By Mbenja Clovert Anamani
Fall 2022 Newsletter

Rising Hope for Change (RHFC), Cameroon, donated sewing machines to SIRA Bilingual Nursery and Primary school to start a pilot school fashion and design training club in Cameroon schools. The aim of this pilot project is to install Rising Hope Foundation for Change fashion and design training clubs in Cameroon schools in partnership with Sewing Peace America.

In line with our objective to provide quality sustainable projects to impact communities, RHFC donated sewing machines to SIRA Bilingual Nursery and Primary School Makepe Douala fashion and design pilot training Club for pupils. The entrepreneurial school will train young students how to sew from primary levels. It was during their end of school year and prize award ceremony that the project was launched, and these machines were handed to the club by the CEO of RHFC in the presence of the proprietor, parents, pupils, staff, and the director of the school. Receiving the gifts, the head of the club together with the pupils expressed their gratitude to the CEO and the entire RHFC family for the timely gesture and initiative of RHFC. The proprietor of the school in turn thanked the organization for supporting their vision. The occasion ended with a family photo.

RHFC Empowering Women

The largesse of the RHFC team was extended to an internally displaced persons (IDP) family based in Logpom Douala in Cameroon. Growing up in the southwest region of Cameroon, life was okay until the crisis started in 2016. Mme. Arrey Christelle from Manyemen left the village when the crisis was at its peak. Together with her entire family, they left behind many of their belongings since they were in a rush, leaving behind the only thing that was helping them to feed their family, the sewing machine. Her mother taught them how to sew dresses using the sewing machine they had. With their livelihood surrounding the sewing machine, they grew up to become skilled seamstresses. When they settled in Douala, life was not the same as in Manyemen. Without a sewing machine they had no source of income, they could not stitch their worn-out dresses, thus rose difficulties to eat and take care of minor bills. They cried out for help, RHFC heard their cry and offered a free sewing machine. This machine boosted their moral and increased Mme. Arrey Christelle’s income as she can again sew dresses for people and earn a living.

RHFC and IDPs (internally displaced persons)

Under the initiative of “RHFC and IDPs Empowerment”, RHFC has donated more than 20 Sewing Machines to Internally Displaced women and girls in the Southwest and other regions of Cameroon after some days of training. According to the Founder of RHFC, Mr Mbenja Clovert Anamani, this gesture will go a long way to improve the livelihood of these internally displaced persons and their families in one way or the other. Through their training, IDPs will be economically empowered, freed from sexual exploitation, and gain skills in business, enabling them to grow their sewing endeavors and have more investors to establish bigger and greater ideas. Innovative skills will boost their creativity in the world of technology, therefore foster entrepreneurship in the world of fashion and design.

By Clovert Mbenja
Summer 2021 Newsletter

Rising Hope Foundation for Change, in partnership with Sewing Peace, is implementing a program aimed at training vulnerable women and teenage girls in sewing, fashion, and design in Cameroon. This training program will empower these women with life skills such as tailoring, professional sewing, fashion and design, sewing machine repair, and basic computer knowledge. They will learn how to run tailoring businesses from their homes. Though women and girls at the entry point of the program may be unskilled, they will leave with a means to earn a livelihood, become trainers, and provide for their own families’ sewing needs. This program will promote and create female entrepreneurs and generate income.  The program promotes economic self-reliance of women and girls in Cameroon and addresses the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.

The zigzag sewing machines and other accessories sent by SP are very useful: they give a professional touch to the women who learn specialized sewing with different stitches. Some of the women have added new services because of the zigzag machine. At first, they had to travel long distances to use zigzag machines that are costly and unreliable. Now they can work at home or in our Centre.

We have also started a program to make and sell washable (and thus re-usable) sanitary pads to be used instead of the disposable ones. Thus we reduce the impact on the natural environment .

At the end of their training process, our trainees will be able to be either self-employed or hired as part of the team working on the washable sanitary pads.

