Category Archives: Sewing Partners

Kyrgyzstan, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

Sewing Machines Shipped to Kyrgyzstan, Our Newest Partner

September 15, 2008 Michael Sabrio

Summer 2008 InGear

Most of our projects, and indeed our very first projects, are in Latin America. Nicaragua is where we got our start, and Pedals for Progress founder, Dave Schweidenback, got the initial idea for the organization while stationed as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. So, it’s fitting that our newest project in Kyrgyzstan, one of the most remote countries on the planet, has a Latin American connection—Roberto Hernandez, an American of Hispanic descent, who grew up in Los Angeles, California. Roberto was inspired to serve his country and fulfill his sense of patriotism by joining the Peace Corps, and he was stationed in Kyrgyzstan. A former Eagle Scout, he has always had a strong desire to help others. His Eagle Scout project saw him organize and lead a project that turned a neglected urban lot into a beautiful community garden in Los Angeles. His involvement with Pedals for Progress came about when he discovered our web site and learned about our sewing machine program.

Normally, we combine sewing machines with bike shipments, fitting them in the remaining space in overseas containers just before closing them up. Shipping them separately has been a challenge, one we overcame in working with Roberto and our new partners at SOS Children’s Villages in the Kyrgyzstan town of Cholpon-Ata. By creating products to sell with the machines they receive, the staff at SOS Kinderhof will generate funds for more sewing machines, as well as have those resources to make more sellable goods. More importantly, they’ll be able to set up a worker-owned co-op and gain ownership of their own business.

Their first shipment of 25 sewing machines arrived in Kyrgyzstan at the end of July, 2008. Hopefully this will be the start of many to follow. In the meantime, these machines will be put to immediate use at SOS Kinderhof. Now, this program will serve as a model for new sewing machine programs in other countries.

Where in the World is Kyrgyzstan?

Quick Facts

Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, bordering Kazakhstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In 1991, Kyrgyzstan became an independent country.
Average annual income is $2,900 (USD).
It is known as the “Switzerland of Central Asia”.
Bishkek is the capital and largest city, with about 900,000 inhabitants.

El Salvador, Sewing Partners

P4P Partners with Airline Ambassadors to Deliver Sewing Machines to El Salvador

September 3, 2007 Michael Sabrio

Fall 2007 InGear

In late spring, P4P was contacted by Airline Ambassadors. They were looking for sewing machines to send to their charity program in El Salvador. Airline Ambassadors International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization affiliated with the United Nations and recognized by the U.S. Congress. It began as a network of airline employees using their pass privileges to help others and expanded into a network of students, medical professionals, families and retirees who volunteer as “Ambassadors of Goodwill” in their home communities and abroad. Members share their skills and talents to care for others and bring compassion into action.

By mid-July, P4P delivered a pick-up truck full of sewing machines to the American Airlines Cargo Terminal at Newark Airport. They were delivered later that week to a Kiwanis Village in San Salvador, El Salvador, where 25 women will train as seamstresses, and upon completion of the course keep their machines.

This fall, we will deliver another 30 machines to El Salvador with Airline Ambassadors. This is an efficient and effective way for our sewing machines to get to the people that really need them. We were fortunate to find such a great synergy with a partner. To learn more about the Airline Ambassadors, visit them at airlineamb.org.

Sewing Partners

Abuelas in Action, Honduras

June 1, 2007 Michael Sabrio

Summer 2007

Abuelas in Action is a new non-profit looking to solve the problem of unemployment among women in Honduras. Our mission is to empower the low-income women in Honduras to break the cycle of unemployment by providing them access to skilled job training and materials in order to own and operate their own small businesses. Pilot Project: The School Uniform Project

Working off of the Pedals for Progress model, Abuelas in Action will provide interested women’s groups in Honduras with all the materials and training necessary in order to start a small business making school uniforms and selling them in the local market. The women will be required to attend 2 training workshops and will be financially responsible for all subsequent shipments of materials from Abuelas in Action. This ensures that the women will take vested interest in their business.

Why School Uniforms?

In order to attend seconday school in Honduras, the students are required to wear a uniform. Many students are unable to afford a new uniform and therefore cannot further their education. Women provided with low-cost fabric will be able to sell a better product at a lower price in the local market, thus enabling more children to attend secondary school.

The pilot School Uniform Project began in July 2007 with the Mujeres de Delicias, a group of women from the village of Delicias, Opatoro, Honduras. Delicias is a remote village in the municipality of Opatoro that is home to 30 families and around 100 children. There are 23 women in the Mujeres de Delicias women’s group and they have been working hard since 2007 to supply uniforms and clothing to the surrounding villages. This summer the Mujeres de Delicias, with the money they raised selling their products, were able to construct their own workshop building as well as a small store.

