HERAT CITY (SW): The endeavors of various rights organizations have helped many rejected and dejected individuals to become happy and active members of the society.
Here, in the ‘ALSO Vocational Centre in western Herat province, many individuals with disabilities have learned new skills. On daily basis, tens of disabled women come here to acquire new knowledge and skills.
Samia has been visiting this centre for the past three months now. “I have learned a lot about dressmaking”, she said.
Sitting next to her is Fatima, a new comer. I knew nothing about tailoring prior to starting the course here, she said, adding that now she can stitch a new dress without anyone’s help.
“ALSO” is the only vocational training centre founded to educate people with disabilities. Ahmad Farid, Director of Also, noted over a hundred disable people come to learn here; over 80 of them are women. He takes pride in the fact that many among those passing out from here have acquired good jobs.
An overwhelming majority of trainers are previous students. Razia Hamdard is one of them.
“I have been here for the past four years now, I was a student in the first year and since last three years I have been working as trainer” Razia said. She expressed joy in helping those with disabilities. “They would not need to rely on others, they can help themselves”.
It is however, regrettable that many people look down upon those with disabilities and consider them a liability. Sabria Ahmadi, a trainer, stressed lifting the broken moral of the disabled persons is crucial. She has been working for the past two years to restore the self confidence among them.
“Many of my students were too shy to come out in the public, now they are motivated to come out, learn and be a contributing members of the society”, Sabira stated.
Sociologists believe special attention toward those with disabilities and enabling working environment for them would bring an end to the discriminating attitude towards them.
ENDS
