Sewing Initiative Program
Zambia
Women are the knit holding the fabric of every Zambian family together. A household lacking food, clothing, or shelter for its children is the burden the mother of the family faces. She is the beauty and the brains of her nest. Over the years, women have come to SSAAP asking for employment opportunities. Through sewing, knitting, or embroidering and selling their heart-woven pieces, these women will feed, clothe, shelter, or send their children to school.
Through SSAAP’s ongoing partnerships with We’Moon of Wolf Creek, Oregon, USA, employing (via short-term contract) women to sew has become a reality rather than a mere dream. Women sew handbags, purses, napkins, placemats, change purses, scarves, hair ties, dolls, and other useful everyday items and are, in turn, provided with an income-generation resource to better the lives of their families.
heart-woven
Sierra Leone
Women are always disadvantaged in world cultures - specifically in the developing world - simply because the society has failed to acknowledge their resourcefulness and thus limited the longevity of their education. Women in remote African communities tend to have one half the education of men, specifically because they are needed at home to perform domestic duties and are seen as the members of society for whom it is unnecessary to have an education.
In an effort to reorganize thoughts which have oppressed women for years, and to encourage freedom of thought and democratic opportunities for all, SSAAP works with its loyal partner, We’Moon of Wolf Creek, Oregon, USA, to provide sustainable opportunities of employment, creativity, and imagination through art: sewing, weaving, knitting, and embroidering. Local women in Sierra Leone weave as a means of employment either to finish their education, to educate their children, or to continue education after teenage pregnancies.