Category Archives: Sewing Partners

Peru, Sewing Partners

New Partner in Peru: Alianza Arkana

By Laura Dev & Techa Beaumont
Spring 2018

We are requesting sewing machines for Shipbo artisans in the Peruvian Amazon. The machines are going to the Non Kene (Our Design) Project of the Pucallpa-based NGO, Alianza Arkana, a small not-for-profit that works with Indigenous Shipibo communities. They have experience facilitating workshops for women and youth, and have close relations with several women artisan groups in both the urban townships of Yarinacocha as well as rural Shipbo villages of Paoyhan, Santa Clara, Betania and San Francisco.

Indigenous Shipibo artisans aspire to improve skills and access a wider market for their products. Our vision is to link maintenance of cultural knowledge and improved livelihoods by developing professional capacity to establish a collective brand, including skills, business and leadership training, new equipment, seed funding, and networking to reach new markets for Shipibo artisans. The provision of sewing machines to these artisans will provide an essential resource to them in meeting these aspirations and improving their income potential.


Current Status: In June 2018 we will facilitate the first in a series of several workshops in response to requests by the women artisans in the Shipibo Native community of Paoyhan. Paoyhan is a small village in the Peruvian Amazon, 4–5 hours by boat from the nearest city, Pucallpa. The workshop aims to increase their skills at making clothes, sewing-machine use, and fashion design. Common to many Shipbo artisans whose livelihood is based on selling their wares to foreigners, these women wish to improve their artisanal products and expand their markets in order to meet basic material needs such as food, medicines and education for their children. Over 70% of Indigenous communities in the Amazon live in material poverty and around 30% in extreme material poverty. Traditional artisanal embroidery is an important part of Shipibo culture, and at least 80% of Shipibo households gain income from the sale of these products. However, the artisans here do not have easy access to markets to sell their wares, nor are they trained in using technologies like sewing machines that would enable them to make more complicated types of clothing that can sell for higher prices.

We have partnered with the women-run artesania committee in Paoyhan to plan this workshop, and are bringing in women from the Shipibo Meken artesania collective in Pucallpa, led by Jovita Maynas Bardales, to teach more advanced sewing techniques and fashion design. The goal is to provide training for the Paoyhan women artisans, as well as help build relationships between the rural and urban artisan groups.

Workshop Details: The proposed workshop series has a dual purpose to train participants in clothes-making, and (once acquired) how to use a foot-pedal sewing machine, and will also serve to build community and organizational capacity within and among women artisan groups. By the end of the first 3-day workshop, participants will have learned how to make sewing patterns, and will have made an article of clothing using their newly acquired skills. Ideally, this workshop will be followed by ongoing workshops to learn more advanced skills with sewing machines. We also hope to bring in other fashion-designers, and continue to develop capacities for entrepreneurship, marketing, and product development. These sewing machines will be essential to enable these women to continue to apply the skills learned in the workshop, and ongoing workshops and support will ensure that they have the skills needed to make good use of the machines toward their goals of creating better markets for their wares.

Distribution Strategy for Sewing Machines: Initially we will target participants in the Paoyhan workshop and provide pedal-powered sewing machines to the artesania committee in the village of Paoyhan for their own uses. If we find that current solar energy in the village is sufficient to power electric sewing machines, we will provide these as well. We expect to deliver 15–30 sewing machines to this village depending on availability of electricity.

Following this initial provision of sewing machines, we will plan for further provision of sewing machines to other communities in collaboration with workshops and other events that engage artisans in showcasing and further developing their skills in sewing and fashion design.

Sewing machines will be distributed to Shipibo artisans who:

  1. live in urban townships of Pucallpa or more remote Shipibo villages and have either completed a workshop conducted by the project partners on sewing and fashion design or otherwise have demonstrated existing skills and knowledge of sewing machine techniques
  2. are not in a financial position to buy their own sewing machine
  3. will, based on successful participation in a workshop or existing demonstrated skills, be able to utilise the sewing machine to increase their livelihood.

