Masuma Tursunova, Public Association “Caravan of Hope”: “We give women an opportunity to look into the future with hope.”

“The name of the public organization (“Caravan of Hope”) says a lot about the essence of our work. We support women facing violence, show them a way out of the situation in which they find themselves, and provide them with an  opportunity to look into the future with hope. Our main goal is to create a safe and secure environment where they could recover and receive psychological counselling, as well as legal and medical assistance. Women at risk are women who are in hopeless circumstances, without any means of subsistence for them and their children, without a complete secondary education. It is exacty when women are the most vulnerable to become a victim of traffic in human beings and they may be forced into prostitution.

It is such  women whom we teach the professional skills. At this stage, we offer them vocational training courses giving    an opportunity to get a job in order to gain  financial independence.

Annually we organize fourdress-making courses. In frames of  the project we create together traditional women's clothes, we sew purses, pillows, quilted covers for teapots, gloves, aprons, napkins, tablecloths.

Since 2011 we have been arranging  courses on art therapy, home décor as well as   jewelry design from beautiful Tajik semiprecious stones.

In March 2012 we  started cooking classes which provide women with the opportunity to learn the art of cookery and, as a result, to open  their own business or to find a job in the food industry.

Over the past 4 years we have trained more than 400 women, 130 of whom received official diplomas from the Ministry of Labour.”