Private company provides carpet weaving training to 3,000 women

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): A private company in eastern Nangarhar province has paved the way for 3,000 women to learn carpet weaving with the aim to increase domestic production and help females become economically self-reliant.

The company has been working in the field of carpet weaving in eastern provinces for the past 20 years. Its officials say women should stand on their own feet economically.

The Dara-i-Noor Brothers Carpet Weaving Company has started training women in carpet weaving with financial support of another foundation. The company officials say among the 3000 learners, some of them are in Laghman and Kunar provinces.

Mohammad Tahir Iftikhar, deputy head of the company, told Pajhwok Afghan News that they had paved the way for thousands of girls and women to learn carpet weaving in order to increase the production of carpets and provide economic assistance to families.

He said each learner was taught how to weave carpets and was given a monthly salary of 12,000 afghanis after being allowed by their families.

He said their company worked on the zone level and it was launched in 2002 and now they had employees, workplaces and learners in 14 districts of the province.

He also said: “In terms of marketing, we are very weak. Our carpets are imported to other countries. The problem is that the carpet is weaved in Afghanistan, but it is sold in the name of another country.”

However, he did not name any country. He said he had launched efforts to export Afghan carpets to other countries and the world market in the name of Afghanistan.

This scribe visited two training centers of the company in a remote area called Limtak in Dara-i-Noor district and talked to some learners and trainers of carpet weaving there.

The learners and their trainers, all girls and women, said as the doors of schools were shut against them; the learning of carpet weaving could help them stand on their own feet.

Nagina, who started weaving carpets 10 years ago, is now a trainer at one of these centers. She said such activities were useful for economic empowerment of families. She urged other organizations and companies to launch similar projects and help families become self-reliant economically.

She told Pajhwok that the learners were in their third month of training and after completing six months training, they would be able to weave carpets at homes and support their families.

Another learner, Shukriya, told Pajhwok that she was happy for being paid a monthly salary along with learning how to weave carpets in her own home in the future.

In addition to working with the Dara-i-Noor carpet weaving company, thousands of other women are busy weaving carpets in Nangarhar.

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