Please help me to support Safaa to develop a sustainable, profitable sewing business to provide for her children and family (and, someday, she hopes, employ other displaced women!) as they rebuild their lives post-ISIS.
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My dear friend Safaa, whom I had the privilege to work with in Iraq in 2019 and have kept in touch with ever since, has finally been able to return to her hometown of Mosul just over a decade after ISIS invaded northern Iraq and occupied her city (more on this below). A gifted seamstress who has served as a tailoring trainer, supporting other women in the camp where she was displaced for seven years to learn how to make clothing for their children, Safaa has now started a tailoring business to provide for the needs of her five children and to try to rebuild their future. Her long-term dream is to scale up the business to the point where she can employ other women who are, like her, trying to rebuild their lives after losing everything in the ISIS conflict.
While in the camp, she was always a champion of the needs of women who were vulnerable, despite enduring the harsh living conditions within the camp herself (molding tents, 47 degree C/115 degree F heat, insufficient food) and battling for hope, not knowing if or when she and her family would ever be able to return to Mosul - as half of the city (including Safaa's home) had been reduced to rubble. She served as a liaison for and protector of women in the camp who were experiencing domestic violence, reaching out to them confidentially to connect them to the gender-based violence response care services available in the camp. I wish I had even the smallest portion of the kindness, hopefulness, cheerful heart and courage I've seen Safaa demonstrate while in the midst of the grueling marathon of endurance called 'displacement.'
Now that she is finally back in Mosul, she has taken active steps towards establishing a sewing business to find a sustainable way to earn income for her family and ultimately build a new life for them and employ other women. She has developed a solid tailoring business plan (see key highlights below), she has been able to secure the sewing machines and an initial stock of supplies and has already begun to develop market pathways with key buyers. She has also cleared all of her debts (which is remarkable - one of the many damaging coping pathways displaced people who have lost everything are forced to turn to when camp provisions for food, medicine, clothing, etc. dwindle is purchasing on 'credit' that creates a financial hole it is very difficult to ever get out of. Taking such a step is vital in order to increase the chances of long-term sustainability of her business).
What is needed now?
With so many key foundations in place (equipment, skills, solid plan, market-links, etc. as noted above), what is needed now to help her build a sustainable business is support towards the first six months of her business costs - which is the time it will take for her to achieve profitability - and to help support her to establish a small, essential emergency savings fund for contingencies (as insurance is not available for her in Mosul) so that her fledgling business is not derailed by early 'shocks' like theft, fire, etc. By contributing towards her support in these initial six months, Safaa will be able to focus her days on building her customer base and making clothing - without being diverted to take the hand-to-mouth types of daily contracts she has to take now to help feed her family. She will also be able to hire support to develop extensive marketing content for social media and for 'physical' marketing materials (signage, flyers, etc. for key customer areas) to boost business recognition and new customer connections within the start-up period. She will also be able to purchase additional materials and supplies to be responsive to new customer orders who wish for designs/materials she does not yet have in stock. At the end of the six months, Safaa is targeting profitability and will continue to build on the contingency fund through depositing a share of profits each month (long-term she wants to have six-months of operating costs in her contingency savings account).
One-hundred percent (100%) of any support received will go straight to the support of Safaa's endeavour, sent by bank transfer on a monthly basis over six months and held securely within her business operations bank account. I will also continue to walk closely with Safaa in this time, connecting her to business development and management mentors and training materials to support her as she develops her business systems. Thank you sincerely for any support you can give!
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Safaa's Story of Life Under ISIS & Escape from Mosul:
NOTE: I have not included a photo of Safaa or her family in order to protect her identity. I have included a picture of a little boy in the camp where Safaa lived for seven years who represents the utter heart of courage and hope (and joy) that Safaa has demonstrated in her life and demonstrates still. It was 116 degrees F (47 C) the day I took that picture - there was no wind - the air was suffocating. Despite this - the little boy built a kite and left his tent where all of the adults were sheltering to check for wind. He lived in hope for the wind that would, he knew, one day come again. Until then, he would fly the kite himself - creating the breeze himself - running through the gravel of H3 camp, with his arm held high.
There was not enough food or water. For one month, in November 2016 Safaa only had flour and water to feed her children. She boiled it and they ate it. (Adults would go without food).
The children were so weak they could not stand up. They had dark circles under their eyes. They had liver infections but there was no medicine. She had to sit there and watch her children dying. (She cried at this point when telling me the story. After some time, she continued). One night ISIS held a meeting at a house next door, they had fruit and hot food, and the children could smell the food. Her husband broke. Out of desperation he declared to Safaa that he was going to join ISIS so that they could feed their children. Then they both started to cry. She and her husband just held eachother and wept. They were desperate but despite this they resolved yet again that they could never join ISIS.
