Category Archives: Sewing Partners

Ethiopia, Sewing Partners

Ethiopia 2017: New Partner, Solar Energy Foundation

Ethiopia #1 in New Jersey

A Solar Energy Foundation (SEF) group based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is one of our new 2017 Sewing Peace partners. Their new program is entitled “Marginalized Women’s Training on Sewing and Tailoring”. This Solar Energy Foundation project has the following goals:

  • To train marginalized women in sewing and tailoring to help them become economically self-sustaining.
  • To rehabilitate marginalized women by creating an enabling environment for self-employment using their sewing and tailoring skills.
  • To help and support women economically, socially, and morally.
  • To contribute to the development of marginalized women and support their dreams for a better future.



Ethiopia #1 in Ethiopia

With the generous help of the Clif Bar Family Foundation and the Jack & Pauline Freeman Foundation, we shipped the sewing machines in March, 2017. At that time we published this post on Ethiopia #1. We were then in a bewildering bureaucratic nightmare with the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority concerning what information they needed on each machine. The nightmare is over and we are happy to report that the machines have been delivered to our partner. (We’ve just gotten a report from Samson Tsegaye, the program director.)

The sewing and tailoring training will be held in Rema, one of the SEF training centers, located in the Mida Woremo district of North Shewa Zone, about 230km from Addis Ababa. The training is held in three three-month cycles starting in June 2017. Each session will include 20–25 trainees.

The trainees will be nominated from the North Shewa zone in partnership with the zonal education and women affairs office. Approximately seventy women will be the beneficiaries of this program. Those who successfully complete the training will be supplied with one sewing machine whereby they can begin their own business.

The training program covers the women’s travel cost as well as providing a daily allowance for basic needs such as food while they are in the training program.

We will report back when we have some results from the program.

Here is the full proposal for the program.

bicycles, Business, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

Progress Report for End of Fiscal Year 2017

On 30 September 2017 we closed the books for fiscal year 2017. (The P4P fiscal year runs from October 1st through September 30th.)

In 2017 we collected 12% more bikes and 55% more sewing machines than in 2016.

Fiscal 2018 starts with a bang: on 23 September 2017 the Vermont Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers collected 253 bikes and an astounding 168 sewing machines, all of which is en route to New Jersey. Because it is not yet in our warehouse it cannot be counted as 2017 production, so it will give us a great start to 2018.

Bicycles
Fiscal Year 2016
2016 Total Bikes Shipped 2,760
2016 Bikes Collected 3,130
9/30/2016 Bikes in Inventory 590
Fiscal Year 2017
2017 Total Bikes Shipped 3,644
2017 Bikes Collected 3,531
9/30/2017 Bikes in Inventory 477

Sewing Machines
Fiscal Year 2016
2016 Total Sewing Machines Shipped 285
2016 Sewing Machines Collected 327
9/30/2016 Sewing Machines in Inventory 67
Fiscal Year 2017
2017 Total Sewing Machines Shipped 533
2017 Sewing Machines Collected 511
9/30/2017 Sewing Machines in Inventory 45
bicycles, Sewing Partners

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection 2017 Recycling Awards Application

In August, 2017, Pedals for Progress applied for a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Recycling Award. Here is the NJDEP Packet announcing the application and specifying the requirements for applying.

As specified in the application packet, we submitted these three parts:

1. Application Form (1 page)

2. Program Narrative (4 pages)

3. Supporting Documentation (14 pages)

The awards will be announced in September. Wish us luck.

Albania, bicycles, Collectors, Sewing Partners, Tanzania

Big Weekend in June 2017

You knew the weekend of June 24, 2017, was going to be action packed when you saw the P4P trailers and parking lot. The Triton 40-foot container had been delivered for our 11th shipment to Albania. The Avis rental truck was ready for the final collection of the spring season. And Dave’s Mini and a couple of volunteer vehicles were parked out front.




