By Amy Brozek

And here it is again, the beginning of a new school semester. Dreaded with the thought of group projects, papers, and exams, I was not looking forward to going back to school. But as I entered my first class, of my first day of school I was intrigued to hear my professor tell us that for our visual merchandising and promotion course we will be actively helping promote an event. While listing our options of drives to help promote she caught my interest when telling us about the “Notions Drive for Tajikistan”. She explained that Tajikistan is growing its fashion industry, however, doesn’t have the financial support to afford crucial apparel designing materials like patterns, textiles, zippers, buttons etc. The drive organizer is calling for help in collecting never used or gently used dress patterns, notions and textiles to begin to build up the material stock of a planned Design and Dressmaking Center for professional designers in Tajikistan, Central Asia. I thought to myself, that’s an interesting drive, perhaps I’ll help out on that one. It wasn’t until I got home and researched more about this drive that I learned that this isn’t just a drive to provide opportunities for Tajikistan apparel designers, it’s a cause to save someone’s life.

In October 2010 last year in Dushanbe, Tajikistan a fashion event called ‘Design Dushanbe –Combating Domestic Violence One Dress at a Time’ was held showcasing designs from Tajik youth, giving the opportunity to explore their ‘passion for fashion’ while supporting a local cause. The money raised during the fashion show went to help out Tajikistan’s most at risk groups, women living with domestic violence. In Tajikistan violence against women is a widespread problem and there are no laws against domestic abuse. More than half of Tajik women suffer from some sort of violence by a family member, and in 2009, 43% of women reported cases of spousal abuse. Domestic abuse has been the cause for the increase in female suicide, often by attempting to burn themselves to death. At the Burn Unit of the Dushanbe City Hospital, doctors have recorded around 4 to 5 cases per month of women between 16 and 30 years old that have attempted suicide due to domestic violence.

So although I dreaded heading back to school, I’m renewed with energy in hoping to do my best efforts in helping out with this cause. Design Dushanbe –Combating Domestic Violence One Dress at a Time is a great example of how not only can we as a community help sustain the fashion supply chain, but we can also help save the lives of many, many Tajikistan women. If you’re interested in this cause, and would like to help out or learn more you can email deanie_purves@yahoo.com who is the head coordinator of this project. You can check out last year’s fashion show and learn more about the cause by clicking here.