Dresses to the displaced

Mercy Corps was one of the first organizations to initiate relief and rehabilitation activities after the devastating earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005. Some women who lost their husbands in the earthquake are currently undergoing handicrafts development training in facilities established and funded by Mercy Corps in Jehlum Valley in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, or AJK. These women are currently earning crucial cash income to support their dependents, which they earn by stitching dresses and selling embroidery work.

Last month, these women voluntarily contacted Mercy Corps staff in AJK and wished to contribute through tailoring dresses for the internally displaced children. They requested Mercy Corps staff to help procuring cloth so that they could stitch those for free for IDP children.

Mercy Corps President Nancy Lindborg distributes dresses for girls displaced by fighting in northwest Pakistan between the Taliban and the army. The dresses were sewn by professional tailors as well as widows participating in a separate Mercy Corps-led handicraft training, who volunteered to make clothing for the displaced. Photo: Mercy Corps

The Mercy Corps staff in Muzaffarabad contacted shopkeepers, friends and relatives in Muzaffarabad town — the capital of AJK — and inquired if they wanted to contribute some fabric material. During this effort, some tailors in Muzaffarabad town also expressed interest in stitching dresses for free for the IDP children. Through these efforts, fabric material for making 150 dresses (100 for children, and 50 for elders) and shawls were collected.

The fabric donated by various shopkeepers, other individuals and Mercy Corps staff, was then provided to some tailors in Muzaffarabad and some of the women in the handicraft training.

The first consignment of 46 dresses (shalwar qameez) was made for girls by the women in training and sent to the Mercy Corps Head Office in Islamabad. These dresses were then distributed to girls in camps by Nancy Lindborg, Mercy Corps' president, during her visit to Pakistan.

The rest of the dresses are also ready, and the women who stitched them will soon visit the camps and distribute them for themselves.