Pricing:
The sewing machines will be provided free of charge to participating artisans. Where artisans or artisan collectives are not in extreme material poverty, they will be asked to make a token contribution of an artisanal product as an indication of their ‘buy-in’ and valuing of the tool provided. Money generated from the sale of the donated artisanal products will be used to fund future workshops.

On June 20, 2018, Robert, Gary, and Dave packed 65 sewing machines, including 22 manual machines, for shipment to Alianza Arkana.

Peace Corps, Sewing Partners, St. Vincent

St. Vincent, January 2018: From Lemons You Make Lemonade

By David Schweidenback
Photos: Jim Lincoln


In 2010 P4P made a shipment of 20 sewing machines to the Barrouallie Secondary School in St. Vincent. On a January 2018 trip on the Island Windjammers sailing ship Diamant, I realized we would be spending one night in St. Vincent. Crew member Brown was from St. Vincent and was able to get in touch with the principal of the school and arrange for me to visit.

After we moored at Young Island, shipmate Jim Lincoln and I took a taxi to Barrouallie. It was only 12 miles as the crow flies but it was 17 miles to drive down into and up out of Kingston and up and over and around steep ridges of mountains with almost no flatland anywhere. The road was barely wide enough for two cars: there was a cliff on one side and a wall of rock on the other. No place you would ever want to ride a bicycle.

We arrived at the school and were greeted by the new principal, Mr. Kenneth Holder, and the math teacher Mr. Raffique Durham. They greeted Jim and me very warmly but after I introduced myself they started explaining the real needs they had for the school. They were especially in need of math books, rulers and other measuring instruments, and graph paper. Unfortunately, these are things that Pedals for Progress does not provide.


I asked if they remembered Peace Corps volunteer Liz Deppe, who worked with P4P to get the original shipment of sewing machines. But both the principal and the math teacher were relatively new to the school. The principal called in Mrs. Hildred Anderson, who is the head secretary of the school and has been there since forever. I have always been convinced that secretaries should rule the world, or maybe they already do!

Mrs. Anderson did indeed remember the Peace Corps volunteer and knew exactly where the sewing machines were: sitting in a storage closet. She brought me down to show me the machines, which were sitting there in amazingly good shape, most of them operational. She said she is the only person who ever uses them—sometimes she comes in on weekends to do her sewing.

On leaving, I suggested to principal Holder that, if he asked, he could probably get a new Peace Corps volunteer to teach sewing and fashion design. I’m afraid the meeting did not go well for him because he did not get the funding he was hoping for.

The sewing machines were shipped to help the people of this small, hard-working but poor community. I have since written to the principal with a suggestion that I think is a win for everyone. My suggestion is that the school sell the sewing machines to interested people in the community, and then use the income from those sales to buy the supplies the math department needs. The community would have more people earning a little more income because of the sewing machines. And the school would have the funding it desperately needs. This is Plan B. Plan A was to have the school teach young adults to sew, but the new principal is not now interested in this sort of vocational education. Plan B will work, though, and it’s a lot better to get the machines into the community and fund the school rather than let 20 good sewing machines sit in a storage closet forever.

Sewing Partners, Uganda

Report from Uganda, January 2018

[We just got this report from our partner in Uganda, the Mityana Open Troop Foundation.]

Dear our friends,

How are you?

In January 2018, Mityana Open Troop Foundation managed to open a show room/shop where we sell our products and services: sewing machines and bicycles, sewing products and school uniforms, bicycle repair and spare parts, embroidery services, art and print services, sign posts, sweaters, . . .

We hope that the profits will suport paying vocational teachers and other project activities.

Yours always,
Mathew Yawe

Sewing Partners, Uganda

Graduation Report of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, 18 November 2017

[More photos]

Greetings

  • Guest of Honor Owekitiibwa Abraham Luzzi
  • Director Basic Education Ministry Of Education & sports, Mr. Nsumba Lyazzi Robinson
  • Vocational Chancellor
  • RDC
  • Mayor
  • Madison Ardizz & Mr. Nino Ardizzi
  • All invited Guests, ladies & gentlemen


With great pleasure, I take this opportunity to welcome the guest of honor, distinguished guests, Madison and Dad Nino Ardison from Canada, at our Sixth Vocational graduation ceremony, today, the 18th of November 2017.

