Focolare Movement

Damascus: the experience of a fashion designer

Sep 29, 2013

The experience of Rahmé confirms that in the name of brotherhood, any barrier can be torn down, even at the cost of serious risks.

http://vimeo.com/75649279 «After my studies of fashion design I worked for several years in the clothing sector. Providence then gave me a chance to work in a humanitarian organization with a religious sister of the Focolare Movement. Together we brought ahead projects, teaching the women evacuees sewing, embroidery as well as fashion design. In this way we helped them to then find a job in order to support their families. In September 2012, 45 women enrolled for the course. They belonged to all the different faiths present in the country (Sunnites, Shiites, Christians, Alawites, Druze) and of various political tendencies. They had only one thing in common: they were evacuees and had lost everything. There were very strong and evident tensions between them, they even refused to stay in the same place. One day I found the answer in the Word of Life. It was like an advice: if I wanted to do the will of God “who makes the sun rise on the good and the bad” and He loves us without any discrimination, then my love should also make no distinction. My priority was to treat each one as a person worthy of respect. We saw that little by little these women started to greet one another, to speak to one another, to have a certain contact, a certain relationship that was growing. As weeks passed, these women started to accept their differences and to overcome their diversities, which were instead emphasized in their country outside that center. They shared worries and sufferings and a relationship of true love was established among them. To my surprise, on the feast of Ramadan, the Christian women prepared a little surprise party for the Muslims, full of strong and simple love. The Muslims did the same at Christmas. When the time-out prayer for peace in Syria was launched I decided to propose it to all and I was very surprised the next day when I heard nearly all their mobiles/cell phones ringing at 12 noon to remember the time-out! In June 2013, the day we handed out the diplomas, in the presence of members of International Associations and representatives of the Red Crescent, they were asked which were the most difficult moments during the year. One, on behalf of the whole group, answered that, that day was the most difficult day, because it was the last day in that Centre. She said: “It’s the only place where we are able to breathe and it has always helped us to go ahead, bringing peace in our families and in our hearts.”»

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