1
“Education, integrity, and
hard work are the three
things that can change a
woman’s life.”
in the area, they decided to make contact. A
group of local women ambushed the manager’s vehicle on its way to another project and
demanded he support their vocational training program.
This was not part of CAI’s mandate at the
time; the organization focused primarily on
girls’ education. However, they convinced
the manager to consider the project, arguing
education was important for people of all
ages.
The driving force behind this endeavor
was Paritaoos, a dynamic local lady. With
Paritaoos at the helm, the local women had
organized themselves to form a community
organization (CO), complete with an annual
membership fee. It had approximately 120
members and they had been meeting in rented space since 2008. The rented space was
expensive and cramped; they needed somewhere better suited that could accommodate
all their members.
CAI could not refuse the proposition;
it funded the construction of a vocational
center building for $20,000 on land that the
CO had acquired already. With the monies
promised, CO members got their menfolk
to contribute five days of labor each to help
construct the building.
This was the beginning of CAI-Gilgit’s
work with a different kind of education,
FALL 2015
one aimed at providing vocational training to women, enabling them to be skilled
entrepreneurs.
Once the building was complete, the CO
was in need of trainers to teach the local
women various crafts: CAI underwrote the
cost of two expert trainers from Hunza. CAI
lent further support later by providing materials, machines, and some furniture from
its sustainability fund. With all of these elements in place, 60 CO members were trained
over a period of six mo