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UK
Charity Commission Registration Number 1120536 |
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Project Libra Creating training workshops were widows can learn a trade leading to self-sufficiency
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| Please scroll down the page to read our project updates | ||||||||||||||||||
August 2010 At the beginning of the year the new Training Centre was just a cavernous space above the clinic. It took some imagination to see it as thriving Training Centre where women and girls could learn to read and learn skills that might enable them to lift their families out of poverty. Now all the Centre lacks is a floor and bathroom fittings. There are classrooms, toilets with showers, a staff common room, a storage room, an office and a kitchen plus a large open plan teaching area and a balcony. It is light and airy and will be an excellent place of learning
Equipment has already been bought for the sewing area of the Centre. Thanks to a wonderful donation from Dr. Diane Johnson we were able to purchase four industrial desk mounted sewing machines, 2 portable zig-zag machines and 2 old style Singer (clone) machines in Cairo. As we intend to have small classes these should fulfil our needs. We already have a large white board for notes and a large table which will be used for cutting out material. Hard bargaining allowed us to buy the ‘Singer’ type machines, which have a strapped on motor, for around £35 GBP. This means that we should be able to provide each woman who finishes the sewing course with a machine and all the bits and pieces need to set up a small village enterprise. Funding is already in place for fully equipping the literacy area with desks, chairs and books, etc. This was funded by the St. James Place Trust. Work should be completed and the Training Centre functioning in the very near future.
March 2010 Work is now fully underway on the Training Workshop area. It was recently visited by the British Ambassador Sir Dominic Asquith and the Honorary British Consul Mr. Ehab Gaddis. The internal walls are all in place and work is starting on inserting the door and window frames. There is a large kitchen area, two toilet/shower rooms, a staff room, 2 store rooms, a large teaching room and a very large open plan teaching/reception area. There is also a large balcony area. The staff room will be fitted with lockers and tables and chairs. Funding is still needed to buy sewing machines, looms and hairdressing equipment. Please help if you can. |
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| Work on the new Training Centre. | ||||||||||||||||||
|January 2010 In January 2010 negotiations began with the landlord of the clinic to rent premises above the present clinic that can be used as classrooms and training workshops for women and girls from the villages. We are planning classes in simple hairdressing, animal care, sewing, beading and weaving. Literacy classes will also be offered. November 2009 Little Stars has been given a donation of £1,000 to start this project. The donation is given in memory of Dorrie Sharpe by her daughter Lynne Weyman who is one of our family sponsors. The donation is specific to this project and will be used to start work on completing an area of the floor above the clinic. September 2009 At present Little Stars' main assistance to widows with families is to provide them with food and clothing and make essential repairs to their homes. Steps have been taken to bring some women into self-sufficiency through the purchase of a sewing table, chair and threads and installing shelving in a home then stocking it with dry goods so that it can be used as a mini market but this is a drop in the ocean. These were widows with existing skills whereas many do not have any marketable skills and struggle throughout the remainder of their lives to provide for their children. It would not take a huge outlay to create a training workshop where widows and abandoned women could learn a trade such as sewing, hairdressing, baking or a variety of skills that could be used in their villages. For hairdressing this could be simply knowing how to apply the local hair dyes, 'threading' (hair removal) and dressing hair for weddings. Small loans could be given to buy basic equipment if funds did not allow this to be provided. Where sewing is concerned, just knowing how to thread a sewing machine and sew a straight line would enable a women to do simple repairs to clothing, or make simple garments. These skills might only bring in pennies instead of pounds but they would still lead to a great improvement in their lives. Finding premises to hold the training workshops would not be difficult, as the whole floor above our clinic and nursery school is empty, and training could be done with courses held on a rotation basis with perhaps only one course running at a time. This would allow the women to be collected and their youngest children to be cared for in a creche. Any goods produced while training could be donated to other families in our care. Nothing would be wasted. Just providing people with food does not solve a problem it only defers it. Self-suffiency is the real aim. Eventually, there could be proper Fair Trade Workshops making the items that we at present have to buy. However, until we have funding this remains purely an aim.
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