Sunny Miracles The Natural Choice
Project: GIZ in Swat, Muzaffargarh and Khanewal
JOBS trained 571 beneficiaries in GIZ project implemented in number of districts, imparting them with skills and knowledge to be economically independent. The beneficiaries were given training in food processing techniques, food safety and hygiene, in an approach which ensures that these women apply the knowledge they gain at the household level, through improved food security and hygiene practices. It is a commendable effort on part of these women who have decided to work in the project, and a success story in itself to gather acceptance in the community for the women to participate in foreign-funded projects. trained 571 beneficiaries in GIZ project implemented in number of districts.
FARZANA BIBI
Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan
Farzana was spending a happy life with her husband and 3 children; two sons and a daughter. Her elder son aged 7 years studied in class 2. Her husband was a driver and he was the sole bread winner of our family. They were living very happily. Suddenly last year in a car accident her husband passed away. After his demise, her son had to discontinue his education because they had no means of financial support. After some time, she returned to her parent’s house, along with her 3 children for living. Her parents have four family members i.e. her father, mother, brother and her sister. Her brother is the sole bread winner for her parent’s’ family. He works in a cloth shop and earns only Rs. 5000 monthly ($50 a month) and this amount hardly meets her family expenditure. “Because of this project, for the first time I stood on my own feet and now I can meet my family’s monthly expenditures up to some extent. With the help of this monthly income, I readmitted my son in to school. So I wish and hope that this project continues to support us and help us regain our strength.”
Mr. Nazir has been actively involved in the project since the project inception. Due to his catering business in Khanewal, Mr. Nazir is a frequent buyer of dried onions which he uses immensely for the preparation of his foods. Mr. Nazir has also advocated on behalf of our initiative and has urged fellow caterers to use dried products for their cooking needs. “We prepare large meals for weddings and parties almost on a daily basis, and having to deal with fresh onions is very time-consuming. Since a few years, I had shifted to using fried onions however I had to face problems because they used to burn too fast, and left an odor in the food which was not appreciated by customers. In February this year, I was excited upon hearing, in a meeting with a representative from JOBS Islamabad office, which the project is planning on drying fruits and vegetables in my district. I am the first caterer to start using sun-dried onions for my cooking, and will continue to use them as long as it is in the market. It saves my time as I do not have to peel onions anymore, and adds taste to the food, particularly Qorma and Rice. My only advice would be to ensure that big quantities are available in the market”
Mr. Nazir
Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan
Humera bibi
Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan
Humera is one of the beneficiaries who has been working at the main training center in Khanewal. She is the second youngest in her family, with one sister and two brothers. She is an honest, hardworking and a quick learner.
Humera tells her story “My father passed away when I was in school. We all had to discontinue our education as we had no means of financial support. As my father was a government employee, my mother got pension that was just enough to feed us but not enough to continue our education. After some time and hardship my elder brother got the same job as my father, at the same position. His job was to clean the sewerage and take care of water pumps, supplying water to the city. Last year, my brother along with his 4 colleagues died in an accident during the repair of a water pump. We lost our brother and our main source of income. After hearing the news, my mother suffered a heart attack. She survived however she is paralyzed now. My younger brother has no education, no skills and no job. My mother got my elder sister married but she could not get settled with her in-laws and returned soon after. The situation became worse and we felt even more lost. GIZ supported food processing project came as a hope for me and my family. This is the first time I have earned with my own hands, and with this little amount, I have contributed to household grocery and medicines for my mother who I see suffering in pain every day. I wish and hope that this project continues supporting us.”
Kiran’s father is the sole bread winner of a household of 7 people. Needless to say, her family has borne the brunt of financial difficulties. As a responsible daughter, she started working in the fields at the age of 10 in order to contribute to the family’s monthly income. Even though she has been involved in labour work for years, Kiran’s major frustration is the harassment she has to endure by working next to males in the field. The GIZ funded opportunities, such as food processing and paper bead rolling, is no less than a blessing for her as she feels that food processing and rolling paper beads can easily be carried out at the community center. In addition, these positions earn her more respect than working in the fields. “Nothing is difficult in this world. I have created a bracelet myself and looking to make these beads as part of the jewellery.”
