Needle and Thread

The most important participations of women especially girls in our village are collecting water, firewood and shepherding. They consume around seven hours of their day performing these tasks apart from cleaning, washing and looking after to their younger brothers and sisters.

Very few attend the school due to different factors such as distance, no female teacher, financial incapacity, and education is less valuable.



The girls mostly in rural and mountainous area set their mind of getting married. They are dreaming of an extra ordinary wedding party, brilliant wedding gown and shining gold for their accessories.

For almost a decade our dedicated Sewing Class Trainer Dina Ismail reaches out many young women and girls especially those with disability to learn basic sewing. Gradually our sewing class empowered numbers of women to learn skills, be productive and self reliant. ADRA Hais Sewing class created mindshift to our girls, now our young women become interested of joining and completing sewing class and to attend to their graduation party.

This year, we have 24 trainees who completed the 8months training on sewing skills. The graduation party was held last June 9,2009. This was attended by different key leaders of Hais City. We have complete attendance from Hais City Council, the head of Hais Hospital; our Imams and Sheik.



ADRA Yemen Country Director Mr. Nagi Khalil and our new Programme Director Ms. Mirriam Watt graced the occasion and supported Hais team to make this event a success. The graduates received gifts from ADRA Yemen like pens and paper printed with ADRA Yemen logo.

Out of 24 graduates, there are four females who received SED Loan in the forms of sewing machine. This is to start their business in sewing Abaya and other traditional clothing. Borrowers of sewing machine has to pay their loan for 8 months without interest and the monthly payment will be 3,000.ooYR (15.00USD). This experience created an impact that emancipate many women from traditional way of life like getting married, giving birth, and attending to their daily tasks.

Fatima Shobel is an example, she is deaf and mute; she completed her sewing class last year 2007. Since then she is assisting Dina in her class and in spite of her impairments she can transfer her skills to other women. She has been an inspiration to many young women with or without disability. Fatima does not stop there she also attended and completed our sign language training. Her confidence and smartness increases since she can communicate well through lips reading, body and sign language and finger spelling. Indeed ADRA works and reaches the most marginalized in YEMEN be it in the middle of the desert and or in the mountain. Thanks to ADRA for using us, the Hais Team as an instrument of fruitful changes to many girls and women here in Hais…..