RAW works with artisans from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. These artisans are all women and concentrate on embroidery work. They were forced to flee their home countries in approximately the last 10 years due to constant, unpredictably violent warfare there, both of a local nature and international scope. They have relatives back in their home countries in dire circumstances; the artisans worry about them with heartbreak. These fine embroiderers make large samplers that display various embroidery stitches and also small embroidered inserts for greeting cards that RAW sells. We base our portraits of these artisans on Rodgers and Umunna Path to Empowerment 2017, pp. 28-29 and numerous ethnographic interviews over the years of their residence in Worcester.
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