By Toc Dunlap | Executive Director
The Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) trains widows and poor women to weave quality carpets in Herat, Afghanistan. While they are weaving carpets in the center, they are paid a salary (actually more than the salary of a teacher) and the finished carpets are then sold by AIL to help defray the costs of the program. Although some of the women are competent enough to weave carpets on their own, many do not have space where they live to put up the large loom that the carpets are woven on. In 2007, AIL opened a new Women’s Learning Center in a very poor area near Herat City. Because the center was new and had been built by AIL, there were more large rooms. The carpet weaving project was moved to this location. There are currently 10 women working on carpets at the center. Two of the women are master carpet weavers and teach the others. These two women attended training on marketing in April offered by a crafts organization. This project continues to be very helpful for widows and poor women.
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