Doug was able to spent some time in the SewAid sewing room at SC, and sort out a few things for us. We had been concerned about the huge shipment of fabric they received from SewAid early in the year, and was it still there? We knew that it hadn’t been used, but as Fay Kitto our SewAid teacher had received recent information they wanted more flannelette, we were concerned as to what had happened to the 1,000+ mtrs  they received earlier in the year. But fortunately Doug was able to find the 2022 shipment of fabric safely in storage and so we were very relieved to know it was still there. This shipment comprised of  enough fabric and accessories to make 3,600 DFG kits and last them several years.

Sadly though, Doug found that the sewing room had only one lady working there now, and that due to COVID most all the sewing team we taught and establish in 2017 has left and the sewing room has almost ground to a standstill.  Doug was also able to sent me photos of the all machines and equipment , from which I could easily determine that most all the machines were were in a very bad state of repair. In fact most the machines had burnt out motors and only one of the five industrial machines was actually working. Through several phone calls I was able to advise Doug to take the Janome Overlockers down to the local sewing machine shop in Pursat and have them cleaned and service.  While there , we connected on video and we were able to purchase a new Juki industrial sewing machine, which was delivered and installed that same afternoon.

So the workshop now has good working sewing machines and overlockers, but now we need to help SC rebuild the sewing room staff and re-boot the Days for Girls  sewing program. Fortunately Fay is spending a few days at SC in February , and Fay will be able to help them plan how to rebuild  their sewing workshop. We may well need to send another teaching team to train a new group of sewers.

COVID wasn’t kind to anyone and while it was disappointing  to see the SC sewing workshop is such a sad state, thanks to Doug’s great help we were able to make a good start on getting  it up and going again. But still more to do !

Tony Castley SewAid Founder.

Photos:

1. Old Brother machine, the only one working        2. Janome machine, no motor    3. industrial overlocker needing attention       4. Janome overlockers needing service    5.  Doug at the sewing machine shop    6. New Juki machine at SC

After a request from Sustainable Cambodia (SC) back in 2019 for  some Days for Girls supplies, we prepared a shipment of  flannelette  and other things , and this was picked up by our good friend Jenny Knight from REECH Cambodia and packed into her container. However, as it is necessary to obtain clearance for duty free charity goods before shipment, this container sat in Sydney for  18 months while Jenny negotiated with the Cambodian Customs.

In March 2021 Jenny thought she had clearance, and it was decided to upgrade the container to a 40′ container and so more space was available  and we added 10 rolls of PUL fabric, Kam snaps, rotary cutting equipment’s etc. which SC advised they needed. Jenny also got from us some more sewing machines and overlockers to add to those she had already bought.  However again the shipment didn’t get away until another 9 months later , finally getting  shipped in  November 2021.

The container arrived in Sihaboutville ( Cambodian Port ) 1st week December , however clearance  was delayed and when that was finally processed, the unpacking the container became a new problem due to COVID and other problems at the dock.  So last week Jenny decided to get on  plane to Cambodia, and go to the port and unpack the container herself. Guess what- she did just that!  She unpacked the container and then packed our fabrics off on a truck to Pursat and they have now been gratefully received by SC in the last few days ! WOW ! what a story, what a effort !

The shipment contained 68 rolls of flannelette and 11 rolls of PUL which is enough fabric to make 3,500 Days for Girls kits, which will keep our SewAid workshop at SC busy for quite some time. Also included were new rotary cutting mats, Rotary cutting blades, 3,500 sets of Kam snaps  and other bits and pieces SC had requested.   I must again thank Janelle Dodd of Ryde DFG who donated half the flannelette. and of course an enormous thankyou to Jenny Knight  for al her amazing work and perseverance  in finally getting this shipment to Cambodia.

Photo1: Fabrics arrive at Sustainable Cambodia.

Photo 2: Fabrics packed on truck at Cambodian port.

Click on photos to enlarge 

East Timor: We shipped to Mrs Mira Fonseca one of the people we are working with there, a large amount of fabric and supplies through Donations in Kind (DIK) in Melbourne. We thanks DIK Laurie Fisher for his kind assistance with this.

