A New Sewing Guild is Born ~ Malawi Day 2

Today was the first day of starting our new sewing guild.

We met 7 lovely women at the offices of K2-TASO, an organization that does medical outreach in remote areas of Malawi.

The group that we are with is part of Bridges to Malawi [BTM]. Today they traveled an hour and a half to see 300+ patients. 

Phoebe and I stayed behind to set up the sewing room.

The space is great with lots of light and plenty of room for tables, machines, etc. We got the 3 machines [2 treadle/electric and 1 electric] to work with the help of a wonderful man named Anthony who was able to troubleshoot every problem.

Our tailors meticulously cutting MoonCatcher bags

We spent 4 hours teaching the sewers [called tailors like they do in Uganda ] how to cut bags and carriers. Tomorrow we’ll start training them on the machines – having brought flip chart paper today for them to practice on.

After a late lunch of noodles, beans and greens we went to the nearest town to buy scissors, thread, an iron,etc. We will be better prepared for Monday’s class.

Phoebe buying thread

Tomorrow is Easter. Most everything shuts down so we won’t see our tailors but perhaps we’ll be able to organize ourselves a bit more and also see some of the other projects that are in full swing around here.