Category Archives: Sewing Partners

bicycles, Guatemala, Sewing Partners

FIDESMA: P4P Partner in Guatemala

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FIDESMA is the Fundación Integral de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Ambiente, Foundation for Sustainable Development and the Environment. With headquarters in San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, FIDESMA was founded in 1998 and has five major programs: agricultural micro-credit, natural medicine, job skills and training, bicycles and environmental conservation, and health and special education for people with physical disabilities.

FIDESMA was started when Margarita Caté de Catú, the current president of FIDESMA, wanted to organize against the problems facing her community. Ms. Caté de Catú and 150 other women struggled to create the foundation with financial support from the Leadership Council.

This non-profit organization is non-political and non-religious and therefore the majority of our financial assistance comes from other non-profit organizations. Our primary role in Guatemala lies in development. FIDESMA helps the community become more self-sustainable and for this reason we distribute financial assistance (in our micro-credit program) and show the community prospective job opportunities. We hope that they will then be able to have their own business, thereby contributing to the rest of the Guatemalan economy.

 
Bike Race at the grade school in San Andrés Itzapa in honor of
Guatemalan Independence Day with bikes from FIDESMA!

 

FIDESMA is one of fifteen organizations of FEDENMURG (la Federación de Mujeres Rurales de Guatemala), a national, democratic association that promotes social development. The women members fight for the rights of rural women throughout Guatemala, along with bringing awareness to the preservation of the environment.

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The FIDESMA sewing course teaches women how to make all types of clothing. Lourdes Santiso Salizar was one of the first graduates of the sewing course in 1999 and now has her own women’s clothing business specializing in wedding gowns. Click here to see a report on Lourdes from the Fall 2006 InGear newsletter.

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FIDESMA’s natural products courses teach local women how to use natural plants to make shampoo and soap to sell in the local market. Grupo Mujeres Integrados en Accion has 10 members that work weekly to make aloe shampoo and soap. Ana Maria Guch is one member who is a widow with 8 children who supports her family from the sale of their natural products. Click here to read more about the shampoo production process.

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The Mujeres Maya (Mayan Women) Kaqchiqoel from Santa Caterina Barahona received a micro-loan from FIDESMA in 2001 to start their traditional weaving business. Click here to read a 2006 InGear article about the Mujeres Maya. Click here to read more and see samples of their work.

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Jorge Luis of San Andrés Itzapa uses his bicycle from FIDESMA to sell ice cream in the outlying villages. He averages about 20km everday on his bicycle riding from 5am to 5pm. He is able to support his wife and 7 children from the money he makes selling ice cream. Click here to see more of his story.

P4P’s 100,000th bicycle went to FIDESMA in 2006! Click here to read more about the bike, its journey, and Mateo Patzan, the happy recipient.

P4P’s 150,000th bicycle went to FIDESMA in 2017!! Click here for the whole story.

Georgia, Sewing Partners

International Relief & Development Organization: Our Work in Georgia

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After a decade of independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the southern Caucasus region — Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan — continues to face economic difficulties and the risk of renewed conflict and internal strife. Specifically, conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh, and secessionist movements in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and south Ossetia have created more than 900,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Caucasus.

In response to this growing humanitarian crisis and rapid decline in living standards, IRD began operations in this country in 1999. Some highlights of our work include:

  • Rural Enterprise Support — Assistance to farmers and other rural entrepreneurs to improve the quality of their lives by increasing their incomes;
  • Health Care — Emergency distribution of pharmaceutical and medical supplies, training for medical professionals and construction of medical facilities;
  • Emergency Survival Aid — Distributing food parcels, hygiene kits, school kits, blankets, tools and seeds to refugees, IDPs and local vulnerable populations;
  • Repatriation and Reintegration — Providing direct assistance to IDPs and refugees through direct food and clothing distributions and income generation opportunities; and
  • NGO Capacity Building — Providing small grants and management assistance to local NGOs to help them improve and expand community services.

Retrieved from http://www.ird.org/our-work/by-region/europe/georgia on 1 November 2014 by the Internet Archive WayBackMachine.

International Relief & Development (IRD) website.

Sewing Partners, Tanzania

Community Support Mission, Tanzania #2

Tanz #2As we reported in our Spring 2014 newsletter, P4P sent 41 sewing machines to Dar es Salaam (DSM) in Tanzania in October of 2013. We shipped with the generous support of one of our valued supporters, Clif Bar Family Foundation. Our partner in Tanzania, Community Support Mission (CSM), works closely with those in poverty to help them earn their own living and create a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

On August 5, 2014, P4P prepared two additional pallets of sewing machines to continue our support of CSM.  On September 18,2014, CSM will receive in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 60 refurbished working sewing machines.  Refurbished means Dennis Smyth and Doc Hammond cleaned and fixed all of these machines; P4P is greatly indebted to them for their work. This will bring P4P’s year to date total of sewing machines shipped to 182. P4P expects to ship over 300 in 2014.

The first shipment to CSM was totally paid for by the Clif Bar Family Foundation. The value of the sewing machines in that shipment funded CSM for the majority of the shipping costs of the second shipment.  Again we used a small subsidy but going forward Community Support Mission will be capable of paying the shipping costs in total. This creates a level of sustainability that is very advantageous.

P4P needs strong reliable distribution partners run by nationals of the country involved.  With our revolving fund system, we bring our overseas partner financially into the workings of the program.  Once we have them working with us cooperatively within the finances,  we can teach them basic best practices with regards not only to their finances but to their overall program.  We start by convincing them that they can seriously help their community and do so in a net positive financial manner with P4P’s support.  Wilfredo Santana Rodriquez of Rivas, Nicaragua, started the first revolving fund program with P4P in 1992.  The value of our shipments is double or greater than the actual cost of shipping. Our partners can afford to pay the shipping costs and are better financial stewards when they do so. It does take that first shipment or two to prime the pump and adding new programs would be very difficult without our solid financial sponsors. Having strong solid partnerships domestically and internationally has been the hallmark of the success of Pedals for Progress.

