Afghan Training Foundation Training School

Afghan Rugs Keep Kids Off Drugs
Karen Triggs was based in Afghanistan as the Media Officer with the UK Government’s Department for International Development in 2006/07. She visited Afghan Action’s factory and training school in South West Kabul and bought a handmade carpet. Here she reports on two of the young weavers she met.
June 2007

DFID-backed Kabul carpet workshop helps youngsters weave a better future
Waid, 15 and Rahila, 18 work at UK social enterprise Afghan Action’s unique Kabul rug workshop, handweaving traditional Afghan carpets.  Hardworking Waid has been his family of five’s main breadwinner since the age of ten – he used to work on the streets of Kabul hailing taxis for a pittance.  Rahila’s family now has a tape player, batteries and some cassettes, strictly forbidden under the Taleban, after she and her two sisters, also employed at the workshop, saved diligently.  Waid and Rahila both missed out on school during Afghanistan’s conflict years – Afghan Action’s afternoon literacy and numeracy classes mean they can now read and write properly.  Afghan Action’s carpets are sold in the UK and the profits reinvested in the workshop.

Waid: “One really good thing about working here is that we do school classes in the afternoon.  I’m learning to read and write one of Afghanistan’s two main languages, Dari, and also doing maths and religious studies.  I can read the sign boards of shops in the street now – I couldn’t do this before – and now I know maths I can count my weekly wages.

Rahila: “We make some great carpets here.  I’m sure people in Britain would like the one I’m making at the moment, which is in the Kazakh style.  It’s easier to weave than some of the other styles, actually, particularly the ones with flowers on which are quite fiddly.
Waid: I like the Kazakh carpets too.  You can tell it’s Kazakh because of the colours – a sort of dusky blue - and the pattern is quite geometric and symmetrical.

Rahila:  My favourite colour wool is this dark navy blue.  We dye the wool ourselves here at the workshop using organic dyes.  If you look outside you can see the skeins hanging on the roof, drying in the sun.

Rahila points to her favourite navy wool.

Waid: I’ve been working here for about a year-and-a-half now.  I spent about nine months as a trainee, learning from our master carpet maker.  Then the workshop offered me a proper job.  I’m the only person in my house with a proper job – there are five of us: mother, brother and two sisters.  I get paid about 2500 afghanis a month (about £25).  I give all the money to my mother and she gives me a bit back for bus fares.

Rahila: There are nine people in my family – my mum and dad, four brothers and my two sisters.  My dad has a job as a carpenter.  My two sisters work here at the rug workshop as well.  All our wages go into the family’s moneypot.  I’m a trainee at the moment but I’d really like a steady job here once I graduate.

Rahila and her two sisters Maria, 21 and Layla, 15.

Waid: Before I worked here I was hailing taxis on the street.  I had to stand outside in the baking heat or snow.  In a good month I would earn no more than 1000 afghanis (about £10) and sometimes quite a bit less.  I did actually attend school for a little while – maybe two years.  But I had to leave to start working when I was about 10.

Rahila: I was sitting at home doing nothing before I started here because it’s very hard at the moment for girls to find suitable jobs.  I was really bored – I’m so happy that I’m doing something productive now and that there’s more money coming in because it means that we can live a bit better.  We’ve recently bought a tape player for the first time – we all saved to get this.  We can also afford to buy meat a bit more often.  We hardly ever had it before.  My favourite meal is sherwa – it’s an Afghan soup you make with meat, potatoes and carrots and eat with flat bread. My mother prepares it, mind you – I’m terrible at cooking!

Waid: Now I can read and write a bit I might be able to go and study at college later.  I’d quite like to be a doctor.  In the meantime I hope I’ll work here.  I also hope people in the UK will keep buying our carpets – they’re lovely and the money we earn helps our families stay off the breadline.

Afghan Action is supported by a start up grant from DFID’s Business Linkages Challenge Fund.  Its aim is to become a self-sustaining business employing up to 100 of the 350 trainees who each receive 6 months’ training. There are currently 75 people employed and 40 in training.

Afghan Action is wholly owned by a UK registered charity, the Afghan Training Foundation (reg no 1111897).

Afghan Action’s office is at 30 City Road, London, EC1Y 2AY.  Our contact number is 020 7870 0010 and our email is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)