First Person: Stitching together a future following deadly siege

UN News/Daniel Dickinson

Asnia Dalan holds a bag she sewed following the training she received.

The Olango Sindaw Ko Kauyagan Producer cooperative in Piagapo, a village in the hills above Lake Lanao, was set up in the wake of what is known as the siege of Marawi, in which terrorists affiliated with Islamic State attacked and occupied the city of Marawi over a five-month period.

The group of 38 women includes 18 who fled their homes in Marawi to Piagapo.

They include Asnia Dalan who spoke to UN News’s Daniel Dickinson at the cooperative’s workshop.

“I had no other choice to leave my home in Marawi when the city was attacked. I was very fearful and escaped with four of my children with just the possessions we could carry. Fortunately, my three other children were not living at home at the time. We walked for five hours to reach Piagapo.

I've got mixed emotions about that time. No one was expecting the attack but when it happened, I lost everything that I had worked for in the blink of an eye. I used to sell sandals in the old market but that business was destroyed when the terrorists came. I feel very angry about this.

I came to Piagapo because I have family here and I started farming land and growing vegetables as well as peanut and corn.

The cooperative is made-up of displaced people like myself and also local people. We all get on very well and enjoy working together not just in the fields but also in our new sewing workshop. There is always laughter as we learn and work.

UN News/Daniel Dickinson

The cooperative received sewing machines and material.

I found it easy to adapt to my new life here and now we have a close-knit community.

We were trained on sewing machines and now make a range of products including bags, curtains and bedsheets. We started off making sheets but have become more skilled and so are now making different styles of bags.

Initially, 15 people were trained and they in turn passed on their knowledge to the other members of the cooperative.

Last month I sold 15 bedsheets for 500 pesos ($8.50) each. Most of the money goes to the cooperative to reinvest in material and the running of the workshop, but I earned 1500 pesos ($25.50) for myself.

Currently, my favourite piece is a green patterned bag that I made using traditional cloth. I like the colour as it symbolizes paradise and peace for Muslim people like me. It’s a good size and I think it would be useful for a mother to carry baby items such as diapers and creams.

We work in shifts taking it in turns to use the ten machines, but we are often interrupted as the electricity frequently cuts out. We are hoping to get a generator so we can work more consistently.

I prefer sewing to farming as I can stay inside and am protected from the sun. Farming is hard, so I would like to be able to make enough money to live on with sewing, but I’m not there yet.

UN News/Daniel Dickinson

Farming remains the main economic activity in the village of Piagapo.

My advice to anyone who wants to take up sewing as a business is to get trained and always try new designs. Then of course you need to keep on practicing to improve.

I have occasionally visited Marawi, but I don’t intend to go back there to live. My new life is here and I have more opportunities especially when it comes to sewing.”