By Simon Yawo Galé AKOUETE
Fall 2022 Newsletter
[Editor’s note: Togo has been a Sewing Peace partner since 2019 and a Pedals for Progress partner since 2020. Here is an introduction to our partner in Togo, Association Défi et Révolution de la Vie Rurale (DRVR-TOGO, Challenge and Revolution in Rural Life). ]
In June 2019 we received our first shipment from Sewing Peace: 72 sewing machines. After that we got another 5 containers with both bicycles and sewing machines, the last of which we received on June 22, 2022 — a total of 2366 bikes and 395 sewing machines.
Our four-year partnership has enabled us to offer much needed support to our communities, as we’ve reported in earlier posts:
- Togo #2 arrived in June 2019.
- Sandra Anani tells her story about the 1912 Singer treadle sewing machine she got in 2020 from a tailor from New York State.
- Togo #3 arrived in July 2021.
- Togo #4, 463 bikes and 53 sewing machines, was shipped in May 2021.
- Togo #5 arrived in December 2021.
- This report from spring 2022 has stories from 7 recipients of SP/P4P sewing machines and bikes.
Despite our successes, much remains to be done. This fight is far from over.
In addition to our work with P4P/SP, DRVR-TOGO has followed in the footsteps of the Togolese state in the process of modernization of our artisan community. We supervise, train, and promote our craftsmen to help them increase their production both for local consumption and for outside sales.
The first edition of the Togolese Crafts Day, in 2021, engaged artisans from all regions of the country. After the resounding success of the first Crafts Day, a very attractive program was planned for the second edition. It took place from June 23 to July 06, 2022. The event was celebrated in a special way in the prefecture of Vo with action-packed programs organized and financed by the artisans themselves.
The attendees included the artisans, members of the office and president of the finance commission of the chamber of trade of the prefecture of Vo, and the coordinator of DRVR-TOGO.
The festivities also included the graduation ceremony from the DRVR-TOGO sewing apprenticeship program and the awarding of sewing machines and other working materials to the graduates, who can now take their destiny into their own hands, open their own workshops and practice their trades in peace, and take care of their needs and those of their families.
The entire population of Vo and especially the families of the trainees who received sewing machines offer their sincere thanks to P4P/SP.
Click here for some recent success stories from our graduates.