“When I think about those days, it was like hell! My mother’s dialysis was so expensive for us that we spent all our savings on it,” recalls Mansour.
During the pandemic, Mansour’s tailoring business suffered huge losses. To make matters worse, at the same time his mother was diagnosed with renal failure.
Mansour was forced to sell his tailoring equipment, the foundation of his business, to help fund his mother’s treatment. “After selling my tailoring workshop equipment, I could not earn even 60 thousand Iranian tomans (approx. $2) a day!” adds Mansour. To survive these economic hardships, Mansour went into crippling debt.
Mansour is 32-year-old and lives with his family in Isfahan, a province in central Iran. He is the only breadwinner of a six-member family – taking care of his 70-year-old father, two sisters, his wife, and a two-year-old daughter.
“We could not even meet our newborn daughter’s basic needs. There is nothing harder than this for a father; I had no hope, and I was disappointed,” says Mansour.
Mansour’s mother eventually passed away from her illness devastating a family that had already dealt with so much.
Mansour was introduced to Relief International three weeks after his mother’s death.
Relief International currently runs a project to help refugees, migrants, and communities in Iran to rebuild their livelihoods many of which were affected by COVID-19. Mansour participated in the program and was provided with new tailoring equipment and raw material that enabled him to restart his tailoring business.
Mansour’s business is now back operating again. Since he re-started the business Mansour has been overwhelmed with orders.
To meet the high demand for his products, he hired six additional workers to help him produce more.
“Through this workshop, I now have an income and can contribute to my family’s expenses, “says one of the new workers. “Having three children, my husband cannot afford the expenses alone – this job is very valuable to us.”
Mansour is thrilled to be back on his feet.
“With RI’s help, I got my workshop back and I am doing what I love again.”
“After re-establishing the workshop, I immediately started to pay off my debts from the profits I make,” says Mansour.
“I feel relieved, and I don’t want to think about those dark days anymore.”
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