Because Zeinab could read and write, she is now a proud
seamstress who earns a lot more money than she could have ever hoped
for. More than 10 years after she had participated in WFP school meals
programme, she continues to get the extended benefits of the vegetable
oil ration she used to take home in exchange for attending school.
Zeinab has known life only as a refugees. The Afghan young woman
was born twenty years ago in Iran’s Shahid Nasery settlement in Saveh
and has lived there ever since. Now, as she bends over her sewing
machine her life flashes across her mind.
She was less than ten when she found herself her family’s sole earner
after an accident left her father unable to work. Having lost her
mother at the early age of five she had already been taking care of her
two younger sisters. For Zeinab, getting basic education was only a
dream.
“My father allowed me to attend primary school only because of the
four litres of oil I took home every month,” she said. “Although I was
not able to continue my education after finishing primary school, but at
least I learned how to read and write.”
Four Litres Of Oil Going A Long Way...
Three years ago she participated in a sewing workshop an Iranian NGO
organized inside the settlement. She now earns a lot more money than she
could have ever hoped for.
“When the NGO said only those who can read and write will be able to
attend the workshop, I realized the value of those four litres of oil,”
she said. “I was able to participate in the workshop only because of all
the good work of WFP”.
Around 3,000 refugee schoolgirls and their female teachers in 19
settlements across Iran receive a take-home ration of sunflower oil as
an incentive to encourage girls’ education among the refugee community.
WFP school feeding programme plays a big part in a households’ decision
to send their girls to school.
WFP has been implementing an oil-for-girls-education programme since
1999 that has proven to have wide impact on the lives of refugees and
their future.