This will have several benefits for the communities:

• skills development
• employment opportunities
• financial independence
• unemployment reduction
• poverty reduction
• better understanding of the menstrual cycle through the training for sanitary pad production
• better control of pregnancies
• better management of resources: options for education, potential for future earnings, and family planning

The Administration Entities in these regions will directly benefit from these programs, furthering their own objectives in terms of public health, social environment, and unemployment rates in the community, the region, and the country as a whole.

It will be a win-win situation for the Government, girls and women, and the community as a whole. Officially, Rising Hope Foundation for Change will launch the program in September 2021.

Success Stories

We gave some basic training to women who can sew but cannot afford a sewing machine. At the end of this 14-day training period, we gave them one sewing machine each. RHFC is excited and proud to bring these stories and thanks from the beneficiaries of the project.

Mami Blessing

I am happy for this gift from Rising Hope Foundation of Change and its partner Sewing Peace. As a widow, I thought the world had forgotten about me. I was surprised when one of my mothers in church told me I was one of the lucky recipients of a sewing machine. I thought it was a joke until the coordinator himself called me to pick it up at the Centre. This machine is going to help me and my small family a lot. The 200 to 300 Francs we earn by patching dresses will help me buy breakfast for my children.

We all are going to improve our skills in sewing since the machine will keep us constantly working on small materials and children’s torn dresses. It is going to help me train my children in learning the art of sewing since we are not going to pay people to teach us again.
I pray that the lord almighty will bless Rising Hope Foundation for Change and their partner immensely.

Mangwi Ndi

As an orphan who has spent more than 25 years in a remote village, I never knew people were so kind until I came to Limbe due to the ongoing Anglophone crisis. My boss introduced me to a matron of an orphanage who has a link with RHFC. That is how, after explaining my situation to the organization, I was lucky enough to get this sewing machine. Getting a machine from people I don’t know and haven’t heard of was a double miracle to me.

I am a seamstress by training but have been working for another person because I could not open a place of my own. This machine I just received will help me open my own shop and teach underprivileged girls and boys how to sew at a very low cost. Having this machine has given me full employment; it will help me earn money to build my future and take care of my needs like rent and family expenses. From my heart I pray the good Lord bless all the people supporting all the efforts of Rising Hope Foundation for Change.

Manka Synthia

I am a single mother with 2 children. I was a farmer before the crisis started. When it became serious I had to stop going to the farm because of insecurity. I was advised by my landlady to learn a skill. She told me tailoring would be good because you can practice it until you are 70 years old. When going to do my hair at the Empowerment Centre of Rising Hope Foundation for Change, I overheard the members talking of the sewing machine program. I pleaded with them to put my name on the list in case they need single suffering mothers. To my great surprise I was called up for my special gift of a sewing machine. The machine will save me the money I was to pay for a new machine. It will help me learn fast since I will be learning at home and at the tailoring workshop. I think I will use the machine very well so that I can hand it down to my children when they grow. In the future I may also open a centre to train other single mothers like me.

By Orock Eyong
Spring 2018

United Action for Children and Sewing Peace are implementing a One-Girl-One-Sewing-Machine project in the Buea and Mamfe communities. The project aims at promoting entrepreneurial skills to enable young girls and women to create employment. The program targets young girls and women who are just starting as well as those already established in the tailoring business.

The zigzag sewing machine and other accessories sent by SP are very useful as they give the women experience in specialized sewing with different stitches. Some of the women have added new services because of the zigzag machine. The machine is a great favorite because it allows the women to do quick specialized tailoring while avoiding travel to use other machines that are costly and unreliable.

The stories from our beneficiaries are bitter–sweet. Though they earn a living from tailoring, they missed out on life experiences such as interacting with peers, being taken care of, and education. Such is the plight of many young girls from vulnerable families. They are forced to go into the labour market earlier in life to make ends meet. Since formal education is too costly for them, increasing accessibility to vocational skills is a good alternative. Through coaching, mentoring, and other training they can learn skills such as book keeping, costing and pricing, business planning, health and development.