Kiran
Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan
PROJECT KYI in Karachi
JOBS implemented an income generating project in Sultanabad from August 2014 to June 2015 with USAID funding through KYI. The objective was to provide women with opportunities and skills for income generation embedded with life skills and awareness-raising. JOBS trained 130 women and 20 men from marginalized households belonging to Sultanabad and Hijrat Colony, in a 12 month intervention.
shazia
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
Shazia from Hijrat colony tells her story in her own words. This project changed my life: I was married 7 years ago. After a year, I was back to my parents’ house because my husband was not working and had fights with me most of the time. My parents and other family members paid good attention to me in the first few months but slowly I felt I was burden on them and no one actually cares, not even bothering to ask if I need anything or consider me a family member. I realized that in our society, once woman gets married then she has no shelter that she can call of her own. One day I went to an awareness session where a facilitator talked about food processing and paper beads work to start soon. I showed my interest and was selected as one of the beneficiary. From that day I started dreaming about my work with the project. After one month, the same team came to my street with solar dryers. We started working twice a week on food processing and got to roll paper beads at home. This is the first time in my life, I got money of my own in my hands. My life changed, I am no more sick, I have better sleeps in the night. To me it seems that this project has helped me to travel from the dark to light. I am very happy because this project changed my life.
Rubina 40 years, a widow lives with 2 sons at Sultanabad. She states, my sons are not educated so they work as laborers, most of the time they remain jobless. We have rented out a portion of our house at Rs. 4000 per month. It is very difficult to manage the household expenses with this little amount. Since I joined food processing work, I helped my sons to manage home expenses up to some extent.
Rubina
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
Shagufta Bibi
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
Shagufta Bibi 35 years old lives in Sultanabad with three teen aged children. She states in her own words, my husband is diabetic patient which affected his legs and made him unable to move. My father in-law is supporting to feed me and my kids but they are other basic needs which I cannot ask or even expect him to buy for us. Since, I joined food processing work. I am so happy that I can earn little money to fulfil some needs of my kids. I feel happy and confident now, no more helpless as I was some months ago. I hope and pray that this process goes on for us and for the others like us.
Words From Our Project Members
-Zarina
-Bushra Bibi
-Shaheen
-Rukhsana Bibi
-Irum
PROJECT IOM in PESHAWAR
JOBS implemented an income generating project in Peshawar from August 2014 to June 2015 with USAID. The objective was to provide women with opportunities and skills for income generation embedded with life skills and awareness-raising. JOBS trained 120 women from marginalized households belonging to Urmar, in a 12-month intervention.
Basmeena
Urmar, peshawar, Pakistan
Aged 25, married and lives with her husband and 2 children in Urmar Payan. She States, My husband is illiterate and unskilled. He does not have permanent job. So he works as daily wager. We live in rented house. My children had to leave the school because we could not pay school fee. Since I joined sunny miracles we were able to send our kids to school again. The amount I receive from sunny miracles I spend on kids ‘education. “I feel happy to see my children going to school.”
