Refugee Fabricators
ISSRAA JAWAD | FERESHTEH KASRAEI | KIFAH MOHAMMED
The San Antonio Center for Refugee Services
As an independent 501(c)(3) charitable agency, the Center for Refugee Services’ mission is to provide a center for refugees to receive social, educational, and counseling support in an environment that is culturally respectful, welcoming, and friendly. The Center for Refugee Services provides a guide in assisting the resettlement of refugees into the San Antonio and surrounding Texas communities. The Center offers language classes, legal support, financial assistance, and assists legal refugees in finding employment. The Center’s goal is to help legal refugees attain a better quality of life.
In accordance with the wishes of a few key seamstresses who worked on this project, some are not pictured above. Their immigration status or safety was a factor in this decision, and protecting their welfare is our top concern.
Fereshteh Kasraei was born in Iraq and has been a practicing seamstress for more than 33 years. After continued threats to her safety due to her family’s religious practices, she sought asylum in the United States. In 2013, Kasraei was granted refugee status and currently resides in San Antonio, Texas where she works as a seamstress. She sews clothing, home décor, and also tailors garments for Dos Carolinas — a bespoke custom guayabera retailer in San Antonio.
Kifah Mohammed is an Iraqi seamstress who resides in San Antonio, Texas. Due to death threats from Al-Qaeda, Mohammed and her family left their home and fled to Syria while seeking asylum in the United States. Mohammed and her sons were granted refugee status in 2009 by the United States. Her husband was denied entry and taken to Turkey, where he lived for many years until his death. In Texas, she formally trained with designer Nazneen Husain and currently works as a seamstress.
Issraa Jawad is an Iraqi seamstress living in San Antonio, Texas. She was forced to leave Iraq with her husband and seek asylum in the United States as a result of unsafe conditions created by terrorist groups. Jawad and her husband were granted refugee status in 2014.
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