Skills Training of 100 Persons with Disabilities

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your encouragement towards our goals!

After the setback we faced due to our training laptops being stolen, we were back on track to commence the training sessions from October. Two of our partner schools began the 10 week long training process, for children with hearing impairment. We were also proud to have enrolled 80% girls in our training batch this year. Both training sessions ended in December however certificates will be awarded in January due to the winter vacations.

Moving on, we also partnered with two new schools for children with intellectual impairment, where the focus of the training was to help students to exercise control and improve fine and gross motor movements. For this purpose, the textile design training remained focused on the drawing aspects of the training, and block printing training was also added. The selection for the training was made with the help of the school based on their mental ages and skills, to be selected for either of the training.

With the start of this year, we are looking forward to bring on board more schools to train children with hearing-speech impairment and children with intellectual impairment, in various skills for textile.

We are also inviting different industry professionals to provide feedback and motivate the students to build on their talents and pursue their dreams.

In our way forward, we are looking to expand the trainings offered to allow the schools and students to select from a larger group of skills, enhancing their talents and carving out a path for their future!

Words from our beneficiaries

“Our students do not get many avenues to learn new skills, however, this training provided them with a place to enhance their skills.” Teacher for students with intellectual impairment. 

Dear Supporters,

First of all, we thank you for your continued support and cooperation towards our mandate.

Adding on to our training from our past learning, we enhanced our textile design training module by adding more elements to the design process to instill the appropriate technical skills and a creative thought process. For this purpose, we consulted with different textile houses to make our module more robust. Moreover, our trainers attended a month long refresher training to update and enhance their skills.

The training sessions, however, were delayed due to an unfortunate event where our training laptops were stolen. Nevertheless, with the cooperation and encouragement of our supporters, we were able to restart the training at our partner schools in October. We are conducting the 10 week long textile design training, at two of our partner schools for hearing impaired children, in this academic year. More schools will be added in the following semester. We are also proud to have around 80% enrollment for girls with hearing impairment in the training presently.

For select trainees from the previous batch, we facilitated opportunities of internship and further training to polish their skills. This included an internship of 3 trainees with hearing impairment at the fashion brand Koel for block printing, as well as, an advanced training opportunity for 6 trainees with hearing impairment with Kapray for digital design and print. Both opportunities helped the trainees to realise their potential and carve their own path to pursue their dreams.

One of our trainees was also successfully got admission in a renowned art school in Karachi to pursue textile designing. We wish him the best of luck for his future! 

In our way forward, we are planning to introduce training for skills that enhance employability of persons with disabilities. 

Words from our beneficiaries

“The internship at Koel helped us understand what we wanted to do in the future. It was a lot of fun to actually apply we had learned.” – Nabeel, intern at Koel for block printing

“I enjoy learning about textile designing. I am going to work harder to improve my skills.” – Zaineb, candidate in the advanced training opportunity with Kapray