Fayaza 41 years, a widow, lives with 2 sons at Urmar Payan. She states, my sons are not educated so they work as laborers, most of the time they remain jobless. I have a small house, my husband built for us. We have rented that out at @ Rs. 4000 per month. We try to manage but hard.Since I joined food processing work I helped my sons to meet home expenses to some extent. “I am happy; my contributions were helpful for the family”
Fayaza
Urmar, peshawar, Pakistan
Inayat
Urmar, peshawar, Pakistan
Widow, mother of 4, works in other people’s houses and they give her left overs to feed her children, some times more then what she needs, Inayat states, From this project I learn how to utilize the food, people sometimes donate me the food now I have the skill, I can preserve that for long time and can be used later. “Now I can ensure food security for my family”
Words From Our Project Members
-Saleha
-UBAIRA
-Rukhsana
-MS. Hine, Trainer
PROJECT GIZ in QUETTA
GUL SEEMA
Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
Gul Seema is one of the project beneficiaries working on sun drying of fruits and vegetables. Gul Seema’s family migrated from Afghanistan 26 years back. She was born in Quetta and has never been to Afghanistan. They are 8 siblings living with the mother in a rented house. Father is in Afghanistan to take care of the house and little land. The children do not want to go to Afghanistan because they think they only have heard sad stories and bad experiences from Afghans. They feel at home in Pakistan and have no interest to go to Afghanistan. Gul Seema did her Matric and wanted to continue further with the studies but had to stop because of financial issues. She wanted to do something in life after completing her education but her dreams were broken when she had given up the studies. One day a young lady from the neighborhood visited and told that she has recently started learning drying fruits and vegetables where she also gets paid for the training. Gul Seema became interested and visited the Centre next day. After waiting for a week, Gul Seema got the admission and started working in a production team. She was very happy when she got her first weekly payment. She gave this money to her mother and they celebrated together as a family. Gul Seema said, it was a small amount but was a big encouragement for her. After a month, project team introduced her to WESS team where she got the stitching training of facemasks. Very next day she got an order of 200 masks for a local company in Quetta. Only because she came out to work on food processing and got exposure to the people and available opportunities, she is now able to restart working to fulfil her dreams. Currently Gul Seema is very busy. She is working 2 hours per day on food processing, in the evenings she attends English language classes and also preparing for her Next level (FA) exams.
Shumaila’s mother is a widow and recently started working in food processing centre. At her return from the work, she had many interesting stories to share at home every day. So Shumaila got interested to visit the community centre to see what they are doing there. Next day she went to the centre and enjoyed her time among the women and girls and learning new skills. . Shumaila is 10th grade student, lost her father when she was very young (around 6 years) and lives with the family of 11 adults and 15 children. They live in a rented house. The family migrated from Afghanistan 40 years back and has no intention to go back because they all the siblings were born in Pakistan and her parents even never went back since they came as refugees. Her 2 brothers are driving rickshaws to earn their living and this is the source of income for this big family. Shumaila would like to continue with her studies but also realizes the financial issues for the family. She thinks that the priority for the brothers should be their own kids not the sister’s education. So in the training Centre she liked the paper beads component the most. Her school was closed due to COVID and she requested the Jobs staff to accept her in paper miracles and she succeeded in getting in to the next class. She was fast learner and became very prominent in her group. She was soon recognized as jewelry designer. Shumaila is now financing her education and monthly groceries for the family from her work in paper miracles.
Shumaila
Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
Baseera bibi
Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
Baseera is a young Afghan woman living with her family of 10 people in Ghosabad Quetta. The family lives in a rented house. Her father and elder brother work in vegetable market doing loading and offloading vegetables and fruits bags from the trucks, coming from the villages for sale in the market. Her father and brother bring on average 200 or 300 homes on average. Jobs team visited her area to talk about the planned project which was “skill development for women empowerment” through solar drying of fruits and vegetables and making paper beads and plastic products. She got interested in it and visited the training Centre 2 days later for further details. Looking at the products and details on how to dry seasonal fruits and vegetables, how they are stored for rest of the months when the prices are high, she got eager. She said that this would prove to be a very useful skill to save money and keep the families healthy. Moreover she wanted to be helpful for managing the household expenses. Her brother made big noise and did not want to allow her to step out of the house. Baseera’s mother was helpful to come in between and let her go to learn new skills. Baseera worked hard taking special interest and proved that she was one of the best trainees. The trainers found her to be extremely sensible and hard working. She worked for 10 months and on average got paid PKRs 4000/- per month. She was able to meet many small expenses that she could not ask her father to pay for. She was very happy being able to help her younger siblings to buy pen, note books or sometimes buy some biscuits in the school. Jobs training programme was coming to an end and Baseera was worried about sustaining her income. One fine morning she got an interview call from Taraqee Foundation and she was selected for the job of a facilitator where she is getting Rs. 24,300/- per month to help refugees to learn food processing. Baseera and her family are very happy now because she becomes as one of the major contributor to the families’ income. She said she is being respected now not only in the family but also among the neighbours and relatives. “Luckily I was able to get in to Jobs Training programme last year that has tremendously raised my status in the family as well as in the community.”
