Savy Amira facilitated a group of mothers supported by IOM in embroidery activities

Over the course of 12 sessions, Savy Amira facilitated a group of mothers supported by IOM in embroidery activities, while also having open conversations about women’s issues, such as their daily lives in their countries of origin, menstruation, and preventing sexual violence from an early age. Savy Amira did not come as embroidery experts. We only had basic skills, and embroidery was never a hobby we practiced diligently. Our role was simply to introduce embroidery patterns from YouTube that the mothers could follow and to prepare the necessary materials. As it turned out, embroidery is a “mandatory” activity for women in Afghanistan. With different motifs, girls begin learning embroidery in childhood, continue through adolescence, and carry it into adulthood as they prepare for marriage. The items they embroider vary widely, from window curtains and tablecloths to bed sheets and placemats. When they marry, these embroidered pieces are brought to the homes they share with their husbands. In their daily lives as wives and mothers, embroidery becomes a collective activity, done together with other women in their neighborhood after completing domestic work such as cooking and caring for children. As a result, they are true masters of embroidery—creating intricate geometric patterns without drawing designs beforehand, relying instead on counting the fabric threads. Amazing, right? So it was no surprise that when Savy Amira tried to teach patterns, still with plenty of mistakes, they asked, “Teacher, did you forget?! Do you know how to do it or not?” In the end, we had to admit that it was actually us who learned so much from them.