Sewing Machines to Tanzania

We had collected enough sewing machines for a shipment of two pallets to Tanzania. Our tinkerers Simon Rosenstein and Dennis Smyth had worked tirelessly over the last few months getting the machines into good working order. Several dozen machines were boxed and ready to pack. We had just made the final arrangements with our partner in Tanzania, the She Can Foundation. The Summer 2017 InStitch newsletter has this post about a recent trip around Tanzania by She Can founder Sophia Mwakagenda, a Member of the Parliament of Tanzania.

On Friday, we prepared the two pallets. We stacked the boxed machines on a pallet, leaving room for a couple of sets of the heavy treadle stands. We nestled the treadle stands inside the walls of boxed sewing machines, put a cardboard roof over the treadles, and added another layer of boxed machines. We added some cardboard padding, roped it up, then shrink-wrapped the whole thing into a neat 4-foot cube. We shipped a total of 68 machines in the two pallets.

Bon voyage, sewing machines. See you in Tanzania!

Eleventh Container to Albania

Also on Friday, we pre-loaded 53 adult bikes, 25 kids’ bikes, and some sewing machines into the container bound for Albania. The pre-load lets us take care of any special packing before the big push on Saturday. This time we used the pre-load to pack very carefully a handful of spectacular bikes, including that famous carbon-fiber Specialized Roubaix. In the photos you can see that it has its own personal cardboard stall. These bikes will go to people who love cycling and are willing to pay a high price for a special bike. Our partner in Albania, PASS/Ecovolis, will be extremely happy to get some high-end bikes they can sell to help support their programs.

On Saturday, the real loading crew took over and did the hard work. They started at 7am to try to avoid the heat of the day, when the interior of the container attains advanced sauna status. Some sections of the container get three rows of bikes stacked on top of each other: two rows of adult bikes and one row of kids’ bikes. To pack the top row, you climb into a sweltering 3-foot niche with the broiling roof of the container blistering your flesh. Then you contort yourself into the most awkward position you can think of and take ridiculously heavy kids’ bikes from the person passing them up. Then you push them into position, using hands, feet, and any other body part that proves useful. The idea is always to get as many bikes as possible into the container—the shipping cost is fixed, so every bike adds to the bottom line.

When the container is almost full, we close one of the two container doors and jam in the last few dozen bikes, jig-saw like. Our partners are well aware of our packing methods, so they open the container doors gingerly, hoping not to be crushed by an avalance of bicycles.

The final count for the Albania container: 426 adult bikes, 100 kids’ bikes, 25 pairs of pedals, 9 saddles, 12 baskets, 25 helmets, 9 sets of training wheels, 2 bike racks, 4 wheels, 8 tires, and a few other miscellaneous bike parts and accessories, plus 15 sewing machines. That’s a full container!

Our Albania partner, PASS/Ecovolis, is one of our most active partners. They have a bike shop and a bike sharing program in Tirana, the capital of Albania. They also have projects in reforestation, childhood literacy and nutrition, and low-income housing.

As for sewing machines, Ened Mato, head of Ecovolis, tells us that they now have extra importance. Partly thanks to Ecovolis efforts in political persuasion, Tirana merchants now must charge a small fee for plastic shopping bags. Yet another PASS group, Trasta o Nona, manufactures fabric shopping bags, using Sewing Peace machines. The PASS shopping bags should sell much better with the new fee on plastic bags.


Flemington Collection

While the crew was loading the Albania container, Gary was running the final collection of the spring 2017 season. The Presbyterian Church of Flemington and the Flemington Rotary Club collected 42 bikes and 19 sewing machines.

Summer Break

So that was our big weekend: we shipped 68 sewing machines to Tanzania on Friday, finished loading 526 bikes and 15 sewing machines for Albania on Saturday, and also on Saturday collected 42 bikes and 19 sewing machines in Flemington. Well done all around.

The shipments to Tanzania and Albania emptied the trailers of most bikes and sewing machines, but there are a few left as a start on our next shipments, which we will make later in the year.

Our collections resume in September. Get in touch if you’d like to host one. Have a great summer.

Liberia, Sewing Partners

Liberia: New Partner, May 2017

Sewing Peace is proud to announce that we are adding an additional program. The Tailoring 4 Life Project of Education Care Africa, based in Monrovia, Liberia, is our new partner. The machines will be sailing out of Port Newark on the ACL Atlantic Star on the 6th of June, 2017. The shipment is scheduled to arrive in Monrovia via Antwerp on the 9th of August.