Mariam lives with her family of 5 including her 9 years daughter. Mariam’s husband is labor and sometimes he finds no work that means no cash. That makes life difficult. Considering financial situation of the family, Mariam was struggling to manage her kitchen expenses and was worried that her daughter can continue her education at least up to an acceptable level. Jobs team visited her street and talked about the planned project which was “skill development for women empowerment” through solar drying of fruits and vegetables and making paper beads and plastic products. She immediately opted to learn sun drying of fruits and vegetables and visited the training centre to request for the admission in the initial training. Next day she already started working on learning food processing steps. The trainers found her very responsible in following instructions on hygiene and food processing standards. Soon she became facilitator for the other participants reminding them of hand washing and taking preventive measures for CVID (use of mask and keeping distance). Looking at her interest and performance, she was soon involved in sorting, packing and packaging activities. Mariam started earning quite hand some amount and made the life easy at home. Her family members started supporting her and that made her to spend more time in the training centre. She said now she purchases soap, shampoo, and her daughter’s dresses herself. The food quality at has also slightly improved. She said it is such a luxury to have little money in hand that is your own and you can spend as you want.
Mariam Bibi
Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
Farida Bibi
Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
Farida is a young Afghan woman living with her uncle and his family in Ghosabad Quetta. She lost her parents in earlier childhood. She lives with her uncle and his family who are all in to carpet weaving in order to earn a living. She also learnt weaving and started lending their hand. Farida learnt how to read and write in a literacy centre in the neighborhood and is now able to keep her accounts and records. Jobs team visited her area to talk about the planned project which was “skill development for women empowerment” through solar drying of fruits and vegetables and making paper beads and plastic products. She got interested in it and visited the training centre 2 days later for further details. Looking at the products and details on how to dry seasonal fruits and vegetables, how they are stored for rest of the months when the prices are high, she got eager. She said that this would prove to be a very useful skill to save money and keep them healthy. She was curious and had many queries related to the training duration, stipend and tool kit as she was dreaming to become an independent worker using food processing skills. Furthermore, she was accepted as one of the training participants in the first group of the training. The trainers found her to be extremely sensible and hard working. Said Farida to the other participants; “One day I will have my own solar dryer and will be drying for the family and for the market. It would be my own business.” “Now I may be able to become independent worker”
Sakina is a young lady in her 30s from Kandahar in Afghanistan and currently living in Quetta. She had heard about a unique project in her area being launched for women empowerment. They will learn how to become an entrepreneur in dried food business and recycling paper and plastic in to useful products. She was excited and decided to visit the training centre next day. Sakina was accompanied by her neighbours Basra who already visited the training centre twice to learn about the activities being offered for women and got admission. “This is what I would like to do” says Sakina; this is interesting, food related and part time. It suited her very well as she was a mother of 6 young children aged between 2-14 years. Her husband worked as a daily wager mostly did not get work as he appeared to be very weak and sick. She said the neighborhood is very good and they sometimes help her with charity (zakat) to feed the family. Her elder 2 sons were working as garbage pickers. Her friend/neighbours (Basra) would occasionally emphasize about children’s education “but how can I do that, I need to find resources to feed the family first” Sakina argued. “My neighbours are very good they help me out but I wish I could work and earn myself, feed my family with my own resources with dignity. I am very happy to have this opportunity of learning to dry fruits and vegetables and work for money. I always had a dream not to accept charity and be able to help my husband to earn our living.” “This training may be the solution to my continuous financial problems”
Sakeena Bibi
Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
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