Nadya Hazboun, a brilliant Palestinian fashion designer, is making huge efforts to preserve the Palestinian identity using the clothes and accessories she creates. She is also sharing her skills with other Palestinian women in her hometown Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.
As part of a project funded by the Holy Land Association, Hazboun helps women start their own businesses by training them to design, sew, and create accessories for houses and kitchens, as well as supporting them to market their products.
“My name is Nadya Hazboun, a fashion designer from Bethlehem. The training courses I have been giving focus on teaching Palestinian women some of my design and sewing skills. The current project, which is supported by the Holy Land Association, has helped many women learn sewing, and provided them with sewing machines to work from their houses,” Hazboun, fashion designer and trainer, told Reuters.
As living costs soar, the role of women in the Palestinian society should expand to help diversify income sources in families, believed Nadya. Our people must understand the importance of work and education for women,” she added.
Women who benefitted from the project said it helped them learn many things and make more money to support their families especially in time of crises.
“The project started in the beginning of the pandemic which affected all families in Bethlehem. When they proposed the idea of the project, we loved it.
This project didn’t only help us learn a new profession (design and sewing), but also motivated us to develop ourselves as women on many levels,” Ghada Salameh, a woman from the project, wife and mother of four, told Reuters.
For her part, Ghada Hanna, another beneficiary, a wife and a mother of four girls, noted that this project helped her discover her hidden talents.
