IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Among clothes, fabrics, and scattered scraps of fabric, Marwa al-Keraidi, mother of four, is sitting behind a manual sewing machine in her small tent in a camp in the village of Kafr Yahmul, north of Idlib, sewing a dress for one of her neighbors in the camp.
Al-Keraidi, who did not practice sewing before displacement, was forced to clean dust from her old sewing machine in order to work and make money to improve her family’s conditions that deteriorated as a result of displacement.
“Sewing was just a hobby for me,” al-Keraidi, who is from the town of Jarjanaz, told North Press.
In the past, she and her husband had a land and a grocery in Jarjanaz.
Al-Keraidi does not hesitate to teach sewing to women and girls, who want to learn it, “in order to help them to live a good life.”
Many women, especially those who lost their husbands because of war in Idlib, practice this career as a source of income amidst tough living conditions that they are going through.
Securing society’s needs
As a result of the far markets, and resorting to repairing old clothes rather than buying new ones where the IDPs are unable to buy, sewing in the camps becomes of great importance for many women.
Meanwhile, Jumana Hababa, an IDP from the town of Khan Assubul residing in a camp in the city of Sarmada, did not know the basics of this profession, but she underwent a two-month-course at a Women’s Empowerment Center, where she gained good experience.
She pointed out that she chose this career because she can practice it at home in addition to being able to do house works and will not be forced to leave her children.
Hababa believes that she gains benefits of this career including sewing household items such as curtains, mattress’ covers, pillows, and children clothes.
During the past years and as a result of lack of import and closing crossings, markets witnessed low quantities of goods and increasing prices of clothes, pushing many women to practice annual sewing, which produces qualified clothes at low prices.
Moreover, Hababa faces many difficulties in practicing this career, as she needs plenty of time, she neglects her children, suffers from backache, narrow space in the tent, power outage, and being forced to use solar energy to make the sewing machine go faster.
Mending old clothes
Due to the increasing prices of new clothes, the 25-year-old Sara al-Abbsi, an IDP from Ma’arat al-Nu’man countryside and residing in the town of Killi, north of Idlib, has been mending old clothes since her husband died.
“I knew easiest patterns of sewing so that I asked my neighbor in the neighboring tent to teach me the basics in order to secure my children’s needs and I improved my skills through making clothes to my children,” al-Abbsi said.
“After that, I bought a second-hand sewing machine and started working, I shorten long clothes, narrow loose ones, mend the old, and install zippers. This work is very common in the camps,” she noted.
The 39-year-old IDP from Saraqeb residing in the same camp, Noura al-Muhammad prefers annual sewing because she is free to choose preferable type and color of fabric, and she is keen to wear what distinguishes her from others.
Al-Muhammad told North Press that in light of the increasing prices of clothes in markets and the tough conditions that are afflicting the country, she buys cheap second-hand clothes and turns them into new ones after changing models and sizes.
She pointed out that she bought some cotton clothes from a shop selling second-hand clothes at 10 Turkish liras, while if she wanted to buy new ones from the market, she would have paid more than 30 Turkish liras for each piece.