Visit to  a Western Sydney Workshop supported by SewAid

Yesterday Sandra and I visited our SewAid workshop in Western Sydney

This workshop for ladies affected by DV experiences, is teaching these ladies how to sew. Many of them have never used a sewing machine, but they were very keen to show us the cute shoulder bags they were making. Not only does our workshop give them the chance to learn a new skill but it also gets them to meet and socialize with other women who have experienced the same trauma. And yesterday they were all smiling and having a great time.

Currently, the workshop is operating in a small room at the Cumberland Women’s Health Centre in Parramatta, but as there is a need to expand the classes, it will soon be moving to the Lions Club hall in North Parramatta, and classes will operate twice and week, Tuesday and Saturdays.

The SewAid workshop is organized by Vandana Setia ( far left in photo ), an amazing woman who is a member of both Rotary and Lions and runs a number of charity services in Parramatta, including a food kitchen that feeds 240 people per week.  Our teacher is our wonderful Vera Liondas,  3^rd from right ), who has been a teacher on five of our international projects. Thanks, Vera, for the great work you are doing here.

SewAid supplied all the machines and equipment for the workshop, and we will be expanding the number of machines, etc., when they move to the larger premises. They are also using the beautiful fabrics that we have stored at the Rotary Donation In Kind warehouse in Castle Hill.

Regards Tony Castley Manager.

click photo to enlarge

The fabric was from the shipment of assorted fabric we sent them , which was originally donated to us by a Tailor in Hong Kong.

Click on photo to Expand

Regards

Tony

We have some 700 rolls, each 1.5m wide x 50m. We plan to distribute this to our sewing rooms overseas, and we recently started with a shipment of 120 rolls to our sewing projects in East Timor. However, shipping to third-world countries is always a challenge, and therefore, if anyone has any information on containers being packed with aid products going to any of the following countries, please let me know?  Goma in Congo DRC, Uganda, Nepal, Cambodia, Fiji, Kiribati.

We have also distributed some rolls to three Rotary sewing groups in Australia that make children’s clothing and send them to Africa . Also, please contact me if any other aid organisation could use some of this fabric. We just want to be used in the best possible way to help those in need.

A big thanks to Geoff for this.

The program was held at the Ukraine Church Hall in Granville over 10 days, from 20/2/23 to 4/3/23. Five  of our wonderful volunteers teachers, taught eleven Ukrainian  women sewing techniques at all levels.  During the program the students made a wide assortment of items, from basic children’s clothes, to beautiful bags and purses to magnificent dresses.

SewAid supplied all the sewing machines and equipment which will remain as a permanent fixture in the hall, for all refugees to come and sew. Initially the hall will be opened for this every Friday, but later they hope to increase this to three days a week. Also plans are in place for further training programs, including a quilting  course. So we are very pleased with the sustainable prospects of this program.

In addition to the students learning a whole range of sewing skills, these ladies also had the opportunity to escape some of the difficult life situations that they have such as husbands and brothers still fighting in the Ukraine. All the ladies  did not know each other at the start, but after two weeks together  they formed close friendships.

Many thanks to our amazing volunteer teachers, some who have given over 100 volunteer hours to this program. Our teachers were Glenda Bones our SewAid head teacher,  Vera Liondas SewAid teachers and Rotarian, Tina Latham SewAid teacher and Rotarian, Sheila McDowell , and Michelle Lewis who joined us as a SewAid teachers for the first time.

We would like to particularly  thank Christina Caldis of the Ukrainian Art therapy and Cultural Centre , for all her hard work in arranging the premises and recruiting all the refugee students, and also the Parish of St Aphanasius, and the orthodox Church of Granville for making the hall available to us, and also thanks to the Ukrainian Council of NSW who enthusiastically endorsed the program.

Tony Castley SewAid.

Click on photos to enlarge 

Sydney – teaching sewing to refugees – February 2023

Kiribati – teaching sewing  or crafts – May 2023

Uganda-  teachers sewing teachers from across Africa – July 2023.

Priority will be given to teachers on our existing database but we would also like to hear from new volunteers.

