Walaa Hussein Abdullatif

I am Walaa Hussein, I am graduated in technical secondary school of commerce. I am married, and I have a son and a daughter. I am living in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar area. My husband is an official officer in the ministry of health. As a result of the high prices and continues raises in the cost of living, while my husband’s salary is fixed, I thought that I should start working to help him meeting our family needs. In fact, I started searching for a job in cloths retails of dawn town with the help of one of my friends working in the same field. But, the working hours were not matching with neither my kids’ schools schedule nor my husband’s working hours. So, I started to search for other jobs. Once, I was visiting my friend Amira, I found her doing a Khayyamiya piece while she was staying at home, and I wondered what is she doing. She explained to me that she joined a training by the Aga Khan project, where they taught her this craft in two months. Afterwards, she kept executing orders from both of them, the project and the trainer. All of this was for free, on the contrary, they were providing all the materials, the trainer and everything. Moreover, she told me that by the end of the training they granted them seed funds to start their own projects. I asked her to teach me the needed skills. But, she said to me to get the best training, I should join the program of Mezalla Foundation as she did. She also oriented me to ask about Mr. Mohammed, who is in charge of training programs there, who will guide my steps forward.

In the very next day, I got here to the project and I asked about Mr. Mohammed. He met me and explained to me all things about the training and the concept of the project, which is financed by the Housing and Development Bank. He said that I need to have skills working in any crafts with my hands. So I said to him that I already do crochet and embroidery. Then I got a test appointment with all colleagues, then I filled the application. The appropriate training time was the greatest factor to encourage me in. I came for test, passed it, and then started to attend the training.

During the training period, Mr. Hanafi, the trainer, was impressed with my work, and said that I could be a clever artisan, if I focused more and paid attention to the workmanship, and I really loved the craft, because I felt that it was a beautiful art. Also, Mr. Hanafi explained the prices of each piece and how to price the products. I found this trade can generate income for me while I am staying at home. During the training period, I also learned how to deal with all khayyamiya fabrics and linen, and how to tie it to leather, the basics of Islamic and Pharaonic art works and geometrical drawings as well.

After that, we were distributed among the workshops for the on job stage inside the workshops. I joined the workshop of Mr. Mahmoud Suleiman, who was in the middle of the khayyamiya market. There I did not only learn the fundamentals of this workmanship, but also how to deal with the customer to convince them buying pieces. Mr. Mahmoud also gave me work to be done at home, and pay me for that. Also, incentives were monthly given to trainees from the project.

After the training period, I continued to work with Mr. Mahmoud, and I did a lot of work at home and sell it in the market. My monthly income from the Khayyamiya is about 2000 or 2500 pounds, this is more than my husband’s salary. This is more than I expected especially that I am working from home for few hours while I am taking care of my kids. It is a real success for me and my family. I would like to thank all who helped me to continue reaching this status. Also, the Housing and Development Bank with Mezzala foundation, who supported our training through the project of reviving vanishing handicrafts in Historic Cairo.