Ghinwa had a sewing machine but it was too old and unsuitable to use to work as a seamstress . It had been her job once in Baniyas (Syria) and now she would have liked to return to the profession for which she had a great passion, “I wanted to start sewing again, so I sold the old machine and tried for a long time to get a loan to buy a new one and start over, but without success”.
The meeting with RestarT
She heard about the RestarT program by chance and immediately applied to become part of it: it was the opportunity she was waiting for. When she received the positive response – that yes, she would become one of the beneficiaries of the project – she was very happy: “From that moment on, my life changed radically and for the better. I felt I had a strong motivation to continue”. RestarT provided the woman with the new sewing machine and everything she needed to go back to being a seamstress, as she wanted.
Creativity rediscovered
“It was a bit difficult at the beginning, but over time I gained experience and improved continuously ,” Ghinwa now enthusiastically tells us. At first, she limited herself to small repairs of clothes, then her talent emerged and she began to create new fashionable clothes herself: “Everything I did was successful, both the creations and the repairs. There was also the recycling part: I used my downtime and when I had nothing to do I created bags with the leftover fabrics. I had stayed away from tailoring for a long time, but now I am happy and proud of myself”.
Reciprocity as a contribution to the community
RestarT beneficiaries who receive capital goods and everything needed to start their own business return 50% of what they received in money and the remainder in the form of goods and services , which they undertake to offer to the community: this is the reciprocity clause, a fundamental element of the project. Ghinwa has adhered to this “rule” with conviction. If the people who turn to Ghinwa are in difficult economic conditions, the woman gets to work with her sewing machine without asking for anything in return , “indeed, if I can, I even give them some fabric”.
