The dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon

"a truly uplifting and very true story of how one woman set out to start a business and ended up preserving the dignity of so many women"

(the heading is a quote from Huffington Post)

Kamila has just finished her teaching degree when the Taliban take control in 1996. The Taliban quickly restricts the lives of women living in Kabul; they may no longer work or go to school. If they need to leave the house, they need a male relative with them.

Her brothers and father are forced to flee the family home to try to stay alive. Left behind are Kamila and her female relatives. To survive and somehow bring some money in, Kamila learns to sew and soon turns her new skills into a little business where she also engages other women in the local community. Using her teaching skills she starts a sewing school from her home. Once the women know how to sew, they are assigned work from real customers.

Amazingly, Kamila manages to employ almost one hundred friends and neighbours in her little business, without getting caught by the Taliban.

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