Key person: Azam Gill
The course has recently started for the third year. In the first year there were 15 students, the second year there were 19 and this year has started with 9. Usually people join the course in June when summer break begins, especially girls who are going to school. June is the long summer break from school.
In January the previous teacher got married so the woman who is the deputy principal of the Christian Cambridge School (PAK06) has become the teacher, she is trained and actually ran the course for the first year.
All of the students so far this year are Muslim women. They hear about the centre from friends or from people whose children go to the school.
The course is run daily in the school building after the children leave at 2:00 p.m. It lasts for around two hours per day.
The women are too shy to say much about their lives, especially to say anything to a stranger from outside the country. They have never met a white person before and a Christian one, so I just had to ask some general questions.
They love the course and say that it and the school has a good reputation in the community. Everyone is very friendly. They did not know each other before the course started but they have made new friends.
One of the girls who was not married was obviously very adept. Her clothing, even after just three months, was a very high standard. She has access to a machine and is already making clothing for people and last month made over $US50. That’s about what a daily wage earner would earn.
There is a good response to the programme. Even the local mufti was complimentary about it. They don’t advertise otherwise they would be overwhelmed with applications, possibly because people want to get a free machine.
A number of the women in this course already have a machine at home that is not being used so that’s a help and quite unusual.
This may be the last year here for the sewing centre although it is a bit early to tell yet.
Adding a computer lab to the school and for the community would be a useful other tool beside the sewing and will be considered.
There are no major challenges at the moment. Deciding about the future will be the next big thing later in 2016.
1) The continued impact the course is having in the community in bringing people together and the empowerment that occurs because of it
2) The good relationship with the community in building bridges and breaking down barriers between Moslem and Christian
3) Wisdom to make the right decision at the end of the year about whether to continue it or not next year
This continues to be a good project. Some of the women are walking quite a distance to get to the course. The community is growing quickly and a lot of people are moving into the area so it is a good way to engage them.