Recycling Clothes is Unlimited Creativity

One of the changes in our lives as Syrian refugee women was that it gives us free time that we didn’t have when we were living in our beloved homeland Syria. As women, we wanted to use that free time in a way that feels beneficial: We wanted to feel that we are engaged fully in life and that we are very much productive human beings.

One day, we heard of the idea of recycling clothes which was proposed by Japan Emergency NGO to take advantage of old clothes. We liked the idea; therefore, we decided to work together with other women in this regard.

At first, the supervisor showed us movies to demonstrate ideas about how to recycle old clothes and transform them into carpets and bags.  Then each one of us selects pieces of clothes depending on what she has in mind and what she has decided to do. Some of us prefer to take men’s shirts, as the texture is the best for bed covers and curtains. Um Mahmoud prefers to have bright colors to make braiding rugs. Almost everyone already knows how to braid and the rest of the process is simple to learn.

We are 30 women who form the essential core of the “Recycling Cloth” project, but there are more women who attend weekly gathering from different districts of the camp. We want to fill our free time doing useful things for our families in a way that increases our creativity, energy and sense of fulfillment in life.

We can use our products or decorate our caravans instead of buying materials from the market. We all feel proud of what we have produced. In the future, we would like to develop a business so that we can sell our products inside the camp and, if possible, outside in Mafraq and Amman.

Fadia

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