Hawelti Mobile: Sewing Centre

Current project of Hawelti e.V.

We received 34 sewing machines as a donation in kind; these gave us ideas for training courses and starting businesses. Due to the pandemic and the war, we were unable to transport the machines to Aksum. Unfortunately, the long storage period caused damage, rendering the sewing machines unusable.

Mobile sewing and computer school

During our six-month stay in Aksum in 2017, we ran a two-week sewing course together with our association member Renate. Several young people learned the basics of sewing and made clothes.

In another course, young women made washable and reusable sanitary pads. Stefanie Wagner from ‘Natürlich-Almo’ donated the knowledge and materials.

Both sewing courses were very well received by the young people. Some of them didn’t want to stop in the afternoons… A follow-up course was planned, but unfortunately could not take place due to a lack of sewing machines.

What also struck us:
We visited several schools and saw that there were no computers. Here, we repeatedly hear the argument that there are ‘more important things than computers’. We can only agree with this argument to a certain extent. By the time students reach secondary school or university, computer skills are indispensable, even in Ethiopia.

Back in Germany, we reflected on these impressions and considered how we could continue our work here. Then, by chance, we were offered sewing machines. These were various models, some with and some without electricity. As these machines came from a former ‘textile stronghold’, we were also very fortunate that all of them had been checked by a trained sewing machine mechanic. Currently, there are around 40 machines in a warehouse in Nuremberg.

We have had a great partner for laptops for years in the Lapdoo association. Through them, we have already been able to donate 25 laptops to the Megabit 18 school. The laptops we need are donated and equipped with free educational software from Linux. This child-friendly software enables everyone from preschoolers to students to learn in a wide variety of areas. This includes educational software for young children, offline versions of Wikipedia, and word processing and spreadsheet programmes.

And why a mobile sewing and computer school?

In rural areas in particular, opportunities for children and especially women are even more limited, and the lack of infrastructure means that there are few or no opportunities to travel to the city. This makes education and training opportunities even more difficult for these people.

We are working on sending a container with various relief supplies to Ethiopia in 2019. In addition to medical equipment and school furniture, this will also include laptops and sewing machines. Once these have arrived, we want to equip a mobile unit and travel to rural areas to offer sewing and computer courses.

Due to the large number of sewing machines available, we have the opportunity to provide participants who want to start their own business with a sewing machine as ‘start-up capital’.

Instead of making this a ‘microcredit’ with repayment or a “donation”, we are considering agreeing on a temporary ‘consideration’ in return. The idea is that the entrepreneurs train other interested parties over a certain period of time, thus acting as a kind of multiplier.

We would like to run this mobile unit with our own staff. Coordination will be handled by our partner association, which is currently being established in Ethiopia.

Project update December 2019:

We remain convinced that this second Hawelti mobile is very important.

It will enable us to

teach children and adults how to use computers.
teach interested individuals (with a focus on girls and women) how to sew and offer them the prospect of a livelihood. In addition to building a livelihood, the possibility of independence remains an essential aspect.

At the end of 2019, we were close to implementing the idea with the help of funding. Unfortunately, this has fallen through at this point in time.

We are sticking to this idea and continuing to work on implementing it as quickly as possible.

Project update 2022:

Our last trip to Aksum took place in February 2020.

Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible for us to make another planned trip.

Even worse is the war between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray region, which has been raging since 3 November 2020.

As the war in Tigray is leading to food shortages, hunger and malnutrition, we at Hawelti e.V. have decided that emergency aid takes priority over all our other projects.