Batsiranai Sewing Project

Empower 100 women in Zimbabwe with Sewing Skills!

100’s of young orphan women seek training at Batsiranai Sewing Group to gain employment and future stability. BSG needs your help to employ more women & build a new training & production facility.

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

This project trains young adult orphan women in Zimbabwe with sewing skills so they can earn themselves a living. They make school uniforms for many schools and are the 'local's choice' of dress maker! Now they are training & employing more women & building a production facility/showroom to cope with the demand. They give women a future stability that was previously unavailable! 50% of BSG’s income supports 15% operating costs of its associated orphanage, housing 60 aids / abandoned children.

Activities

BUILD a new sewing facility: Buy bricks, fixtures, equipment; employ builders TRAIN women - garment/product design, production & manufacture, accounting, business management, strategic planning, marketing & advertising, team building & management.

FUNDING INFORMATION

Total Funding Goal: $250,000

US donors click here: http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/empower-100-woman-in-zimbabwe-with-sewing-skills/
UK donors click here: http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/pr/2600/proj2594a.html
For more information on how to be involved by way of donations of goods or money click here info@afadu.com

If you would like to donate goods, please see the Batsiranai Sewing Group wish list below:

• MACHINES: Embroidery sewing machines for making school badges and embroidered clothing and soft furnishings, Domestic Machines, Button makers for making fabric covered buttons- various sizes, Heavy duty steam irons, Zigzag sewing machines (hand/ electric convertible), Electric cutting machine, Belt buckle machine, Pleating machines, Overlocking machines, Machines for rolling fabric, Durable pressing machine
• MACHINE ATTACHMENTS: (Domestic) i.e. zipper foot, hemmer foot, rufflers, button and buttonhole foot, Needles for all industrial machines
• BOARDS: Ironing boards, skirt boards, sleeve boards
• SEWING TOOLS: Dressmaker shears, Trimming scissors, Seam rippers, Paper cutting scissors, Hem markers, Tracing wheels, Embroidery scissors, Buttonhole scissors, Dress maker's curves for making patterns
• ACCESSORIES: Tape measures, Dressmaker pins, Dressmaker carbon paper, Tracing Paper, Textbooks and magazines for sewing and designing
• FACTORY FIXTURES: Full-length mirrors, Industrial ceiling fans. Working tables, Storage cupboards, Generator, Display racks, Wall clock, Radio, Whiteboards, Display mannequin, Multi-size silhouette heads (child, woman, man), Industrial fridge, Stoves, Industrial freezer, Coffee maker, Toaster, Sandwich maker, Electric kettle, Water boiler (25 litres), Juicer or blender, Cutlery, plates, pots and pans, Serving trolleys, Table linen and curtains, Calculators (>12 digits), Cash register, Commercial safe

THE STORY OF BSG

From very humble beginnings on the verandah of the farm, the older girls of Lirhanzo children's village (LCV), equipped with only two hand-sewing machines that had arrived in the container from Australia, were taught how to pattern make and cut and sew simple articles of clothing. Trish, one of the field trip members in 2005, worked tirelessly with the students, even managing to set a pattern for local school uniforms.

Now, since those humble beginnings, the Batsirani Sewing Group are producing casual skirts and blouses for women, curtains for the local people in the village among many other saleable items. They have made school uniforms for the secondary school girls and they sell like hot cakes. All the surrounding schools are buying their uniforms from the Sewing School!

For the local ladies, the Sewing School began creating patterns using designs of old clothing so that customers could see how their dresses, etc would look like before placing their orders. The money accumulated from the sewing was used to buy one electric motor for one domestic sewing machine.

Since then the project has progressed steadily under the guidance of Mrs Chamuka, Mrs Mutero and Mrs Ndawi. Income has been generated to pay salaries to the guardian mothers at LCV; the older girls have acquired sewing skills and can operate electric machines (when power cuts allow). The girls can take body measurements and make garments to fit and are becoming well known in the local area of Chikombedzi. Most girls can use hand sewing machines and a zipper foot though only having one overlocker to share has forced all members to sew in one colour only.

However, there is still much to be done to see the projects develop 'factory status'. Fabrics are in short supply and equipment, especially the needles for Australian machines, unavailable in Zimbabwe. The group members still need constant supervision.