UAC is excited and proud to bring these stories of the beneficiaries of the project.

Juliet Mungwa

My name is Juliet Mungwa and I am 31 years old. I dropped out of school from senior two because my parents didn’t have enough funds to keep me in school. Fortunately I had acquired the tailoring skill from a vocational institute. I was able to borrow a sewing machine from one of our family friends and I started tailoring. I have been tailoring for four years now. My clients, adult women and younger boys. I sew skirts, dresses, blouses and shorts. I earned between 25,000 FCFA (Central African CFA Franc) to 75,000 FCFA a month (U.S. $44 to U.S. $133). Thanks to two additional machines from SP, I am now between 50,000 FCFA and 100,000 FCFA (U.S. $89–$178). From this I am able to save 10,000 FCFA (U.S. $18) for myself, and I spend the rest on taking care of my 3 siblings since my mother cannot afford to take care of the family.

Loveline Aben

I am a 27-year-old single mother of five. Before the UAC/SP project I did not have enough money to buy the machines I needed to meet the demands of my customers. Because of donated machines from SP, I was able to increase the number of machines in my shop and keep up with demand. Thanks to the new machines, my income has increased and I am able to expand my shop and easily pay for food, health care, and the education of my children. I also reinvest part of my profits into the business to acquire working material. I get my orders from parents who bring the uniforms of their children. The photo shows some of the uniforms I tailored for a primary school.

My plan for the future is to get tenders from at least 3 schools to make uniforms. In that way I will have a stable clientele. I also want to get a new location in the trading centre where I can station my business to attract more clients. I hope to get some training in business planning, where my knowledge is limited. I am so grateful for the support given to us through the One-Girl-One-Sewing-Machine project.

Margaret Oyere

I am 35 years old and the mother of five children living in Bolifamba village community. After I completed my training, my husband, who is a subsistence farmer, bought me a manual sewing machine, which enabled me to establish a business as a seamstress in our community. I can now manage to work independently and save my own personal income instead of relying on my husband for daily and other needs. I am now able to assist my husband in the education of our children and taking care of their health.

Thanks to the donation of an electric sewing machine from SP through UAC, I can now promptly tailor modern dresses and all types of local casual/occasional wear for women and children. The machine has helped to boost my earnings and image before my customers. I now earn U.S. $35 per day without strain as compared to $25 before the new machine from SP. I am becoming a self-reliant, independent income earner.

P4P would like to thank the Clif Bar Family Foundation for their continuing support, that support allowed P4P to pay for the shipping costs of the first shipment of bicycles for our new program in Cameroon.

462 bikes (2022 – 2023)
259 sewing machines (2018)

Partner: Rising Hope for Change

Posts

By Orock Eyong
Fall 2017 InStitch

United Action for Children (UAC), based in Buea, in southwest Cameroon, is proud to be one of the newest partners of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace. UAC was founded in 1996 and registered as a non-profit community-based child- and youth-centered organization engaged in Grooming Small Minds for a Big Future and developing a caring society for children and young people through innovative programs.



The overall goal of UAC is to contribute to the improvement of living conditions of affected populations such as rural families, children, and women. In line with its mission, UAC is involved in the following projects to meet the ever increasing needs of the affected populations:

• Basic Education to orphans and vulnerable children
• Entrepreneurship Education to out-of-school youths and low-income women
• School on Wheels programme to assist rural children and women
• Primary Health Care to cater for basic health needs of the rural communities
• Vocational Training to equip youths and low income women with employable skills and to make them job creators

The partnership with Pedals for Progress is very timely and important in helping UAC with its mission of strengthening rural children, women, and families. The job of equipping low income women, children, and young people with employable skills and making them job creators will be made easy as a result of strategic support from Sewing Peace through the donation of sewing machines. Indeed, 72 sewing machines are in transit now.