A Stitch in Time

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

World Vision is assisting youth who are school-dropouts – including former sponsored children from Lalitpur district to the south of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu – to receive skills training. Most are already employed, with others ready for economic opportunities when they arise.

“If I wasn’t learning how to design and make clothes, I’d be stuck at home doing housework,” says Anisha.

The 18-year-old echoes the reality for many girls from poor families living on the fringes of urban areas.

Anisha and her friends, who are also studying to become tailors and fashion designers, travel for up to an hour from villages on the periphery of Kathmandu to acquire skills from experienced teachers.

 

 


With World Vision’s help, Anisha doesn’t have to pay to attend her training centre’s course, the normal cost of which would have been unaffordable for her family.

Although Anisha did not complete her schooling, dropping out of education after grade eight, the teenager is now enjoying learning something that she’s interested in and will benefit her.

With almost four months of training behind her, she is already making clothes for herself and her family. She shows off the traditional cotton dress with trousers, called ‘kurta suruwal’, she made.

 

If I wasn’t learning how to design and make clothes, I’d be stuck at home doing housework.

Few outlets in her village sell fashionable women’s clothes, so Anisha wants to be the first to open a tailoring shop serving female residents young and old, while she also appreciates that her training means she can be financially independent.

She says: “I love dresses and want to design them. I’m also happy that I’ll be able to earn a living without depending on others.”

Anisha’s teacher Samita, who has trained young women for the past three years, is proud that almost all her former students have shops of their own or are employed as tailors.

 

 


Pramila, one of Anisha’s friends who attends the same training centre, also laments the lack of a clothes shop in her village, saying: “We have to go to another village just to get clothes, so I want to be the first to have a tailoring shop in my hometown.”

In just over four months, World Vision has helped nearly 200 underprivileged women to learn how to design and make clothes, with many aspiring to start their own business and secure their futures.