Malawi Children’s Village Sewing Project

July, August, September 2007

Hello Everyone!

 "We are out of sewing thread, but we should have stock soon, it about two and 1/2 months."

I have just arrived in Malawi, and in a different world.

Now that I have worked again at Malawi Children’s Village (MCV) Sewing Project for three months, I am happy to have a lot of good news to report after many challenges and much hard work.

We got a large order for work suits, and the only fabric manufacturer now informs us that they are discontinuing the fabric and a replacement is not available yet. New scissors we buy look good, but don’t cut. A multi-plug outlet and sewing machine motor, first time in use, and the sparks are flying. The bus I take does not start, and has to be pushed down the hill to get going. The cutting machine that cuts multi layers of fabric is not working; a mouse has eaten through the electric cord. At my house, another mouse has eaten holes through my clothes. Living and working in Malawi is an adventure every day!

As usual, after arriving, Fraction (my manager) and I go shopping for supplies in Blantyre. We meet a clothing manufacturer, Mr. Desai, who will help us with getting the industrial machines I am looking for. Here I am, my 2nd day in Malawi, and I find out Mr. Desai’s factory also dyes and prints fabric. Heavier material in wonderful ethnic prints – I immediately think bags for the tourists! On safari in Africa, how can any tourist resist buying anything with an elephant or a hippo on it? In addition to the colorful cotton Zitenje fabrics, we now have a great variety of fabrics for resort and safari items.

Now to MCV, I’m looking forward to meeting with all the workers and seeing how the program is going. This time, I will have three months to make the MCV Sewing Project into an ongoing, profitable business. Fraction and Ayami (the teacher) keep the program going when I’m gone. Fifteen kids, boys and girls, 15 to 19 years old, are working and training in the sewing room. With all the equipment, sewing machines, cutting table, ironing stations, supplies and inventory that is all the room can hold.

The boys, William, Wasi, and Robert, who were trained and put on the payroll last year, are doing excellent work. With a monthly income, they are now well dressed, and are building their own homes in the village. What a difference from last year, when they had nothing! A good group of new trainees are catching on fast. Three girls in training more than 6 months are not doing well, more ripping than sewing. We have to ask them to leave the program. New trainees make big and small items to learn straight lines, setting in zippers, and to go around curves. Sounds easy, well, we are tough teachers! We only want good work! Soon they are making the resort items.

The first week is difficult. I see so many things that need to be changed. Students are sitting, waiting to have their machines fixed, with Fraction frantically trying to keep up with the repairs. We get a repairman, and within half a day all the machines are working – Fraction had been afraid to spend the money. Ayami draws each piece on the fabric for cutting out. We have to make and use patterns to get a consistent product. I start making patterns out of a stiff material that can be used over and over again. It can be a bit of a struggle, with the wind blowing through the windows (no glass) and the pattern pieces flying around the classroom, but that is part of the fun.

I want to make the sewing room an efficiently run place, which means working out every single detail. I apologize to Fraction and Ayami for being so strict, but they thank me for training them. They say, “If you do not tell us, we do not know,” and I know this is what I am here for.

In August, Chantal, a recent fashion design graduate, came all the way from the U.S. to Malawi to work at the sewing project for 10 days. Chantal was not a student of mine from Marymount, rather she had found out about the sewing project from the internet and offered to come as a volunteer. After the first day, as we walked out of the sewing room, she said, “It is so different than what I expected.” My heart skipped a beat and I very hesitantly asked, “In what way?” “It is so much better than I expected,” she replied. “The work of the students is excellent.” She did not realize it at the time, but it was the most beautiful compliment she could have given. I am so proud of “my kids.” (Chantal, impressed with the program, has applied for a Fulbright Scholarship to return to assist our training program next year.)

Hilliard, from the Planters Tea Agency, one of last year’s contacts, gave us a safari shirt to copy. He saw our samples made up, and immediately placed an order for 50 pieces. We did a beautiful

job; all were with double stitching, epaulets, and pleated pockets. I found the buttons that you typically see on a safari shirt at a local market. I bought the whole jar, 2800 pieces that had to be counted out. Took a while! But I am teaching Fraction that you have to buy in bulk, because you never know when you may find them again. We delivered 36 pieces a week later. Hilliard examined each piece and said, “This is the best sewing I have seen in Malawi.”

The Makandi Tea and Coffee Estate, which started contracting with us last year, is our biggest client. Last year we produced 240 dustcoats for them, and they were so pleased with our work they have placed even larger orders with us this year. (As I was leaving Malawi, the students were starting a new order of 200 dustcoats, 60 aprons, 15 work suits, and 300 overalls to be delivered by the end of the year.)

In January 2008, we have to make the school uniforms for the secondary school at MCV. The labor charges will cover the wages for the workers. We will not make a profit, but we will be helping the other orphans.

We’re like a small factory now, and the work we produce is of the highest quality; that is how we train from the start. For example, on a Thursday we start cutting 25 work suits, pants and jackets. They were all finished sewing by Tuesday. One person made buttonholes on Wednesday, while 3 others sewed on buttons. The order was ready for delivery. We now have steady orders like this.