Background: Mityana Open Troop foundation  was registered as a Community based organization and was started by a group of scouts  who had been affected by socio-economic factors and the HIV/AIDS scourge.

Later in 2007, we found it important to start offering sustainable vocational training to vulnerable youth, school dropouts, and youths unemployed due to lack of job skills. The training included hair dressing and weaving, carpentry and joinery, motor vehicle mechanics, and tailoring & fashion.
The training lasts for two years. Graduates get certificates and start-up tools to enable them to start jobs and workshops right away in their own communities.

Organization leadership:

  • Chancellor: Mr. Joel Lugoloobi
  • Patron:  Ssempala Julius
  • Vice chairman Board of Directors: Conc. Robert Musisi
  • Board Members: Rev. Balamu Mukwaya
  • Mrs. Oliver Mukwaya
  • Chief adviser Mr. Ssekandi Kakembo
  • Chaplain:  Rev. Lukabwe
  • Principal: Mr. Yawe Mathew

Instructors:

  • M/s  Margaret Yiga (Hair dressing)
  • M/s Nanteza Nuulu (Hair dressing)
  • Edith Nakabaale (Tailoring)
  • Mr. Kawuma Flobius (Tailoring)
  • Ssalongo Ferdinand Nsubuga. (Maths, Luganda, & English)
  • Engineer Ssetenda (Motor mechanics)
  • Conc. Robert Musisi (Motor mechanics)
  • Mr. Muyanja (Carpentry)
  • Mr. Bukenya (Electrical)

Achievements

  • This is our sixth graduation ceremony.
  • The government of Uganda, through its Ministry of Education, supports our vocational project by giving funds for the instructors. The small fee we charge trainees caters for electricity, maintenance, and feeding, which is expensive.
  • We registered the vocational project under the Uganda Ministry of Education.
  • Kolping Mityana Womens project supports our project by sponsoring 10 orphans.
  • Three Charity organizations — Fields of Life, Africa Renewal Ministries, and Unbound — sponsor some vulnerable children at our project.
  • With support from profits got from the sold sewing machines from Pedals For  Progress / Sewing Peace Project USA, plus some funds donated from Dr. Knight Anthony of Tools With a  Mission UK, enable us  construct the Girls dormitory which is to accommodate 50 students.
  • We have been provided with educational seminars by hair beauty companies such as Movit and Darling.
  • Pedals for Progress donates sewing machines and bicycles to our project, which have up-lifted and supported many of our activities.
  • Carried out voluntary community work by cleaning and sweeping Mityana Central market, Taxi park, and surrounding streets.
  • Volunteered in making hair dressing & weaving , sewing clothes for police ladies and police men Of Mityana Police station, at free cost. However, we carry out good turn in communities, as scouts.

Appreciations

We thank very much the government of Uganda for supporting our vocational project by paying for the training of vulnerable unemployed youth.

Thanks go to the Principal Secretary BTVET, Mr. Patrick Byakatonda, for having considered and supported our project and benefits from the Government program.

We extend our sincere thanks to Pedals For Progress / Sewing Peace USA, which is headed by Mr. David Schewidenback, who provides us sewing machines, and even made ‘Me’ their Uganda Representatives / Coordinator.

We thank hair-dressing companies and charities sponsoring orphans at our project.

We extend many thanks to Mr. Chris Eldridge of the UK, who has done so much in financing sewing machine shipping and some of our project activities.

Finally thanks very much M/s Madison Ardizz and Dad Nino Ardizz, for visiting and being with us at our sixth graduation ceremony. Please thank you we love you so much.

Challenges

We have insufficient classrooms at the project; the majority of the trainees study under tree shelters and shades. It becomes worse if it rains because there is nowhere to go!

