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| Class captain presenting a speech to Edgar & Inke |
In 2007, two women from the church were put into an English Tailoring school but it did not augur well with those unable to communicate in English. New dawn came in May 2009 when a Chichewa-Tumbuka class was set up with 9 women fully consumed with enthusiasm began to put their fingers to the spindle. The group has made
wonderful progress and they will graduate on15thMay, 2010 .
These nine women have been in class for a full year now and have covered various areas in tailoring ranging from general sewing, to cutting and design. They have done items such as shirts, skirts, dress making, ladies suits and designing garments of their own dream and choice.
The school has had lots of positive effects. The social cohesion of these women has increased beyond incredible dimensions, their spiritual formation equally getting enhanced and their faces beam with readiness and eagerness to go into economic adventures to bail out their families from clutches of poverty.
One of the positive effects of this program is the benevolent action of distributing some of the tailoring products to orphans and vulnerable children. In September 2009 the hope tailoring school distributed 49 pieces of shirts and dresses to the OVCs.
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| The HTS presenting creations sold to Hope Homes OVC |
To draw women into an empowerment program that will whet their latent potentials by giving them tools of economic production…..through tailoring
To enable women to engage into some business ventures where they can utilize their skills in generating money for their families, their community and their church.
To accord women an opportunity to learn and work in teams which can enhance their group dynamics
To grant women an opportunity to participate in combating poverty and the dependency syndrom
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| The women welcoming the machines from the Singer station where the machines were being maintained |
OUR MISSION
To create a platform for illiterate and semi-illiterate, unskilled, and economically challenged women for skills training in order to empower them so that they can directly participate in generating some income.
To become a catalyst to the socio-economic success of many Christian women who are confronted with a gloomy economic climate on account of lack of skills that would enable them to engage into economic activities.
To strengthen the social cohesion of women within our community in order to prepare them for aggressive participation in matters of development
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| The Hope Tailoring School instructor |
As the school is just new, it has already started producing fruits. These are some of the fruits produced
1. Dresses and shirts from the school have benefited the Hope Homes project in that the clothes are given to Orphans and vulnerable children. It has been the dawn of hope for these children who didn’t have proper clothing
2. The school has produced the first ever graduates who graduated on 15th of May 2010. The graduates have been grilled with good tailoring skills that the school hope will in one way or another benefit their families, community and the Church.
3. The school has also augmented the social cohesion amongst the church female folk, thereby making a positive impact on the church and the community.
4. It has also transformed idle illiterate women into skilled, empowered economic players.
5. It has dawn women from the community, from other religious bodies to blend with the United Methodist women and enhance their social intercourse and unity and strengthen their opportunity for socio-economic development.
6. It has created employment for the seamstress and business boom for the suppliers of raw materials such as fabric, thread and also suppliers of equipment like machines.
7. The tailoring school has drawn women to a special place of fellowship and worship as they gather together in spiritual devotion every morning with each student taking her turn to share the WORD of GOD.
8. We have started making some tailoring creations such as tote-bags, wallets and school uniforms which are being sold. Currently we have made about MWK16, 000.00 with some money in tote bags and wallets to be paid shortly.
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| Copeland admiring HTS dress creation |
As a new born baby the school lacks a lot of things and these things are:
1. STARTER PACK TOOLS
As students graduate from this school our dream is that they need to be given tools which can help them set up a small business and sustain their families. However this dream has suffered a financial setback as the school now is unable to buy these tools for the graduates. The tools include a sewing machine, a piece of fabric and some scissors as a starter. A help in this area may highly be appreciated.
2. It goes without saying that at a school we need the instructor who is paid. We therefore need money for the instructor’s salary. This will be a driving force for the school.
3. Since the school is depending for on donor aid, the school will face problems if donors pull out. We need an income generating project in order to sustain the running of the school. Looking at the Malawi Economic climate if we build a house and lent it out we can use the proceeds to sustain the Tailoring School program. This means that we need funds to have such an asset.
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| Edgar, Inke and family visiting Mzuzu HTS |
NO | EXPENDITURE | AMOUNT/YEAR (US$) |
1 | Giant machines(998) | 700.00 |
2 | Ordinary singers | 400.00 |
3 | Fabric for 10 students | 950.00 |
4 | Thread needles etc | 480.00 |
5 | Seam stress allowances | 1600.00 |
6 | Transport | 200.00 |
7 | Administration costs | 300.00 |
SIZE OF CLASS
We have nine students at the moment in the Hope Tailoring class.
SELECTION CRITERIA
1. Five students are selected from the United Methodist Church.
2. Two students from the community.
3. Three students from other denominations.
Go to https://www.facebook.com/IRCA.News for news of the recent visit by the International Rural Churches Association pre-conference group with Pastor Copeland. In particular check the album entitled Pre-Conference 2: Mzuzu
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