Moldova, Sewing Partners

Sewing Machines in Moldova – Summer 2014

Aneta is a French teacher at the high school. She cares deeply for her students and the community. She spent many hours helping with the logistics of bringing the bicycles and sewing machines to Grozesti. When she was young all the girls learned how to sew, knit, and crochet. Her father was an artist and filled their home with tapestries. Aneta wanted to pass these skills on to the next generation. When she found out that our shipment of bikes would also contain sewing machines we quickly applied for a grant to pay for ten machines, tables, chairs, lights, and fabric. Her parent’s home has been vacant for the past 7 years and her plan is to turn it into a sewing shop. DSC02117 She will teach a sewing class at the high school and those students who show promise will be offered a position in the shop. Moldova is ranked the highest in Eastern Europe for victims of human trafficking. She hopes to teach the most vulnerable young women in the village a valuable skill so they will not be so easily duped into believing there is a dream job waiting for them in Romania or Italy. In this picture you see Aneta with her granddaughter, Denis. Aneta has been taking care of Denis for the past 2 years while her daughter studies and works in Italy. Jobs are scarce in Moldova. Aneta is doing a great thing by sharing her knowledge and love of sewing while creating jobs and a future for her village.

 

bicycles, Guatemala, Sewing Partners

How do Bicycles and Sewing Machines Continue to Support FIDESMA’s Mission?

By Patricia Hamill
Spring 2014 InGear

You’ve read about our partner in Guatemala, FIDESMA, the organization that promotes economic development through micro-credit, training in textile design and agricultural programs, among other efforts. They are doing so much to contribute to the needs of the people in their region and we are pleased to have some updates for you.

Grant Recipents with their P4P bicycles
Grant Recipents with their P4P bicycles

Three young men, poor students, were awarded a grant from FIDESMA for employment training in welding. The funds were raised through the sale of the bicycles sent from P4P. Without the bicycles that were transformed into needed funds, these young men could not possibly have begun, much less finished, the four months of required training. They completed their course in November of 2013.

These young men also needed to be able to put these skills to use. This of course meant that they needed employment opportunities and a way to access the locations where they would work. A blacksmith shop was made available to them and there they created metal ornaments, bikes and candlesticks to generate the income that would continue to reinforce their financial independence. In December, these men were able to acquire bicycles that had arrived in the 14th container shipped from P4P and received by ECOLOBICI. They can now travel readily between home and work. Ease of travel was one of the obstacles the young men had to overcome since, as you’ve read so many times about so many of the people in our partners’ regions, they would have to pay for public transportation, walk many miles or, in this case, take a motorcycle taxi.

Now 6.00 quetzals (about .75 in US currency) a day are saved by using a bike and they have the added advantage of keeping in shape. They have benefited from ECOLOBICI’s project supported by P4P and they plan on continuing their studies and efforts at financial success in 2014.

The women outside the Santa Apolonia Municipal building
The women outside the Santa Apolonia Municipal building

In the container mentioned above, there were also 15 sewing machines, some earmarked for particular women who had visited the FIDESMA training center. These women, from Santa Apolonia in the District of Chimaltenango, work sewing typical huipil blouses mostly. These are traditional garments that are loose fitting like a tunic. Since these kinds of shirts are in demand, they stand to make a reliable income continuing to sew these and other viable pieces of clothing. There are more men and women who will be able to access these machines and learn how to use them or continue to work at their tailoring businesses.

Sewing Partners, Tanzania

Sewing Machines Contribute to School Enrollment and Health Care in Tanzania

by Patricia Hamill
Spring 2014 InGear

In October of 2013, with the generous support of grant money from one of our valued supporters, Clif Bar Family Foundation, P4P shipped 41 sewing machines to the region of Dar es Salaam (DSM) in Tanzania. Our partner there, Community Support Mission (CSM), works closely with those in poverty to help them earn their own living and create a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

According to CSM’s director, Jonathan Mulokozi, four of the machines went to the Messack Secondary School, located in Kivule, in the District of Ilala. Of the 350 students, 60 are orphans and 42 are from very poor families. The machines’ primary use to date has been to sew uniforms for schools. The income earned from the production of this clothing has covered school fees among other difficult costs these children must meet if they are to have an independent and economically viable adulthood.

CSM also works with families or groups in need. They donated 3 machines to women whose families were struggling to maintain decent living conditions and hoping to stay together instead of dispersing for work in far-away districts or regions. One particular woman, Anna Ntimba, was fortunate in that she already knew how to sew; however, she did not have the income to afford her own machine. Her husband was recently diagnosed with a heart disease and could not easily support the family, much less pay the hospital bills. With the machine in hand, Anna was able to earn the income she needed to keep her family together and enable her husband to begin healing.

Mrs Anna Ntimba (Tanz #1)In January of this year, CSM donated sewing machines to 4 women whose families are in poverty and cannot afford to send their children to school. CSM has also pledged to provide 2 machines to each group of 3 people who wish to form their own business. As well, 2 secondary schools in Kagera are slotted to receive sewing machines so they can continue to earn income to cover basic school needs for local orphans.

Not all the partners we work with request both sewing machines and bicycles. When this combination does come into play, there are double the opportunities opened up to people in a region, thus increasing the odds that we can create a lasting positive impact. We are looking forward to receiving news and photos of the students and their families as more machines and bicycles become available to them.