Seven of Westchester’s Refugees Make Protective Masks
In the eight years since she was forced to leave her homeland, Kurdish refugee Amina Ahmad has built up her own seamstress business and raised three children in America. It has not been easy.
Amina fled Syria in 2012 after the country’s conflict had expanded into a full-fledged civil war. She came through the humanitarian agency, UNHCR, and was in Malaysia for five years before emigrating to the United States. She had to learn English, then go through the long process of adjusting to a new culture.
“It was difficult in the beginning,” she said. “But Syria wasn’t safe; we had to leave. I wanted a better life for my children. When I started to support my family through sewing, my life changed,” she added. “There was an immediate demand for my skills, but finding new customers has been a challenge.”
Neighbors for Refugees (NFR), a local grassroots organization that resettles refugees and helps empower them throughout their first year of transition as they reach self-sufficiency, provided Amina with the guidance and support that she needed to get her business going. Her business, located in White Plains, took off, attracting new clients in new places such as nursing homes.
When COVID-19 struck last month, Amina’s business, AminasAlterations.com, slowed down. She worried about her financial situation, and when the phone rang one day with a business proposition from a member of NFR, she was instantly intrigued.
Protective masks were desperately needed. The situation was worsening; people were dying. The idea NFR had was for Amina and six other refugees to become a team of mask-making warriors.
One of the sewists is another NFR sponsored seamstress who came to America through the humanitarian organization, HIAS, with her husband. He worked with our forces in Afghanistan, and now he is on the front lines helping people with COVID-19 at White Plains Hospital, where he recently became a member of their virus response team. Even with their four boys (ages 8–15) schooling at home, she has been able to make over 500 protective masks. Two other seamstresses are sisters from Afghanistan. One came here in 2017; the other arrived three months ago, both came as SIVs. The lives of their husbands had been threatened because they worked with Americans back home, and the families had been in danger. They have minimal schooling but are literate in Dari, which is unusual for women in their country. There is a 70% illiteracy rate in their home country. Their stories, like all refugees who have overcome so much, are compelling. Another woman is also a professional seamstress, much like Amina, and she had been working at Nordstrom before the coronavirus crisis.
Most could sew, some professionally like Amina. All had sewing machines. If anyone needed a better sewing machine, NFR got one donated for them. MasksForNY.org, a local grassroots organization, partnered up with NFR to provide donated materials and direction, and within days, Amina and the others sped into action to create protective masks for hospitals and care centers in the New York region.
Frank Pierson, the President of NFR, is proud of the seven sewists and their hard work ethic. “Our program has a two-fold rationale: we want to empower them and build their confidence by showing them how vital their talents are, and how they can both contribute to our community and help put food on the table for their families. NFR is honored to be able to make a difference in their lives and in our community during these difficult times.”
The sewists joined a collective of 250 volunteers of the community making masks; however, their efforts differed in one important way: these refugee sewists would be paid for their labor. The NFR team created an algorithm to calculate their wages based on minimum wage and the amount of time it takes to make each mask. Then they went out and fundraised using social media and other connections. Within days, they raised enough money to pay for a month’s worth of work and the bulk of the money for this program has been provided by private donors. Two grants, one from STEM Alliance of Larchmont-Mamaroneck and one from Hearts and Homes for Refugees, have helped to fund the program.
Within a month, Amina and the other sewers have made over 3,000 masks. Their masks have gone to facilities such as NY Presbyterian, Mount Sinai West, Lenox Health, and St. Barnabas Hospital. The women are cranking out between 80–225 masks per week.
Today, with all three of her children in public school, Amina runs a successful seamstress business. While she is staying home, she is helping them with their online learning and is making up to 50 masks a day. She will soon start selling the protective masks to the general public and hopes to hire some of the refugee women who have been making them.
“These are women I hope to give jobs to. I will help them earn a living while helping healthcare workers. It’s meaningful work for all of us.” she said.
