Here are some recent photos of our 2008 sewing class of 8 local girls. Some girls have to ride bikes an hour to attend here 4 times a week!

That's committed huh? They are learning to make all sorts of clothes that can help them earn a living.

Just sewing patches can earn a dollar or two a day, that can really help out as average wages for men here are only 60 cents an hour!

Most of the women wash clothes using large flat rocks to scrub on. They get the clothes so clean but it wears them out too and so the need for patches.

One of our ideas to help the local community is to create ways of earning a living through skills like sewing, arts and crafts, woodworking etc,............

 

Many tourist visit our island looking to take back a souvenir of originality, not something made in China! One of a kind sort of item, made locally. If needlepoint as well as knitting could also be taught then I would think the class could design and create handmade items that display the natural beauty of our islands volcanoes as well as the lake.

The tourist want a small, lightweight item as most are backpackers. We need to work on these ideas and make them a reality to help bring in income to families out of work.