For refugee youth whose education has been interrupted and ability to earn a livelihood undermined by was and conflict, the future is bleak. We are dedicated to empowering these youth to break from the cycle of poverty innovative vocational training in computer skills, business, entrepreneurship, and language instruction.
Tailoring and Literacy Program
BH Fellow 2021
Rahmatullah Hamraz (Afghanistan)
When Rahmatullah married an illiterate girl from a conservative family living in a marginalized and impoverished community in Afghanistan, he came face to face with the utter lack of opportunities she had growing up amid catastrophic conflict in the country. He encouraged her to learn to read and write and become financially independent by mastering the art of tailoring. Through his work with the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program (APRP) in the country’s remote and underdeveloped communities, he realized many internally displaced women are faced with the same circumstances as his wife. Deeply moved by this situation, he organized an international team and established the National Center for Peace and Democracy to draw and implement solutions to some of these pressing problems while studying at the University of Chicago as an Obama Foundation Scholar. Now, as a Blossom Hill Fellow, he is enrolling conflict-affected women in a program that will enable them to become literate and earn a livelihood through tailoring.
