Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

When the Taliban took control of Kabul, Kamela Sediqi and all the women of Kabul saw their lives transformed: Overnight they were banned from schools and offices and even leaving their front door on their own. The economy collapsed and young men left the city in search of work and security. Desperate to help her family and support her five brothers and sisters at home, Kamela began sewing clothes in her living room. Little did she know then that the tailoring venture she started to help her siblings would be the beginning of a dressmaking business that would create jobs and hope for 100 neighborhood women and mean the difference between survival and starvation for dozens of families like her own.