We used a new configuration in our packing. We had several treadle and hand-crank manual sewing machines that should be welcome in parts of the country with unreliable electricity, so we stacked the portable electric machines around the sides of the pallet and put the manuals inside. Liberia is getting four pre-1915 treadles, two lovely Singer hand-crank machines from around 1915, and 64 electrics.

The Tailoring 4 Life Project has three main goals:

  1. Hire experienced tailors to produce designer clothing for sale and to provide tailoring services to the community.
  2. For women who wish to learn tailoring, train them in a six-month program after which they can rent-to-buy a sewing machine.
  3. For women who do not wish to learn tailoring, train them in retail sales.

Welcome, Education Care Africa!

Sewing Partners, Tanzania

Report from Tanzania, Summer 2017

Summer 2017 InStitch

Introduction

The Honorable Sophia Mwakagenda is a Member of the Parliament of Tanzania. From 1 April 2016 to 20 March 2017 the Honorable Mwakagenda visited different constituencies of the Longido and Ngorongoro districts in the Arusha region, and the districts of Rungwe, Kyela, Mbarali, and Mbeya in the Mbeya region. This visit was a continuation of visits countrywide in order to listen to the people and implement some of her programs through her NGO She Can Foundation.

The visits in Mbeya and Arusha regions were coordinated by the Office of Members of Parliament located in Mbeya city.

Honorable Mwakagenda was accompanied by a team of 4 researchers and assistants: Edwin Mwaitebele, Emmanuel Ngwetta, Mpegwa Mwakang’ata, and Frank Kayumba.

The Purpose of the Visit

The purpose of the visit was to help women’s entrepreneur groups by giving them means of production, like sewing machines, to improve their productivity in their local settings.

Specific Objectives

  • To meet women’s social and economic groups in different areas to hand over support and equipment including sewing machines
  • To provide some knowledge and skills to these groups

Activities


The team met six women’s social and economic groups from seven constituencies of Arusha and Mbeya regions with the aim of sharing with them knowledge and skills on entrepreneurship for them to improve their work. The MPs handed over sewing machines during this visit. In Mbeya region and Arusha region, which is Masaai, the MPs handed over a total of 61 sewing machines.

The Honorable Mwakagenda gave four sewing machines to women’s entrepreneur groups in Mbeya urban constituencies.

In her visit of 17 and 18 March to the Longido district of Arusha region, MP Mwakagenda gave a sewing machine to a 21-year-old woman known as Grace from the Ngarenaibo village. The machine gives Grace employment and should improve her family’s economic situation.

Numbers of Sewing Machines Given

From 1 April 2016 to 23 March 2017, MP Mwakagenda gave 73 sewing machines as follows in Mbeya and Arusha regions.

REGION (District) NUMBER OF MACHINES
MBEYA (Kyela, Rungwe, Mbarali, and Mbeya) 36
ARUSHA (Longido and Ngorongoro) 37
TOTAL 73

Other Activities

Honorable Sophia Mwakagenda had an opportunity to visit Ngorongoro Crater, which is an international tourist attraction in Ngorongoro district and talked with the leadership concerning their challenges in their day to day work.

Honorable Mwakagenda also visited her fellow MP Honorable Cecilia Pareso in Karatu district to console her on her brother’s death, which happened few days ago.

Reflections on the Visits

MP Mwakagenda and her team got a good reception from the leadership and citizenry in general.

The level of awareness of the people, particularly women, in attending, listening and participating to the Member of Parliament meetings was very high.

These visits give people hope: the visits show love and togetherness in society regardless of location, tribe, background, status, and colour.

Kenya, Sewing Partners

Sewing in Kenya

Summer 2017 InStitch

Cherehani Africa provides sewing machines to women in rural Kenya to enable them to start and run their own independent tailoring businesses.  Lillian Onyango lives and works in Madiany market, Siaya County. Lillian has four children, three of whom go to school. Lillian learned dress-making skills at Ruma Training Institute in 2010 but has been unable to afford to purchase her own sewing machine to enable her to start her own tailoring business. For the last seven years Lilian has been leasing a sewing machine to enable her to generate income and provide for her children.