Trainees fail to pay the little we ask them to pay at the project, which affects project activities like feeding them!

We lack enough seats in our workshops.

It is still a challenge to pay for shipping sewing machines and bikes from the USA to Uganda.

The newly constructed hostel is not big enough to accommodate the number of trainees we have at the project.

We lack clean water and piped water at our project. Contaminated water has affected the cooking, washing, and even the lives of our trainees, as they get skin diseases and stomach diseases including typhoid every academic term!

God Bless You Always.

Mathew Yawe, Principal, Mityana Open Troop Foundation

Ethiopia, InGear - The Newsletter of P4P, Sewing Partners

Ethiopia Report, November 2017

By Samson Tsegaye
Fall 2017 InStitch

Ethiopia has a population of more than 100 million. More than 85% live in rural areas. Women have most of the household responsibilities. Women and girls in Ethiopia are strongly disadvantaged compared to boys and men in several respects, including literacy, health, livelihood, and basic human rights. They also suffer from low status in their society and lack social support networks.

Since 2005, we at Stiftung Solarenergie—Solar Energy Foundation are trying to solve some of these problems in Ethiopia by providing solar technologies.

When I met Mr. David and he explained what Sewing Peace (SP) is doing, I was very impressed and asked him to support our disadvantaged women in Ethiopia. He agreed and we started the procedure.

Sewing Peace promised to donate 72 sewing machines and we at the foundation promised to provide training and disbursement of the machines. We will select disadvantaged women to train and give them one sewing machine to generate income and improve their lives. Here is our complete proposal.


The process of importing the sewing machines to Ethiopia was very tiresome. Several times our customs and government offices requested new, authenticated documents from SP and required getting these documents from New Jersey to the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, D.C., to Ethiopia. For each machine, first they requested serial numbers, and then they requested date and place of manufacture. The process was complicated and expensive, but Mr. David made it happen — we received 72 sewing machines in Ethiopia on 24 July 2017. I would like to appreciate and thank Mr. David for his patience with the long, complicated import process.

We are now waiting for the training of the women and disbursement of sewing machines. But, due to the current political problems in the country, we couldn’t proceed according to our plans. Travelling out of town is difficult. We hope that this situation will be better soon and we will proceed with our programs.

We will soon finalize our project and will report in detail to Sewing Peace.

Best Regards,
Samson Tsegaye, Ethiopia Country Director
Stiftung Solarenergie—Solar Energy Foundation
17-Nov-2017
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia

 

Since we published this report, we’ve received updates:

bicycles, Sewing Partners

Total Shipped

Bikes shipped since 1991
(Countries with two or more shipments)
Country Shipped
 
Nicaragua 42,879

El Salvador 24,457

Ghana 15,458

Guatemala 9,409

Barbados 7,876

Honduras 7,376

Panama 6,520

Albania 5,982

Uganda 4,140

Moldova 3,684

Dominican Republic 3,560

Eritrea 2,761

South Africa 2,180

Colombia 1,699

Ecuador 1,555

Fiji 1,452

Vietnam 1,135

Costa Rica 1,027

Sierra Leone 938

Senegal 890

Namibia 824

Mozambique 800

Solomon Islands 623

Madagascar 72
 
                    
Sewing Machines shipped since 1999
Country Shipped
 
Ghana 758

El Salvador 609

Uganda 441

Tanzania 406

Nicaragua 349

Guatemala 338

Albania 230

Moldova 165

Costa Rica 137

Cameroon 87

Georgia 82

Ethiopia 72

Liberia 70

Fiji 68

Yemen 60

Kyrgyzstan 55

Honduras 46

Kenya 34

Dominican Republic 30

Sierra Leone 30

St. Vincent 20

Panama 14

Jamaica 6

Domestic USA 3
Sewing Partners, Tanzania

Report from Tanzania, Fall 2017

Fall 2017 InStitch

The Honorable Sophia Mwakagenda is a Member of the Parliament of Tanzania and the founder of the P4P/SP partner in Tanzania, the She Can Foundation. Starting in April 2016 she visited different constituencies in order to listen to the people and implement some of her She Can programs. A report from the Summer 2017 InStitch newsletter described the first part of that trip. We now have this new report on the next part of the trip: to the Chunya and Temeke regions of Tanzania.