(KR Context Note: For those who joined ISIS, they had plenty of food, good healthcare, access to cash, etc. For those living in ISIS occupied areas like Mosul who did not join - they were left to suffer, were prevented from contacting the outside world or leaving the city, were rarely able to leave the house, experienced harsh punishments and witnessed torture and executions of Sunni Muslims who would not live by sharia law. Most Christians had been allowed by Mosul to leave the city when ISIS took over in 2014; their harshest treatment was reserved for Ezidi children, men and women and fellow Sunni Muslim youth, men and women who would not live by the version of sharia law ISIS imposed. Many, many hundreds of Sunni Muslims were denounced as non-believers by ISIS and were executed in the three years they occupied Mosul (2014-2017). From the period of October 2016 through to the liberation of Mosul in July 2017 - the suffering of those who did not join ISIS intensified as the city was under siege; thousands, like Safaa and her family, endured a slow starvation, drinking water out of muddy pools of rain and living without heat, electricity and basic medicines. The decision she and her husband made next however may have saved their lives. In the final months of the battle for Mosul many thousands of civilians died as artillery and bombs smashed the city at a volume not seen since WWII, with many bodies never to be found as nearly half of the buildings in the once second largest city in Iraq were destroyed, pulverising both ISIS and civilians to dust in the process).
They decided to try to escape Mosul. There were six of them so they decided to split into three groups…Father and baby, (a cousin) who was 12 and her 8-year-old boy and Safaa along with her oldest girls 13-14. Her husband went first. They left in the darkness. They all tried to get to her sister’s house (which meant they had to go toward the frontline – putting them between the Iraq Army and ISIS). There was a bomb close by. There was gunfire whizzing past. They ducked into a house but there were 'ISIS women' in there putting on suicide jackets (KR note: female combatants within ISIS). "We ran to another house that had the doors opened," Safaa recalled. "We were forced to just leave that village; we thought it had been liberated but it had not. There were ISIS tunnels and poisonous gas was being used." Eventually Safaa's family made it to the sister’s house (still in the ISIS territory). This took 2 a.m. til 8 a.m.
When it was dark, they left her sister’s house. The entire village came too. It was 70 families – and no one knew the way. It was one day to get to the mountain. Along the way you couldn’t walk upright…had to stay low because of the fighting and to avoid being seen. "We came up to a place (like a ravine and then a climb) where you had to stand up and jump. If you were in a car, you had to stop (and there were spikes)," she said. Finally, after that place, they could begin to walk upright and they had begun to reach safe areas. There were a lot of women escaping alone, her husband (and other husbands) tried to help them. In the darkness and confusion however, three children from other families got separated from the group. By the time they were found, the children had died. "The route was difficult and they were hungry. We didn’t see them [get separated]," Safaa recalled with grief. The journey was more than the children could physically bear.
Safaa and her family came straight to H3– after the (name removed) checkpoint - in March 2017.
I met Safaa in 2019 when we worked together for several months in the camp. Even then - just two years into the life of the camp - the provisions for the camp had already begun to be cut. Donors had begun to move on to new emergencies in other parts of the world. The already insufficient food rations were cut without warning due to reduced funding support to WFP's work in Iraq. The women's protection / GBV services that Safaa had helped to champion in the camp started to be reduced as major international donors reduced funding to the implementing agencies in the camp. The same reductions were seen in the medical care in the camp; the mental health support, the fuel available to run the generators so that people could have electricity to run fans to survive the heat, etc. etc. Still - with Mosul in ruins - there were no homes or jobs for thousands of families in the camp to return to; there were no hospitals, schools, bridges, roads, etc. to support life. There were also few jobs or income opportunities in the camp - meaning that families were unable to earn any money to be able to leave the camp and go ANYWHERE. Five more years passed - after the aid had all but left; with Safaa, her family and so many others in the camp enduring the most trying physical and emotional deprivations. Finally, in 2024, Safaa and her family have been able to return to Mosul - staying with relatives but able to make ends meet through daily labour contracts. A full decade after ISIS invaded and destroyed their lives - she and her loved ones are only truly, just now, able to start again.
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(Safaa’s Tailoring) Brief business status and budget:
(صفاء للخياطة) خطة عمل وميزانية مختصرة:
- I. Already in place: Safaa is highly skilled in tailoring; she has produced high quality clothing previously and has served as a tailoring trainer over several years, teaching other women to make clothing for their families. She has a premises out of which to operate and has started developing supply pathways to market in Mosul (engaging vendors to purchase the clothes she makes). Safaa is also debt free, owing nothing to creditors. She has a solid foundational business plan, with strong emphasis on targeted marketing in the first six months to build business recognition and secure new customers.
