难民妇女品尝创业的滋味

Refugee Women Get a Taste of Starting a Business

When refugees arrive in a new country, they bring few possessions. But many bring something more valuable: their skills.

Recently, twenty refugee women and asylum¹ seekers met at a pop-up store in Phoenix², the largest city in the American state of Arizona. They came together to show their handmade products and exchange stories.

“I am from Iraq,” said Nada Alrubaye. “I was an art teacher and I had two boys. One, my young boy, was killed in Baghdad. I decided³ to go to Turkey with another son because I wanted to protect him. After that, I came to Arizona.”

Rodain Abo Zeed also spoke⁴ at the meeting. “I escaped from Syria,” she said, “when the war started because there was no safety and no opportunities for my kids to continue their education, and because my husband’s restaurant got burned down to ashes.”

Another refugee, Tahmina Besmal, told the gathering⁵ “We escaped from Afghanistan, me, my mom and two sisters because of safety and there was no opportunities for ladies to go to school, to do a job, to be independent.”

Details of the trips and the countries may be different, but their stories are similar.

More than 20 refugee women left sadness and often tragic⁶ pasts behind. They all were given a chance to sell homemade products at this donated space in Phoenix.

A group of social work students at Arizona State University created the Global Market pop-up store to help these women earn money.

The Global Market Project involved local non-profit groups at Arizona State, said Alyaa Al-Maadeed, one of the students.

The American Muslim Women’s Association (AMWA) was one of the groups supporting the project.

“Last year, we started a new beginning skill training program for refugee women, said Asna Masood, the group’s president. She added that the women are taught how to sew and then helped to sell their products in the community.

Among the products for sale were paintings, jewelry⁷, soap, and handicraft arts.

Nada Alrubaye says she likes the market because she can sell paintings, jewelry or other possessions that were in her home. “I am happy with this shop,” she said.

The store was only open in February, but organizers are already thinking about the future.

“The goal of the project is not only to bring these women short-term income. We want to really provide them with the experience to learn how to run their own businesses and learn how to be entrepreneurs,” said Megan McDermott, an Arizona State student.

Iraqi refugee Tara Albarazanchi sold her homemade soaps and body care products at the market.

“This pop-up gives me the experience of working in a shop, dealing⁸ with people (and) dealing with cash,” she said, adding that she is also learning about record-keeping.

The organizers hope visitors to the store also learned new things – hopefully about the lives of refugees in their community.

I'm Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

pop-up – adj. a short rental⁹ opportunity

opportunity – n. a possibility; a chance

sew – v. to make or repair something (such as a piece of clothing)

handicrafts – n. an object made by skillful use of your hands — usually plural¹⁰

shop – n. a business; a place with products for sale

income – n. money that is earning; earnings¹¹

entrepreneur – n. one who sets up and operates a business

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

6 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

7 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

10 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

11 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。