Chunya Constituency Visit


MP Mwakagenda presented two sewing machines to the Chunya Tailoring group, which is mix of women and men in Chunya constituency. They are in a joyous mood. This group started in 2007. They have about 12 sewing machines and now with the two new machines they are starting a tailoring school for girls and boys. It has 10 Members who are John Joseph, Ande Mwimba, Martina Kibali, Ndongolela Matembo, Twalangete Mwendemseke, Rehema Ambindwile, Julia Mwabenga, Mulyambate Mtagete, Jane Jansi and Asia Syabakeke. The group is an economic empowerment group for both men and women.


Ms. Martina Kipesile is Chairperson of the Msichana Girls Group. Ms. Kipesile, along with Christina Kalenga and other members of the group, use the five Sewing Peace machines that were distributed in the Chunya Constituency to make products that they sell. The Group also trains young women in the use of the machines.

Temeke Constituency Visit


MP Mwakagenda gave a sewing machine to the women’s group of the Temeke Moravian Church in Temeke Constituency. Also in the photo are the Reverend Timothy Mwankenja and Ms. Stella Sematela, Chairperson of the Women’s Wing of the Church. The women’s group gives food and clothes to needy people around the church. The sewing machines will increase the church income for that purpose.

Conclusion

She Can Foundation staff will follow up during November and December 2017 on the different women’s groups which were given the sewing machines to see how they progress in terms of uplifting the living standards of women in the two locations. The technical staff will give the women support services to improve on their projects.

Cameroon, Sewing Partners

Cameroon 2017: New Partner, United Action for Children

By Orock Eyong
Fall 2017 InStitch


United Action for Children (UAC), based in Buea, in southwest Cameroon, is proud to be one of the newest partners of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace. UAC was founded in 1996 and registered as a non-profit community-based child- and youth-centered organization engaged in Grooming Small Minds for a Big Future and developing a caring society for children and young people through innovative programs.



The overall goal of UAC is to contribute to the improvement of living conditions of affected populations such as rural families, children, and women. In line with its mission, UAC is involved in the following projects to meet the ever increasing needs of the affected populations:

  • Basic Education to orphans and vulnerable children
  • Entrepreneurship Education to out-of-school youths and low-income women
  • School on Wheels programme to assist rural children and women
  • Primary Health Care to cater for basic health needs of the rural communities
  • Vocational Training to equip youths and low income women with employable skills and to make them job creators

The partnership with Pedals for Progress is very timely and important in helping UAC with its mission of strengthening rural children, women, and families. The job of equipping low income women, children, and young people with employable skills and making them job creators will be made easy as a result of strategic support from Sewing Peace through the donation of sewing machines. Indeed, 72 sewing machines are in transit now.

Sewing Partners, Uganda

Reports from Uganda, 2017

By Mathew Yawe
Fall 2017 InStitch

[Our new partner in Uganda is the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, started as a Boy Scout group but now admitting girls. Their director Mathew Yawe has sent us several reports on their activites in 2017. For more perspective on Uganda in 2017, see the post in this newsletter by Patricia Hamill.]

Report of 29 July 2017


On 24 July 2017 Mityana Open Troop Foundation received 73 sewing machines from Sewing Peace USA. There were manual and electric machines all in good condition and looking so attractive.

Currently we have been lacking sewing machines to be given to our vocational project graduates as start-up tools to enable them to start their own workshops.

Here are our plans for the machines:

  • 23 Machines will be installed in our vocational workshop.
  • 10 Machines will be sold to graduates of November 2017, each for 200,000 Uganda Shillings (UGX): US $55. This money will be used to cater for shipping costs, custom taxes, ECU charges, handling charges, and transport to Mityana. The profits will be used to pay for the next shipment, which we hope to request this year.
  • 40 machines will be sold to the artisans who need them at UGX 250,000 (US $69). Currently a sewing machine in Uganda costs US $83 or more.