- II. Already in place: essential equipment and one-time costs to set-up the business / Value: 1,527,000 IQD / Approximately $1,150 USD / 870 GBP
- Industrial sewing machine, Over-the-counter sewing machine, Wheels to move the machines; Pedals for the machine; Protection devices for machines; Chairs and Table for Machines; Electric splitter.
- Clamps for layers, Clamps for compaction, Clamps for rings, Thread, Layers, KD, Iron Scissors, Plastic, Sewing Supplies, Machine needles (3), Initial Rolls of Fabric Materials
- Initial marketing costs (printed cards), SIM card with number for business
- III. Majority Already In Place (Part Covered Already): Emergency Reserve Support in a Separate Business Savings Account for Major Contingencies – to enable the business to absorb shocks (i.e. fire, theft, major illness, etc.). 1,300,000 IQD / $1,000 USD / 740 GBP
- Insurance is not available to Safaa in Mosul so having a reserve contingency fund of at least $1,000 (to be built up in the future by Safaa to reach a least 6 months of operating costs) is essential to preventing Safaa’s business from having to go out of business in the case of theft, a serious illness, an unexpected government fee (currently there no government fees to register or operate the business but these can sometimes be introduced without much notice, requiring businesses to adapt), etc.. Safaa is very business savvy and is already thinking ahead to potential contingencies and adapting her plan to mitigate risk – however some risks cannot be prevented. Helping Safaa to establish the minimum reserve of $1,000 USD safeguards the contributions of partners over the first six months and ultimately the viability of the business (along with the well-being of Safaa’s family throughout).
- IV. Monthly Running Costs 925,000 IQD per month ($700 USD / 530 GBP per month) / Total Running Costs – 6 Months ($4,200 / GBP 3,180 GBP)
- Materials (100m Fabric 300,000 Sewing supplies 90,000) – 390,000 per month
- Transportation: 30,000 per month
- Utilities (electricity to run lights and machines): per month 30,000
- Phone credit + internet so you can communicate with customers and do marketing 15,000
- Printing cards: 10,000
- Marketing: hiring support to create content for influential social media markets and leaflets for Mosul marketplace. 100,000 IQD
- Monthly contingency buffer: 50,000 IQD (to absorb frequent fuel/transport price fluctuations, fabric price fluctuations, and potentially under-budgeted costs during the early start up / learning period, etc.); if unused the contingency buffer will be added to the business savings account each month.
- Safaa’s Time Subsidy: 300,000 IQD per month; though Safaa’s husband is able to do daily labour and can usually find sufficient work to provide for the basic needs of their family of five, the family lives very close to the ‘survival’ line. If he is unable to find a contract or there is an additional expense (like a child needs medicine) – they family currently does not have a reserve to call on so they will have to either borrow money OR Safaa will need to look for daily labour work to make ends meet, taking her time away from being able to develop the business. By providing sustained, reliable support to ‘subsidise’ Safaa’s time over the first six-months of her business – she and her family have the best chance to grow a sustainable, profitable business and to have new hope and a plan for their future for the first time in ten years.
- NOTE: Throughout the first six months, depending on the level of support that can be galvanized to support the monthly running costs, the aim is for Safaa to re-invest all income from clothing sales directly back into the purchase of supplies, depositing any unused amount from the contingency budget line (50,000 IQD per month / $38 or 30 GBP per month) into a business savings account for minor contingencies and (in the long-term) equipment repair, maintenance and replacement.
SUMMARY:
To help give Safaa’s new tailoring business have the best chance possible to be successful, to reach profitability within six months and to sustainably secure a brighter, healthier and more hopeful future for Safaa and her family, any contribution towards the balance needed will be treasured.
Safaa’s Tailoring Start Up Support (Apologies - the table was not pasteable here).
- Initial Need Total: USD $4,250 / GBP £3,240
- Already in Place or Committed: USD $2,150 / GBP £1,450
- BALANCE NEEDED: USD $2,100 / GBP £1,790
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Details of Initial Need Calculation:
Essential equipment and one-time costs to set-up the business (ALREADY IN PLACE) Total 1,150 USD / GBP 870
Emergency Reserve Major Contingency Business Protection Fund (to open business contingency account a bank in lieu of insurance as it is not available to Safaa in Mosul) (PARTIALLY COVERED ) Total 1,000 USD / 780 GBP
Fifty-percent (50%) subsidized running costs for six-months to prevent Safaa from being diverted away from the business to take day labour contracts as needed to help make ends meet for her family during the six month start-up period. Total 2,100 USD / 1,590 GBP
Thank you sincerely for any support you can give!