Manizha Naziry, 25, is busy hemming clothes for a client at the North Greenwich Congregational Church. Naziry never learned how to sew in her native country of Afghanistan. But now, she might be able to use that skill as a money-making opportunity as she pursues a higher education.
“Now I have some opportunities that I could learn more,” Naziry said.
Naziry is one of several resettled Afghan refugees now learning to sew as part of a program run by several volunteers.
Stacia Morris, a financial literacy coach, helps lead the program. Morris says the women are skilled and fast learners.
“They can be very fast. I can give them stuff; one week, and by the next week, it's done,” Morris said.
The program, known as the sewing circle, has trained multiple Afghan women not only how to sew, but also entrepreneurial skills.
Advocates say the program is crucial as uncertainty grows over how long federal funding for refugee aid resettlement programs will be made available.
Naziry is soft spoken but recounted how her family was filled with anxiety while fleeing the Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021, after decades of fighting.
She spoke of being nervous when her family first came to the United States, arriving in Virginia. They later moved to Connecticut to be with other family members.
Naziry said the sewing program makes her feel at ease.
“I like to do sewing,” Naziry said. “We have to find what art that we want to do. So, I think sewing is the best thing that we can do for ourselves or for other people. And I like it.”
Rachel Kornfeld, CEO of Jewish Family Services of Greenwich, which helped set up the sewing circle, said it took a while for Afghan women to feel comfortable enough participating in the program.
“They were a bit fearful to leave their homes without their family, or some that didn't come in a larger extended family were truly on their own, as they didn't speak English, and not many people in the area spoke their language of origin, which would have been either Pashto, or Dari,” Kornfeld said.
But Kornfeld credited Morris for introducing an entrepreneurial program to the sewing circle.
Morris teaches the women not only how to sew, but also how to promote their skill sets and charge customers a fair price, while making a profit.
Morris learned how to sew from her mother. So far, the volunteer group has between 20 and 25 sewing machines. Some of her students, she said, take the machines home to further their skills.
But Morris said the program isn’t for everyone. She said the entrepreneurial program is geared for older women who can sew to earn a living.
She said she tries to steer younger women away from the entrepreneurial incubator program, encouraging women like Naziry into pursuing higher education. She is now studying to become a dental hygienist.
Morris says Naziry’s family was grateful.
“I threw her out of the incubator, her parents and family members invited my sister and I to have lunch with them one Saturday,” Morris said.
Kornfeld said the program is more important now than ever, as federal funding cuts or the threat of federal funding cuts for resettlement aid programs is at risk.
“Now, more than ever, we are shifting our resources and our attention to workforce development for our immigrant population,” Kornfeld said. “ It’s an intentional shift, because we want to make sure that our clients are gainfully employed, and that they also have opportunities for upskilling and education, to continue their path towards self-sufficiency and living a better quality of life.”