Proposed Sewing Machine Workshop In Our Town

We have planed to set up a sewing shop and workshop in our Town of Mityana, where we shall be selling the sewing machines at a cheaper price, carrying out machine maintenance, knitting, making school uniforms, school badges, and embroidery work, as there is no any Embroidery machine in Mityana.

However, at our workshop, we shall be selling and repairing mountain bikes. And our trainees will be trained in how to repair sewing machines and bikes at our town workshop.

The generated funds, will help paying our vocational instructors / teachers.

Expenditures on the Shipped Sewing Machines

  • Shipping from Sri Lanka: UGX 2,880,000 ($800)
  • Uganda customs charges: UGX 1,520,700 ($422)
  • ECU charges: UGX 2,261,000 ($604)
  • Handling fees by Bolore Co: UGX 470,000 ($130)
  • Transport from Kampala to Mityana: UGX 140,000 ($39)
  • Total expenditure: UGX 7,271,700 ($1995)

I once again extend sincere thanks to Mr. David Schweidenback of the Pedals for Progress / Sewing Peace project. All volunteers worked so tirelessly in collecting and refurbishing and packing our donated sewing machines. They look so good and attractive. Thank you so much.

I finally thank Mr. Chris Eldridge, our project partner in the UK, who paid all the shipping costs and gave us much support in getting the machines to Mityana, Uganda.

Report of 27 October 2017


Dear fellow scouters,

Today, 27 October 2017, I have conducted an Investiture Ceremony where 12 cubs, 15 junior scouts, and 8 rover scouts (totaling to 35 scouts) were investitured into the World Wide Scout Movement.

The function took place at the Trio Primary school. The scouts demonstrated marching, performed a flag ceremony, recited the scout promise and scout law, sang, etc.

Long live scouting.

Report of 4 November 2017


Hi fellow scouters & friends,

Today on Saturday, 4 November 2017, Mityana Open Troop foundation vocational trainees and scouts have volunteered at the Mityana District Police Station: hair dressing, weaving, hair washing, hair styling, hair braiding, and sewing. All the services were free of charge, done towards our vocational project trainee commissioning, due to take place on 18 November 2017.

For that event, we would like to cater for food for 600 guests and for the purchase of start-up tools for the graduating trainees, to enable them to start their own jobs right away.

Report of 18 November 2017 Graduation Ceremony


[We got another report from Uganda on the Mityana Open Troop graduation ceremony of November 18th. That report arrived too late for the original publication of the newsletter, but here are some excerpts. Click here for the complete report.]

Achievements

  • This is our sixth graduation ceremony.

  • The government of Uganda, through its Ministry of Education, supports our vocational project by giving funds for the instructors. The small fee we charge trainees caters for electricity, maintenance, and feeding, which is expensive.
  • We registered the vocational project under the Uganda Ministry of Education.
  • Kolping Mityana Womens project supports our project by sponsoring 10 orphans.
  • Three Charity organizations — Fields of Life, Africa Renewal Ministries, and Unbound — sponsor some vulnerable children at our project.
  • With support from profits got from the sold sewing machines from Pedals For  Progress / Sewing Peace Project USA, plus some funds donated from Dr. Knight Anthony of Tools With a  Mission UK, enable us  construct the Girls dormitory which is to accommodate 50 students.
  • We have been provided with educational seminars by hair beauty companies such as Movit and Darling.

  • Pedals for Progress donates sewing machines and bicycles to our project, which have up-lifted and supported many of our activities.
  • Carried out voluntary community work by cleaning and sweeping Mityana Central market, Taxi park, and surrounding streets.
  • Volunteered in making hair dressing & weaving , sewing clothes for police ladies and police men Of Mityana Police station, at free cost. However, we carry out good turn in communities, as scouts.