Refugee women cling to life with art


The Düzce Public Education Center offers free courses for refugee women in Turkey, and 50 war-weary refugee women, who attend a 3D ribbon-making course, are currently displaying their work at Ramadan Street for the holy month of Ramadan.The 3D ribbon-making course at the Düzce Public Education Center is under the supervision of Iranian national Pouneh Jabbari who came to Turkey three years ago. Jabbari told Anadolu Agency (AA) that she previously worked as an instructor at an official Iranian government institution and taught women the art of ribbon making. Explaining that she wants to reach out to refugee women in Turkey through her courses, Jabbari said: "I came to Turkey after going through hell. I believe that we make a difference here, gathering all my friends together. I try to help my fellow women by teaching them the art of ribbon-making so that they can earn a living and contribute to the family budget."Jabbari said that she wants to reach out to more foreign national women in Turkey, regardless of their religion, race or language and help them contribute to their families' finances. "I want to teach this art to all foreign national women in Turkey whether they are Turkish, Kurdish or Arab. I do not want to see them sitting at their homes waiting for somebody to help them. Instead, we can join forces and help ourselves by creating art," Jabbari added.She said that foreign national women in Turkey should be interested in a branch of art and that course attendees will be happy selling their work.Afghan national Nafisa Shirzad, one of the course attendees, spoke of her love for Turkey and said: "I want to express my gratitude to the Republic of Turkey, which offered us so many opportunities. Getting busy with this art makes us all happy. We are also able to contribute to our family budgets."Another Afghan national, Susan Sabooi, said that she learned a lot even though she has only recently enrolled in the course and expressed her happiness to be able to financially contribute to her family by selling the work she has created.