO volunteer who was helping Evans distribute the up-cycled apparel.

Ms Dadoush enlisted the help of her fiancé, Amro Taleb, and his Canadian-Turkish development company Canaturk, to sponsor and set up the Sew for Syria workshops.

“We wanted to help create a sustainable business model for these women, so they could help themselves,” said Ms Evans.

On April 27, the ladies – who hail from Canada, Afghanistan, China, the UK and the Philippines – arrived at the UFUK development centre in Gaziantep with more than 350kg of supplies, including 12 sewing machines, two overlockers and textiles including 3,500 flight blankets donated by Emirates Airline, all of which was to be kept by the 42 Syrian women, who among them have 145 children.

The women were split into three levels of classes, dependent on sewing experience.

Marcia Hilliard-Irving, from Canada, taught beginners level.

“We bonded straight away, even though I don’t know any Arabic, so we had to communicate through party charades,” said Ms Hilliard-Irving, who initially taught her ladies quilt-making. “The younger women were the most enthusiastic.”

By the end of the five-day course, the students were also dabbling in felt hat-making. “The girls just went crazy with creativity, they loved flowers. Creativity can’t be taught, it has to come from within, so we were super-excited to see that,” added Ms Hilliard-Irving.

On the final day, a fashion show was thrown, with the students’ children proudly modelling the newly stitched outfits. “Some were really shy and just ran up and down but some just loved playing around on the catwalk,” said Teresa Tsui, from China.

Upon returning to Dubai last Friday, Maria Iqbal, from Afghanistan, reflected on the impact the experience had on her. “I wasn’t prepared for the outpouring of love from the widows and their children, and their pride when they received their certificates. I learnt how a few short days can change your life forever if you commit yourself 100 per cent,” she said.

She recalls the strength and humility of the women she encountered. “These women have been through hell, yet their faces were full of hope and love for their children.”

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/RagsToRichesDubai.