No Hippies Here

Heidi Isaza - Posted on December 15, 2008

“Because of World Vision, there are many changes in the village,” says Salla Diod, president of one of Tattaguine’s women’s groups. Salla and many other women are participating in a World Vision income generating initiative which teaches the women skills, like sewing and tie-dying, which they can use to earn income and use to help support their families during the dry months in Senegal when the farmers cannot harvest due to lack of rain.

Salla Diod, 55, is the president of the women’s group in Tattaguine. She is no stranger to hard work or group organization. The women’s group she leads, with about 60 participants, is not a new concept in her community. The women have been meeting for a number of years trying to find a way to organize themselves and to be able to earn additional income.

What is new, however, are the opportunities they have since their group has decided to partner with World Vision. “World Vision gave us sewing machines and the women are doing these activities, like sewing,” she says.

Through an income generating initiative, World Vision not only provided the women with four sewing machines to share, they also provided a teacher who is showing them how to sew by hand and by machine as well as other skills they can use during the dry season to generate income.

“[Last year] we received training in tie-dying,” says Salla as she points to a couple of bright-colored skirts hanging on a clothes line across her patio. The purple and yellow dyed fabrics flutter a slightly as the welcome breeze comes into the courtyard. Tie-dyed sets, she goes on to explain, are the group’s best seller. They require fewer materials, less time and are the easiest item to sell. A tie-dyed skirt, shirt, headband combination can fetch about $8.00.

Salla, however, has also learned other skills. She has learned, for example, several hand-stitching patterns. These students, who buy their own materials, learn eagerly during their Thursday afternoon sessions with the teacher and then take their projects home and continue to work on them.

Salla only has one finished example of her hand-stitching. She made a black skirt, shirt, headband combination with bright orange fishes embroidered into the fabric. To make this combination Salla invested about $7.50 in materials. She anticipates being able to sell the combination for about $10.00.

The skills she and other women are learning are changing their perspectives on life. Now, Salla is more optimistic about her future and that of her family now that she knows she has some more options and possibilities to earn money. “It will help me help my family,” she says. “It will help me buy school supplies.”

When they finish their projects, each person decides what to do with what they have made, some sell their projects and save the money for school supplies or other needs and others choose to use what they make. “The purpose of the clothes [that we make] is not only for selling, but also for my family,” says Salla, who enjoys wearing one of the tie-dyed skirts she has made.

While she has not been able to dedicate much time to her handcrafts during the harvest season, Salla is already making plans for the upcoming months. “This business, I will dedicate myself to [it] fulltime during the dry season,” she says.

If she dedicates herself to sewing she can make one outfit, like the one she has finished, per week and would potentially be able to earn $10.00 a month, or more, as her skills and speed increase.

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