Zarlasht Walizadah
February 9th, 2010NAME: Zarlasht Walizadah
COUNTRY: Afghanistan
BUSINESS: Flower Making (crafts)
Zarlasht, 24 years old, owns a floral decor business. She and her family run the shop.
Before the Taliban, Zarlasht’s family owned a successful manufacturing company with more than 200 employees. Her family was financially stable, and her parents worked hard to provide the best for Zarlasht and her brothers and sisters.
Zarlasht would often enjoy picnics and restaurant outings with her family – she described life as marvelous.
“Abundant moments were passing—one by one—without us fully realizing their worth.”
After the war began, things started to change in Zarlasht’s life. She could no longer play outside without fear of being kidnapped. She could no longer accept dolls or pens or other gifts, because they could be wired as a bombing device.
“I will never forget the moment the war was started. We were playing in front of our home. When we heard the voice of bullets, we were so happy. We shouted and jumped, not know it was war and that it was dangerous.
My mom ran to me and yelled, ‘Come fast. Let’s go home. Don’t stay here!’
I said to my friends, ‘Let’s go to my house and watch the bullets from window together.’ And that’s what we did, not realizing that we were enjoying the start of our dark coming days. The bullets came with greater frequency, along with other sounds of danger and violence. We grew afraid, and our laughter and shouting stopped.”
Eventually as the danger grew, Zarlasht and her family had to leave Afghanistan.
“Along with our wonderful country, we left all of our happiness. We left our beautiful house that my parents had built out of hope and our factory that my grandfather—after years of hard work—had built into a successful business. But at that time, we could only think out how to find a safe place for our family. My idyllic childhood died in the face of war and migration to neighboring countries.”
Though Zarlasht’s innocent childhood may have died with the war, her and her family’s entrepreneurial spirit lived on.
Zarlasht started her flower-making business during the Taliban regime. She would make the artificial floral designs at home, and her brother would sell them to shopkeepers.
Zarlasht’s creations are used for home decoration, wedding parties, birthdays and events.
In order to make this her full-time business, Zarlasht would like to learn more about how to run a profitable business, how to hire the right people for the rights job, marketing, managing and accounting.
Zarlasht wants to be able to hire more women and give them the joy of making their own money. In the next five years, she hopes to bring her business to a storefront.
Through her PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS training, Zarlasht wants to learn more about management, human resources and how her business can help rebuild her country.