Interested to learn more : please email Tony Castley  at tonyc@sewgroup.com

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

Another year has zoomed by, and due to the continuing restrictions resulting from COVID , we haven’t been able to achieve all that we would have liked to. However we were able to keep some of our programs moving along, and we have some interesting plans for 2023.

Goma Congo DMC : In September we shipped eight new Elna sewing machines and two new Janone overlockers to Goma. The sewing machines were for Solidarite Bonne Volonte SBV in Goma, which is a project of Ms Penny Vos a member of our Rotary E-club; and for St Ambrose School, Bulimbo, Kenya- a school supported by Doug Vincent also a member of our E-club. These were kindly shipped by Sonic Healthcare and the  good news is that they have just arrived safely in Goma.

Additionally Penny’s manager in Goma  has finally been able to find new premises for their sewing group , so they will now be able to set up the machines and do some sewing. SewAid is funding the rent for these premises for the first 12 months.

Then in July 2023, we are planning to hold a training program  at the School for Life in Uganda, where sewers for Goma and Kenya will attend and be taught a high level of sewing skills.  Only problem at this stage is the Ebola outbreak in Uganda , and if it turns out that it is not safe to send out teachers to Uganda , we may move this program to the School of St Jude in Tanzania.  Sewaid Teachers interested in this project, please keep in touch.

School for Life , Uganda: As reported earlier we were able buy three new industrial sewing machines and one new industrial overlocker for the SewAid workshop at the School for Life ( SFL) . These have been very well received and have greatly improved  the sewing performance at the workshop. Winnie Akol, former manager at the SFL workshop and now owning her own sewing business in Kampala, recently visited the workshop and said she was most impressed by these new Juki machines with the build-in electronic motors. Winne has also offered to help us with the proposed sewing training in July next year.

Sustainable Cambodia: Early in the year we were finally able to get our shipment of fabrics, snaps , rotary cutters and mats etc to SC with the help of Jenny Knight from REECH . Thanks also the Days for Girls group at Ryde who donated some of the fabric. In all 300m of flannelette and 100m of PUL were shipped and this was enough to make some 3,500 Days for Girls Kits.   Fay Kitto  who was one of our original teachers who helped set up the SewAid workshop in SC, is visiting again in February, as is Doug Vincent and his family ( E-club ), and they will kindly carry some new equipment that SC is needing. More details on this shortly.

Kiribati: We are back in regular conversation with Ruth Cross of the Rotary Club of Kiribati, and Erimeta Barako of the National Council of Women in regards our COVID postponed training program. The AMAK women’s centre is being renovated and as that is where we had planned to run the training, we may have to wait until at least April/ May, before we could use this centre. Additionally while we shipped them eight new machines originally , we now need to send more plus all the other equipment that we will need, so the next hurdle is to find out how we can ship this. Anyway we are working on it, and hopefully we will be able to run this training program in Kiribati in 2023. SewAid teachers and volunteers that originally indicated that would like to go on this trip, please contact me for up to date information.

Refugee Training: SewAid teacher Rhonda Whitton has just finished a seven week  sewing training  course at the Gold Coast. The course was held at Thriving Multicultural Communities TMC)  in Labrador, and SewAid shipped up six new sewing machines and two new overlockers , fabric and accessories for the program and these will be kept by TMC for future programs. . Many thanks to Rhonda , Joyce Cho the manager of TMC,  the Rotary club of  Griffith Gold Coast and the Rotarians that assisted Rhonda.  Rhonda is expecting to have another course next year.

SewAid teachers Vera Liondas and Tina Lathan are currently working with a group of Ukrainian refuges in Sydney and hopefully we will have another refugee sewing course starting in Sydney in the new year.

New Snaps:  We have recently received samples of a new snap that requires no tool. This is rather revolutionary as it will be no longer necessary to supply those heavy hand presses that we have used in the past. If anyone is interested to learn more about these new snaps, please contact me.

Thanks: Many thanks to our teachers, and volunteers, as well as our financial and operational support from Sewgroup companies, HTL Hong Kong and HobbySew Australia, without your assistance we could not do any of this .

Best Wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year.

Tony Castley. Manager tonyc@sewgroup.com 0414 801 888