Guatemala, Sewing Partners

A Year-long Sewing Course Leads to a Career

October 2, 2006 Michael Sabrio

Fall 2006 InGear

Lourdes Santiso Salizar took a sewing course at FIDESMA seven years ago. She took the year-long course due to lack of other employment opportunities. After she finished the course at FIDESMA, her parents helped her buy an industrial sewing machine and gave her a workshop space in their home. Today Lourdes runs a successful clothing business in San Andrés de Itzapa, where she custom tailors anything from shirts to wedding gowns. Lourdes now has so much work that she doesn’t even need to advertise her services.

Guatemala, Sewing Partners

FIDESMA Provides Microloans to the Mayan Women

October 2, 2006 admin

Fall 2006 InGear

Meet the Mujeres Maya (Mayan Women) Kaqiqoel of Santa Caterina de Barahona, Guatemala. Five years ago they formed a cooperative of 10 women with the idea to sell their traditional weavings in the tourist markets. To start their business, they received a microloan from the proceeds of bicycle sales by our partner FIDESMA. Today they have a stall in the major tourist town of Antigua where they sell their goods daily. What makes their weaving so special is that it is done using the traditional Guatemalan hand loom. This type of weaving has been passed down by Guatemalan women for hundreds of years. Elva Perez (far left) is the main vendor for the group. She goes to the market every day and speaks with tourists from all over the world. With careful detail she explains what all the symbols on the weavings mean. The microloan from FIDESMA allowed them to start this small business and provide for their families while holding onto their traditions.

bicycles, Sewing Partners

Rotary Homes of Hope Making a Difference in Ecuador

September 22, 2005 Michael Sabrio

Fall 2005 InGear

Among its latest efforts to assist some of those among the poorest in Ecuador, the Rotary Homes of Hope Project will ship a container of goods to the village of San Pablo, Ecuador. Included in the shipment will be 50 bicycles and 10 sewing machines supplied by Pedals for Progress. The District 7510 of Rotary International Homes of Hope Project began by building homes and expanded into building a village with a community infrastructure.

In the future, the Rotary hopes to provide the community with a regular safe supply of water, a breakfast program for the children, and education and training to help create employment opportunities.

Nicaragua, Sewing Partners

Teaching Sewing in Nicaragua

June 1, 2005 Michael Sabrio

Spring 2005 InGear

Pedals for Progress is a non-profit corporation devoted to global economic development. It has strived to improve economic prosperity in developing communities through a simple, yet challenging, bicycle collection, shipping, and distribution process. Our organization, however, is much more than biking enthusiasts trying to help others. Over the years we have supplemented our bicycle shipments with other products to help achieve the same economic development goals. And the single most significant item has been the portable sewing machine. Including sewing machines in our bicycle shipments has been a tremendous success and one true success story has involved Profesora Rosa Palacio Hernando.

Rosa, a 5th and 6th grade elementary school teacher at the General José Maria Montaya School, in Rivas, Nicaragua, has been sewing all of her life. Rosa is taller than the average Nicaraguan woman, and, while growing up, “store-bought” clothing never quite fit her tall frame. At an early age Rosa’s mother taught her how she could alter “store-made” clothing to fit her better and Rosa soon discovered that she had a natural talent for sewing. Initially she took great pleasure in altering store-bought clothing and soon she began sewing her own clothing.

Rosa’s sewing activity was always a personal activity, her personal hobby, but that all changed one day when one of her student’s parents came to her elementary school and offered working sewing machines to the school if sewing classes would be included in the school’s curricula. When Rosa heard this news, she rushed to the administration office where she offered to teach the classes during the day and volunteered to teach community education sewing classes in the evenings.

Rosa now teaches the basics of sewing to 11–12 year-old boys and girls during the day and to adults, as necessary, several evenings each week. The adults who come to the school typically know how to operate the machines, so they use the machines for their own family needs and to produce different items to sell in the marketplace.

For Rosa, this work has become a dream come true. She is able to combine her passion for teaching with her lifelong love of sewing. She originally ventured into teaching because she wanted an opportunity to help make a positive change in her community. She remains dedicated to being a 5th and 6th grade teacher because educating children is the future of her community. But now she gains “extra” satisfaction by teaching sewing to both children and adults, and volunteering her time to keep the donated Pedals for Progress sewing machines fully functioning. Her efforts are very clearly and positively impacting the lives of many people in Rivas, Nicaragua.

bicycles, Guatemala, Sewing Partners

Guatemala Success Stories

May 6, 2005 Michael Sabrio

Brenda Griselda Carranza

30-year-old Brenda Griselda Carranza Pérez lives in a small village in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Working as a seamstress sewing by hand, she was barely making enough to live. FIDESMA, our partner in Guatemala, imported 41 sewing machines from Pedals for Progress in the last three years. Brenda considers herself extremely lucky that she was one of the persons who received one of the sewing machines. She paid about $43 US for the machine and has in 7 months paid for the machine many times over. In fact, working five hours a day on the machine she now makes enough money to support herself and is putting money aside with the hopes of purchasing a second machine. This is just one machine of hundreds shipped by P4P that has allowed a person to help themselves.

