This winter session we were joined by Karima along with three of her children. Originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, Karima lived in Turkey for seven years before being resettled in Rhode Island at the end of last year. Karima used to work as a tailor while her kids attended school and participated in soccer and art classes for extracurricular activities. Her two older children were enrolled at a university in Turkey studying computer coding.
Karima told us a bit about the uncertainty she had to live with in Turkey as a single mother. She also spoke of feeling isolated and overwhelmed when she first arrived in Rhode Island. She didn’t know English and wasn’t sure how she would meet people. She is now starting to adjust. She told us about how Beautiful Day’s kitchen training program provided her with “a family,” not only with people from her homeland but from different parts of the world. She says that Beautiful Day has given her the confidence to realize that she is capable of accomplishing many things for her family, including learning English, working at a new job, and providing for her children.
After the training program she hopes to continue working in a kitchen, ideally as a chef, and looks forward to when her older kids can start attending university again.
