Persian New Year is a great time of celebration.  Our Life Skills program for empowering young women used this opportunity to award students for achievements made in the program. Awards were given for good attendance in the classes, doing their homework, getting good grades, being disciplined and for behaving well.

The gifts consisted of towels, shoes, balls, reading books, and a nice sturdy folder with a flap for their study materials for classes. Those who received awards were extremely pleased.

Afterwards we ate lunch together. There was a lot of excitement in the air! People were chatting away, telling jokes, laughing and enjoying the special day together.

Operation Mercy in Iran empowers disadvantaged young women.  We currently provide courses in English, computers and a number of life and work skills for up to 800 women through our Women’s Empowerment project. Most of these young women are refugees from Afghanistan. These opportunities for education and skill development equip the women and provide a more positive and stable future.