Some of the fabric shipped will be used to make shopping bags for Rotary clubs and in this regards we also shipped and donated a screen printing outfit. We will be very interested to see how this progresses.

Cambodia: We have for sometime been looking for someone to carry a machine and parts to Sustainable Cambodia (SC), and we were pleased to hear from Zac Jefferies of  Bayview college in Victoria that they are sending a team to SC in June and are happy  to carry this new Janome overlocker along with some parts and accessories that our sewing room at SC is in need of.

We send a very large shipment of fabric and accessories to SC last November thanks to the Jenny Knight and REECH. However some of the boxes of fabric and accessories went missing temporally, and so it was great news to hear this week that they had finally arrived in Pursat; and these following photos certainly show how pleased our sewers at SC were to receive them.

Click on these photo for full screen size 

Cambodia
There will be another two Rotary tours to Cambodia in January and February 2018 and these can include some SewAID teachers who as part of their tour will spend just 3 days at our SewAID workshop in Pursat. Teachers will preferably be well experienced in dressmaking and in particular such items as school uniforms, and skills in making high quality saleable goods such as purses and bags etc can also be used to great advantage. Also experience with industrial sewing machines would be helpful. There will be very little Days for Girls in this program.

The two tours will be January 11-21 , and February 2- 11. It is not necessary to be a Rotarian, as SewAID Teachers are automatically accepted as important component of the tour. Most Australians are going on the January tour, led by Past Rotary District Governor Jennifer Scott.

These trips are a remarkable experience. The tour is put together each year by Rotarians involved with Sustainable Cambodia, an NGO with schools and other programmes in central Cambodia. You will be in Pursat at the school working with the sewers in the sewing workshop for just three days. The rest of the days you will be on the normal tour. You will explore the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, delve into the history and culture of Cambodia, and visit many of the distant village schools and projects that are sponsored by partner Rotary clubs around the world. You can choose, if you wish, to actively participate in projects, such as working with the school children, working with water filters and wells, sharing skills and helping families build schools or infrastructure. Or you can simply tour the villages and projects and spend time with the families and children in these rural villages. Either way, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You’ll see first-hand how Rotary and Sustainable Cambodia are empowering families to change their lives.

The trip will include visits to the markets of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, exploring the temples of Angkor, and visits to a silk factory, to museums, and a floating village. You will experience Cambodia in a way that tourists rarely do. You will fall in love with the people and the children. And you’ll make lifelong friends from among the Rotarians on the trip.

The tour cost is as low as $825 per person. This does not include the cost of flights in and out of the country, but does cover the cost of food, in-country transportation, hotels, guides and related costs in Cambodia.

The trip is non-profit, and all excess funding goes into the Rotary projects. You’ll be joining Rotarians from Australia, Canada and the US, and other countries, as well as Cambodian Rotarians.

If you are interested, please contact me
Tony Castley 0414 801 888 tonyc@sewgroup.com

Busy time for Sewaid. Currently we have 3 projects on the go.
Ba Fiji.
We have six of our lovely volunteers teachers in Fiji this week, teaching the Ba Women’s forum ladies, how to sew school uniforms and more advanced bags and purses. They are Alacoque Welsh project manager. Tina Latham head teacher, Jennifer Fletcher, Gay Grillmeier and Cheryl Nelson.
Tina also took the opportunity to teach the Days for Girls hygiene training and as a result five Ba ladies are now qualified in this.
The photo is of a new complicated compendium that the women are making for a Government order. They are using local materials and each compendium takes up to a day to make. This is our third visit to this workshop and it is going exceptionally well- and they are have so many orders for work, they can hardly keep up! Congratulation to our wonderful teachers.
Uganda
This weekend we have a team of volunteers from the SchoolforLife foundation at our warehouse preparing 1000’s of items we will send to Uganda in a 40’ container in the next week or so. Many thanks to Panalpina who have donated this freight to Uganda. We will have photos and more detail in our next report.

Cambodia
We have just sent 10 rolls of PUL fabric along with some other Days for Girls supplies to Melbourne to be included in a container that DIK in Melbourne is sending to Cambodia. These supplies will go to our Sewaid workshop in Pursat. There will be more about this in later reports.

Tony Castley