Team Reports |
Helping the local economyJudy Dryden – Victoria, BC
When people first hear about SCAW they often assume that the bedkits are shipped from Canada to the distribution locations. They're pleasantly surprised to hear that a $35 donation not only helps a child sleep better, but it also aids the economy of that child's region. It's always been a SCAW policy to obtain bedkit materials locally in order to use items that are familiar and useful to the families, and to provide local employment. During the Belgaum distributions we were able to visit two cottage industries that provide items for the bedkits. One small shop in Belgaum provides the cotton frocks for the younger girls and the shirts and gabardine shorts for the boys. A tailor operates the business with his son and employs men and women on site, and other garment workers and tailors work out of their own homes sewing the items and doing the embroidery found on the frocks.
Once the shorts material is cut they take about half an hour to finish. The frocks are more intricate and require a few hours to complete. Producing the clothing for the kits provides these workers with four months of employment. When observing the children in their new clothes at the distributions, we were impressed by the quality of their products. This isn't an easy task, considering they use treadle sewing machines since power outages are frequent, and the serger machine threads are precariously attached to the wall. The tailor came to several distributions to determine how the clothes fit the children and do any repairs that might be needed. Tucked into a row of tiny homes in Belgaum is a small family business that made the sweaters for the bedkits. They have one automatic loom that produces sixty sweaters per day, and each of their eight hand looms can make ten sweaters in eight hours. It was fascinating to watch the men set up and operate these machines. Every morning they place a fresh flower on each loom as a sign of respect for the machine that provides their livelihood. Manufacturing the sweaters gives these workers two months of additional employment.
The Rotarians spend a substantial amount of time locating bedkit items, negotiating a fair price and good quality, and encouraging cottage industries. It was rewarding to see that the bedkits distributed to 4,000 happy children has also helped their local economy. |
