Shameema A Numdha rug design Each sale of a Numdha rug from a Trade Aid shop means additional work and income for someone like Shameema who would like to support her own family one day. With increased sales ZDPM will be able to hire more women, providing increased opportunities for their own and their families futures.

Shameema is a woman artisan from a community in Kashmir. Kashmir has had a troubled and violent past and life there as a result, is difficult. In addition, women in Kashmir are considered part of the "socio-economically downtrodden strata of society" so they are disempowered through their gender and usually un-educated, so as a woman in Kashmir, life is especially difficult. Shameema has no-one to support her because her father died 13 years earlier leaving his widow poor and dependent on her children. Shameema has one brother who works as a labourer and together they support themselves and their mother. Shameema is a numdha rug maker, and she spends 3 – 4 hours at a centre each day making numdhas with 23 other women. This is seen as a social time as well as an income generating activity. Neither Shameema nor her group members are married, none of them can read or write and all of them are in severe need of the employment that this occupation provides them. When this photo was taken Shameema had only been working for a year and had received 4 months training in the embroidery skill prior to working.  Through the making of these Numdhas, Shameema will be able to make enough money to support her family. She will get faster as her skill level increases and when she masters the craft, she will be able to ensure that her children have the opportunity to eat properly and to attend school. Shameema proudly told us that although she is illiterate, she is now an elected board member and because of this has learnt to sign her name. ZDPM (Zanana Dastkari Production Markaz) is the group that supports Shameema and approximately 300 other women. ZDPM through partners like Trade Aid, are able to make a real difference to the lives of their producers. Although nearly 75% of the producers are un-educated recent impact studies conducted by ZDPM show that 95% of the producers children are receiving education. This compares to only 50% education rates of children of women in the same industry who are not able to access a fair trade market. Trade Aid is one of ZDPM’s only export markets and the only ones to place orders between 2005 – 2008. This is understandable. These Kashmir communities are so isolated that visits from trading partners are difficult, communication is difficult and poverty and isolation mean they do not have the ability to update their products in line with international markets. As a result, Trade Aid has spent considerable time in product development for ZDPM so their products are saleable; effort to improve communication has increased so that it becomes possible to place orders and receive them on time and promotions have been run to boost sales so as to continually increase the orders placed each year.