Carmen Castillo

Carmen Castillo is a 37-year-old single mother of three young girls for whom she is the sole provider. She and her daughters live in Nandaime, Nicaragua, where Carmen’s job as a maid brings 1000 cordobas of income into their household each month. Recently, in order to pay for an urgent increase in living expenses, Carmen sold the bicycle she had been using for 2 years and acquired (from one of her employers) a replacement bicycle – a high-value mountain bike at the bargain price of 650 cordobas.

She rides this bicycle every day – minimally 4 miles round trip from her house in the “campo” (city-outskirts) to the center of town. Since the mountain bike is so strong, Carmen can carry a second person to see a nurse/doctor or to the marketplace; or she can transport firewood from the hillsides for cooking. While the physical effort Carmen exerts (the surtax of owning two wheels!) is significant, cycling gets her to work reliably, assures her the security of regular income, saves 6 cordobas daily bus fare, allows her to take things into the market to sell and makes her feel healthier. When her bike breaks down, occasionally, Carmen goes to a local mechanic – but not for a flat tire. She felt it necessary to learn how to patch inner tubes herself; thus, she can save additional bus fare!

Paola Roxana Juárez

Getting her first professional job as an elementary school teacher was a great step forward for 22-year-old Paola Roxana Juárez Garcia. Her great joy became concern when she realized that the school to which she was assigned was 5 km away from her home and public transportation did not exist. She went to FIDESMA because she knew there were bicycles available and was able to purchase a sturdy mountain bike for $15. Monday through Friday she uses her bike to commute back and forth to work and on weekends uses the bike for shopping and meeting with friends.

Sandra del Carmen Hernández

Sandra del Carmen Hernández has owned her bicycle since she was 10 years old. Her father bought it for her originally to go back and forth to school; however, during the last six years there is no member of her family who has not had the occasion to use it. In fact it is often the commuting vehicle of the whole family – dropping off and picking up people much as Americans do in a minivan. This minivan, though, is a mountain bike that someone pedals. CESTA, which obtained this bike from P4P, has imported over 13,000 of our bikes since 1995.

Rosendo Cuadrais

Rosendo Cuadrais is a 65-year-old security guard at the Villa Hermosa in Diramba, Nicaragua. For seven years he has used a mountain bike (purchased for 750 cordobas) to go from his house to his work – bicycling at least 7 miles daily. Fortunately, with the climate in Rivas, he can use the bike every day all year round.

While commuting efficiently to his job is important (he could feed himself on the cost of daily bus fare), Carmen says the most important reason for having a mountain bike is to use it for getting out into the countryside (where the roads are dirt) to visit his daughters, lend it to them when possible and to go shopping in the market without wasting money on the bus. Thus, Rosendo’s bike is in use constantly. He likes the mountain bike’s versatility and sturdiness. He uses it not only to bring back firewood from the hillsides for cooking, but also to transport him rapidly all around the city and countryside with minimal expense. Because he doesn’t have many tools (and wouldn’t know how to use them if he did), whenever maintenance of the bike becomes an issue, he brings it to a mechanic in one of the many small shops in the area.

bicycles, El Salvador, Sewing Partners

CESTA: P4P Partner in El Salvador

March 2, 2005 Michael Sabrio

24,457 bikes (1995–2012) and 536 sewing machines (2000–2012) shipped

CESTA stands for the Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology. CESTA was founded in 1980 by a group of Professors from the University of El Salvador as a professional organization to promote forms of technology appropriate to the social and environmental conditions of El Salvador. Now the organization is a public foundation with the capacity to execute environmental projects.

The main objectives of CESTA are to:

Encourage Salvadorans to adopt lifestyles compatible with the sustainability of the country.
Protect humans, animals, and habitats from deterioration and destruction and to enhance their existence by recovering lost ecological balance.
Include different sectors of society in the fight for sustainability.

CESTA’s areas of interest include agriculture, forest biodiversity, climate change, and solid and toxic waste.

One of CESTA’s oldest programs is its bicycle workshop, EcoBici, which teaches bicycle repair and encourages bicycle use: for transportation, for its low cost, for its health benefits, and for its benign environmental impact.

Our Training Centers

Thanks to the support of organizations like Pedals for Progress and Bikes not Bombs, every couple of months we receive containers of bicycles that are used as educational instruments for our students who are learning how to repair bicycles. The training period is no longer then 6 months; within this time they must learn everything from aligning a tire rim to general bicycle repairs.

Click here for an English language description of CESTA from Común Tierra.

pedals for progress