INAUGURATION OF SEWING PROJECT

Dear Supporters Save the Innocents (www.savetheinnocents.com) is a community-based non-profit organization that works against poverty and illiteracy. STI is registered in Colorado, USA and is Tax Exempt under 501(c)(3).

Dear Supporters Save The Innocents is glad that with your help, we were able to provide free education for deserving children of Lyari, Karachi, Pakistan, and with the cooperation of Feel Great Helping we started a new project to bring changes in these little ones’ families.

Earlier this year, I met with Babs Klijn, Founder of Feel Great Helping (https://www.facebook.com/FeelGreatHelping), to consider alternative ideas on how we might assist the community in Lyari and facilitate self-sufficiency.

SEWING PROJECT

After much deliberation, THE SEWING PROJECT was born; something we realized was going to be a challenge on both our parts. In order for this project to come to fruition, we first had to purchase sewing machines and materials, recruit a seamstress to give sewing lessons, and encourage the mothers of children attending our school to become students themselves to learn new, and potentially income-generating, skills.
In September 2014, Feel Great Helping assisted in setting up the project by supplying 20 new sewing machines, yards of materials and sewing accessories, and finally a seamstress was identified to teach the ‘new recruits’ how to sew. We were also able to hire a second staff member to teach the younger women how to crochet and paint henna on hands and feet.

The biggest surprise for me was what happened once word of the project got out in the community.  I was overwhelmed with applicants – 120 ladies for 20 places!  Accordingly, we had to implement a selection process to give all of these women fair opportunity to apply for these places. As an encouragement for the students to do well in their studies and for the parents to be actively engaged in their children’s education, we asked the applicants’ children to take a written test and awarded the first 20 places in THE SEWING PROJECT to the mothers whose children achieved the highest scores.

With everything in place, on 13 October 2014 the ribbon was cut and THE SEWING PROJECT was officially launched. Needless to say, it was a very proud and emotional moment for all concerned. It is 4 months project, following which time we will review our progress and determine the next step forward.

On behalf of Save the Innocents, we would like to thank the volunteers of Feel Great Helping for their time and dedication in helping achieve our goal. It is a dream come true and proves that SMALL STEPS can make a BIG IMPACT! 

We are glad that this is our 3rd year in a row of our Sewing project.