Ayami lays out the patterns and does the cutting. Our experienced workers do the sewing, and these orders are a good way for me to teach Ayami and the kids to work like an assembly line. Now they love it, and see how much faster the production is. They call themselves “sleeve experts” or “collar experts.” We really make the kids feel proud of their efforts, and the sewing-room is a happy place to work.

Fabric availability is never certain. Our heavy cotton fabric for work clothes is discontinued, and the one to replace it is still being woven. All our orders are based on the fabric. It is indeed scary sometimes! But it looks like it might all be ready just in time, so we move on to the next crisis. Our fabric cutting machine cuts through at least one-inch layers of fabric. We have only one, as the other has burned out – a 110-volt appliance plugged into a 240-volt outlet with no transformer. Oops! Too late! The good one still working gives us some problems and parts are not available.

Mr. Desai is on the lookout for a used functioning one. Well, this is what it is like to run a business, and I love the challenges.

MVUU, meaning hippo, is a national park only an hour drive from MCV, beautifully located on the river with lots of hippos and elephants. It’s a busy place, where visitors from all over the world come on safari. I wanted to sell my resort items there, since there are new people every day, who all want to take African presents back home. I have been working on getting this account since before I left home; I contacted them even before I arrived. Good news, we got the account, and delivered a large assortment. The items are all shapes and sizes of bags, placemats, checkbook covers, cell phone holders, wine bottle bags, etc., all made out of colorful Zitenje fabric and the new source of Malawi made ethnic print fabric. It is so easy to sell! Any Azunju (white man) visiting our workshop buys our items, which are fun and easy to transport home. The resort items are a change of pace for the workers to make. After a week of overalls and work suits, it is fun to

work with the colorful fabrics and small items, which are easier to make.

We can do enough work in this place to make all the monthly wages, and some profit. But we need more room to be continually successful. We had a meeting with Mr. Sibale, the MCV director, to show him all our figures, and how we have made the training room an ongoing, profitable business. As you know, because of your generous donation this past year, I dared to

start dreaming about getting our own building. A small factory! This dream is coming true. Mr. Sibale has given us a very nice plot to build on, with a view of the lake on one side, and

surrounded by the MCV vegetable gardens. A wonderful location! It will be very high and open, with screened windows all around for light and air, and enough space for 25 to 30 workers, keeping production to a manageable size. This building will help us towards my ultimate goal, which is to not only provide employment, but to make enough profit so that we can contribute to MCV’s orphan care on a monthly basis.

I’m not worried about the availability of work. Our main focus is work clothing: dust coats, work suits, overalls. Companies always need these items, as they are replaced on a yearly basis. Right now we have orders to keep us working for the next 5 months, so we have stopped taking new orders.

The construction on the building will begin spring 2008. Mr. Banda, MCV’s building supervisor, says it will take $15,000 to $20,000 to complete the building. (Those are his own notes to the left.)

We have put $10,000 in the bank to get us started, so we are well on our way.

I always try to reward my kids and make sure they are being taken care of and are not lacking basic necessities, such as clothing, soap, and shoes. With the rainy season coming in November, I purchased plastic sheeting for them to finish or repair their roofs. As I was giving them out, I discovered that one of my most promising students, Usuf, had no home or place to stay. In my absence, he had not been placed on the payroll, and was still considered a trainee, though he had completed his training.

Now we are going to build him a house for all his unpaid work. Saturday we went to his village, the house that used to be his grandmother’s is now a pile of dirt, but he can rebuild on that spot.

Usuf has already made 300 bricks himself. We buy 1700 more bricks, available across the road. A bicycle, laden with bamboo, happens to pass by. We stop him and buy the whole load for roofing. We hire a bricklayer and carpenter, both students from MCV’s vocational training programs. The construction of the foundation begins on a Sunday.

By the next Saturday the walls are six feet high, and doors and window frames are being made. We pay women from the village to carry the water, which is far away. No cement is used; bricks as well as mortar are simply dirt mixed with water. Fraction arranges for plastic to be wrapped round the foundation stones up to one foot high so water from the rainy season will not destroy the walls. Many houses in the villages collapse during the heavy rains, as the soaked bricks become mud again.

Within 2 weeks, Usuf has his house, which costs us $150, and many people have benefited from the jobs it created.

My Malawi kids know that it is with your help that they have been given this opportunity to have a better life. A fire in July destroyed the MCV nursery building, and I used some of your donated funds to buy diapers and a new washing machine. The one we bought 2 years ago was lost in the fire, and doing the daily laundry by hand was so difficult for the caregivers. They are so grateful for this gift.

It is December and I have just returned to the States after traveling. Fraction has been keeping me posted; they are well on their way to filling the orders. I will go back again by the end of June. The visa is for 90 days and cannot be extended. No matter how long I stay, I’m never ready to leave. I’m looking forward to getting into our own building, and to have the room to train more orphans and to have an ongoing business. Again, thank you so much for your continuing support! I feel so lucky to be able to do this very satisfying work.

Yours,

Nettie Graulich

5533 Sherier Place N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016

EMAIL: nettiegraulich@yahoo.com