Palestine – Despite her foot amputation… Gaza woman starts business for designing and sewing clothes

Location: Abasan – Eastern Khan Yunis – Gaza – Palestine

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:05:04

Sound: natural

Source: A24 in Gaza

Restrictions: A24 subscribers

Date: 24/07/ 2022

Storyline:

A 2014 Israeli air strike forced Gaza doctors to amputate the foot of Asmaa Abu Tair.

Now she is overcoming the injuries and making a living, having opened a sewing workshop in the southern Gazan town of Khan Yunis.

Abu Tair’s determination and strong will drove her to enroll in a training center for sewing and fashion design, where she developed her skills.

Within years, she started a business in manufacturing clothes.

 Demand for her skilled work is growing, especially during festive seasons and the start of the academic year when she also tailors school uniforms.

Shotlist:

– Soundbite (Asmaa Abu Tair – War victim suffering foot amputation and sewing workshop owner):
          “I was injured in an Israeli attack during war in 2004. The Israeli shelling caused the amputation of my left foot and shattering of bones in my right foot. Despite my injury and the treatment sessions I had in Jordan and Gaza for 3 years, I had the resolve to challenge myself and my disability, so I made the decision to enter fashion design at the Irada Center for Rehabilitation and Vocational Training of People with Disability. My business includes tailoring women’s abayas (cloaks), jilbabs and dresses, in addition to children’s dresses and school uniforms. This business will be a turning point for me and a change from staying at home out of touch with the world. This business is for me to integrate back into society and earn a living to support family and children.”
– Soundbite (Asmaa Abu Tair – War victim suffering foot amputation and sewing workshop owner):
          “Despite the fact that I have one amputated foot and another damaged foot, and the sewing machine needs both to function, I made the decision to keep working in fashion design and tailoring. Equipment includes a stitching machine, knitting machine, small home machine and ironing machine. The work involves drawing designs on paper, then cutting them into fabric. As a person with disability, I believe we should not create barriers and give in to our suffering. We should rise above our circumstances and fight society’s view of us, that people with disabilities are unproductive. People with disabilities are human beings same as everyone else.”