Sewing protective masks has given one refugee in transit a new purpose in life
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, has found a new purpose, thanks to her new passion for sewing. © UNHCR/Stefan Lorint
Afaf Zarrug arrived in Romania in 2020 with no other aim than to find safety. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 46-year-old Sudanese refugee has found a new sense of purpose by discovering a passion for sewing.
Afaf is staying in the Emergency Transit Center (ETC) in Timișoara, awaiting resettlement to Norway. But time is not hanging heavy on her hands, as sewing masks to protect against COVID-19 keeps her focused and busy.
On a wide table by the window, everything is ready: the material, the scissors and the iron. Afaf chooses a vivid green fabric and the sewing machine starts up its hum.
„I practiced a lot before daring to show my first mask. Now I make them in all colours and sizes, for everyone who needs them,” she says.
A few months ago, who could have foreseen the way Afaf’s goodwill and hard work would change the lives of dozens of refugees, including her own? She is an example of how someone who has been oppressed can become a confident community leader. Everyone in the ETC calls her „Mamma”.
Growing up in Sudan, Afaf was one of 7 children and only managed to finish highschool. Constantly menaced by armed militias and without a profession, she went to Libya in the hope of finding a job and a new life.
„Soon after I arrived in Libya, I got married and had my own family,” she says. „I used to take care of old people and clean houses. I knew a little English from school, enough to teach young children.”
But life in Libya did not turn out as she had hoped. ”I felt constantly under threat, so I decided to leave again, to settle and be safe.”
By this time Afaf was a single mother. As a vulnerable refugee, she was accepted into the UNHCR program for evacuation and resettlement.
She set out for Romania at the beginning of 2020, with her two children, Mohamed, 16, and Sajeda, 15. „We spent 28 days crossing the Sahara in a safari bus, with barely enough food and water and not enough sleep,” she says.
The family then flew from Tripoli. „When we landed in Timișoara, I was extremely scared and cautious but I soon learnt that things would change for me if I was open and confiding,” she says.
Afaf and her children received a warm welcome at the ETC, where throughout the COVID-19 pandemic UNHCR and its partner AIDROM (the Ecumenical Association of Churches from Romania) have done all they can to keep the refugees in good health and spirits.
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, has found a new purpose, thanks to her new passion for sewing. © UNHCR/Stefan Lorint
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, has found a new purpose, thanks to her new passion for sewing. © UNHCR/Stefan Lorint
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, has found a new purpose, thanks to her new passion for sewing. © UNHCR/Stefan Lorint
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, together with staff from the Emergency Transit Center, in Timisoara. © UNHCR / Stefan Lorint
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, together with Nisreen Rubaian, UNHCR Romania Representative in the Emergency Transit Center in Timișoara. © UNHCR / Stefan Lorint
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, together with Nisreen Rubaian, UNHCR Romania Representative in the Emergency Transit Center in Timișoara. © UNHCR / Stefan Lorint
Afaf Zarrug, 46, from Sudan, together with Nisreen Rubaian, UNHCR Romania Representative and staff from the Emergency Transit Center, in Timisoara. © UNHCR / Stefan Lorint
„We offer the chance to learn new skills, which opens the path to self-reliance once in the resettlement country”, says the ETC’s UNHCR Coordinator, Camelia Nițu-Frățilă. „During the pandemic, sewing medical masks was a good idea. We bought sewing machines and facilitated a mask-sewing workshop. Refugees learn something new and contribute to keeping everyone safe.”
„We support refugees so that they always have something to do and can be creative, despite the stress and the long wait to be resettled to the final destination, a wait that has been extended even more due to the pandemic. Refugees like Afaf need this, it helps them a lot,” says Nisreen Rubaian, UNHCR Representative in Romania.
When Afaf was given the chance to learn how to sew, she jumped at it. She had already been helping out by using her fledgling English to assist in the teaching of the smaller children at the ETC.
„Afaf is one of the most actively involved refugees in the ETC, hard working and compassionate. She is one of our refugee community leaders,” says Camelia.
Afaf’s darkest fear was that when she finally reached Norway, she would not be able to find a job to support herself and the children. But now she is much more confident.
„This new skill I gained at the ETC gives me the confidence that I will find a job in my new home country,” she says. „I am lost for words to express how grateful I am for every opportunity I have been given.”
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