She pays a monthly leasing fee of $5, and this fee reduced her profits and chances of ever owning her own machine. When Cherehani Africa met Lilian and told her about our partnership with Sewing Peace that will enable her and many more women in rural Siaya to acquire sewing machines, she was overwhelmed with joy. For her, the sewing machine she has received from Sewing Peace is the first production tool she owns in her own name. Lilian made a down payment of $40 for the sewing machine and committed to completing the deficit of $20 in two months. Lilian no longer has to lease a sewing machine and is able to take home more money to support her family. Through the partnership of Cherehani Africa and Sewing Peace, Lillian no longer has to worry about leasing a tool she depends on for her survival. All her energy and savings are now directed at completing the payment for the sewing machine. “Thank you Sewing Peace for enabling me to own a sewing machine. I will work very hard to ensure that you can extend your support to many more women like me in Kenya,” says Lilian.

Hello David,

The total cost for the machine is $60, which most beneficiaries pay off in six monthly installments of $10. All the machines that we received were in merchantable condition and we have not had to repair any before issuing. We broadly put the machines into two categories: those that could be converted to manual ($60) and those that are strictly electrical ($80). The ones that could be converted to manual have been widely issued as most beneficiaries work in stations without electricity. The electric ones have moved slower because they are more suitable for urban centers.

Best Regards,

Robert Mboya

Kyrgyzstan, Sewing Partners

Kyrgyzstan Sewing Update

Summer 2017 InStitch

Of the 30 sewing machines received, 23 have been repaired. These machines have greatly improved the lives of our beneficiaries, helping give low-income families in our region a way to earn valuable income for their families. Because many of our beneficiaries are single parents, our beneficiaries use them to run businesses out of their homes, allowing them to care for their children while working. In order to make our work sustainable, we are always looking for ways to support our beneficiaries in finding long-term solutions to issues that they are experiencing. Your donation of sewing machines has helped us do just that. Thanks for your support!

Family Narratives

“When we first applied for assistance from the Family Strengthening Project (FSP) my family was in a very difficult situation. Our family had practically no income, and we had extreme difficulty feeding our children. Thanks to FSP and their partnership with Sewing Peace, I had the opportunity to take sewing courses and receive state certification and started a sewing business with three other families in January 2017. Our business has received two sewing machines, and we are already taking orders and sewing products for an upcoming wedding.
We are very thankful for the generous donation life-changing support from Sewing Peace.”


“I am the mother of five children, and did not have enough income to care for them well. I have been an FSP beneficiary for a year, and they have provided me with necessary material and psychological support. But I was still in need of a job to provide long-term, steady income for my family. Because of the donation from Sewing Peace, I was given a sewing machine to start a business from my home. Already, I have received and fulfilled many orders using this machine.

Aside from providing work for me, this sewing machine has allowed me to sew necessary items for my family. Because of this donation, I am better able to care for my family. Thank you for your donation and for how you supported my family through a very difficult time.”

Ghana, Sewing Partners

The Sewing Machine

Summer 2017 InStitch


Sewing may generally be described as an art whereby stitches and seams are used to join two or more fabrics together.  Depending on their creativity and imagination, seamstresses and tailors design and sew clothing so that people will look extremely beautiful in it when they wear it.

Since sewing machines seem expensive to young people from relatively needy families, they find it difficult to get one on their own when they want to engage or enroll into such a vocation or profession. Fortunately, this problem has been curbed in some areas in Ghana due to help from WEBike.

The machine is bought at a rather cheap price. This enables young people to learn the vocation and establish their own businesses easily, and then to train other people in that field and engage the employment of other younger generations who are interested in sewing and designing. This has helped to reduce marginally the unemployment rate.

A sewing job also keeps young and energetic people away from dangerous and sometimes criminal behavior. They prefer the vocation to such negative vices.

Economically, it has also helped them to take care of themselves and families as well, especially in the area of education from basic to tertiary.

We are so grateful to the WEBike organization for their help and support.