Bit Fifteen

What do you get when you take a tiny room (the size of small bedroom), put a long table in the middle, line with walls with sewing supplies (including 10 sewing machines), and fill it with refugee women? The Refugee Sewing Society!

This society was born from the idea of a local volunteer who wanted to find a way to teach refugee women a skill that could help them earn money while they stayed at home with their children. The idea was to find materials from thrift stores or through donations that could be recycled to make useful products for the community.

Once word got out about free sewing classes for refugees, however, there was an abundance of support from the local community. No need to shop at thrift stores. Donations alone have filled every shelf space to the max, and there are women lining up to learn how to sew market bags, aprons, napkins, placemats, and purses.

The RSS has even been given supplies to start teaching yarn work & beading. Not only are women able to create beautiful things to sell, the classes have provided them with an opportunity to interact with other women in their community. The refugees that come are from several different countries, such as Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, and Bhutan. I have been blessed to have the opportunity to interact with them as well. The diversity of culture makes quite a contribution to the beautiful diversity of all the things they make.

These women are such quick learners, but it is funny sometimes to watch both the teacher and the student try to understand each others' languages well enough to learn a technique. For example, we have learned that if you want to make sure the women are making to napkins the same size, you must point to each and say, "Same, same."

Over the past couple of weeks, I have also helped display & sell these unique products at events in the community. People are so willing to help when they know the money is helping a refugee family (80% of the money made from each sale goes to the refugee whoe made the product, 20% goes to help the RSS continue to provide classes for the women). It's also fun to see the excitement the women have when they know they have created something that someone else would pay for.

If you would like to learn more about the RSS, check out their blog: www.refugeesewing.blogspot.com