Income generating projects help one mom be “superwoman” to her children

Ruwaida is a divorced woman and a mother of two children living in Qusra, a rural locality located in Area C- which means under the full Israeli civil and security control.

As the only breadwinner for her family, Ruwaida has been struggling to support her children. She is barely able to afford their most basic needs through her job at a nearby sewing factory.

World Vision recognizes that for children living in poverty, life in all its fullness begins with a sustained family well-being. In Jerusalem-West Bank and Gaza, World Vision works through improving the resilience of families by improving their livelihoods and providing them with new opportunities to increase the family income. World Vision believes that families with improved livelihoods can better respond to their children’s needs and are more able to care for them; hence, one of our programs in the centre designed an income generation project for women, to help them improve their incomes. The programme supported women in Qusra through providing 14 sewing machines to the Qusra Charitable Association as well as providing 17 vulnerable women, aged   25 to 40, with the needed training to use the sewing machines and sew professionally. The group met three times a week for four months to obtain the desired skills.

As the women finished the training and had access to the sewing machines, they were able to generate more income for their families, which gave them the opportunity and the means to better care for their 55 children living in that marginalized area. 

 “I have been the only bread winner for my two kids,” says Ruwaida,”[This is] a heavy burden that I had to bear on my shoulders… since I got divorced,” she added. “In the past, I used to travel to Yatma village, a village far (15 km) from where I live in order to work in a sewing workshop. I used to earn (650 NIS = $165 USD) as a monthly salary, half of which I used to pay for my transportation to and from work.  With such a small salary, I could not afford the basic needs of my children,” she continued.  

Thanks to the training and support of this programme, Ruwaida has nearly doubled her income. She, and the other beneficiaries of the programme, now earns an average of $255 (USD) per month.  “Joining the sewing training to acquire the needed skills made me feel strong and independent,” she says. “I now truly believe that divorced women are resilient and brave enough to break the cultural barriers and be effective [and contributing] members of their society,” she adds.

Abdullatif, 6, Ruwaida’s eldest son appreciates the non-monetary benefits as well. “I feel very happy now since I can spend more time with my mother during the day as she works close to our house,” he says. “My mother can now have breakfast with us before leaving to work.”

“My mom is my superwoman,” Abdullatif adds. “She manages to do everything. She has been a mother and a father to me and my brother… I hope everyone gets a superwoman mom like her,” he adds.