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A UMNS Report
By Eveline Chikwanah*
1:00 P.M. EDT July 7, 2011 | CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe (UMNS)
Jennipher Mungure inspects bedding created by a women’s club run by The
United Methodist Church in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. Mungure is one of many
women who supplement their income with sewing. UMNS photos by Eveline
Chikwanah.
View in Photo Gallery
Electric sewing machines buzz. Aged hand-operated machines creak,
some thirsty for a few drops of oil. Figures bent on all fours murmur as
they precariously juggle scissors, pins and paper. A lone voice breaks
the monotony and the machines go silent.
Instructions are issued; some hands go up with questions. The
instructor repeats what she has just said and demonstrates what to do.
Then it’s back to work again. Machines pick up their cadence, and pins
are tucked into paper as scissors snip up and down.
Welcome to the women’s club run by The United Methodist Church to try
to empower members financially by teaching them to sew, crochet, knit
and bake.
“We run the club to impart skills which members can use to earn a
living,” said Jennipher Mungure, chairperson for the
Chitungwiza-Marondera District.
This month, the lessons were about how to sew a bedroom set with a
throw, two pillows and four scatter cushions. The workshop was in the
local church sanctuary.
The seven-piece set, whose materials cost about $100 in U.S.
currency, can be sold for at least $300. Orders for the trendy bedroom
accessories have started trickling in.
“We use the acquired skills to furnish our homes at affordable costs
and also earn a living,” said the 55-year-old Mungure, who supplements
her meager widow’s pension with earnings from sewing, crocheting and
baking cakes for all occasions.
Many skills acquired
On Tuesday mornings, church buildings in the 14 circuits that make up
the district are temporarily transformed into workshops as members meet
and share patterns and recipes. Annual competitions among the circuits
ensure that high standards are achieved and maintained as members battle
to make the best products possible.
For Margaret Guvheya, 74, the club has played a major role in her life:
“I joined when I married in 1957 and have acquired many skills.
Initially we were taught how to clean our homes and later began to make
dolls from the fruits of the indigenous mutamba tree. The dolls were
sold to tourists.”
A Zimbabwean woman works with a hand-operated sewing machine during a
workshop for 14 circuits inside the sanctuary of the United Methodist
church.
View in Photo Gallery
The mutamba produces a round fruit, similar to an orange, but with a
hard shell that has to be cracked to get to the juicy flesh.
Guvheya, now widowed, said craftwork in the 1960s included making
beads from the seeds of wild fruit trees and sandals from reeds. “I
supplemented my husband’s income with earning from items I made at the
church club,” she said.
Seke South local church chairperson, Helen Paraiwa, said she learned
to sew clothes for her family. “I can now sew dresses, suits, shirts,
T-shirts and trousers for my family. I am also able to feed my children
and grandchildren because the club encourages us to plant back gardens
for vegetables, herbs and fruits.”
Paraiwa, 60, has been a club member for a decade. She now sells
cupcakes and vegetables in her neighborhood. “At club meetings, we
network as women and share ideas on how we can raise our families and
fight poverty.”
Club members last year learned to sew school satchels and traveling
bags. This enabled women with children of school age to save the cost of
buying satchels.
The women’s club, Rukwadzano Rwe Wadzimai, formed the club to forward
the union’s goal of making members financially independent through
promoting craft skills. RRW members are single parents, widows and
married members of The United Methodist Church. For a nominal membership
fee, members can access training that vastly improves their lifestyle.
A prominent member of the Chitungwiza-Marondera RRW club is district worker Mavis Chimbunde, whose husband, Nyasha, is a pastor.
“The club is an important activity in the church as it helps us care
and provide for our families. It empowers women to become
self-sufficient,” she said, adding that some members benefited from
sewing school uniforms and establishing backyard projects.
Chimbunde said the aim of the RRW club is to enable members to get
free training and use the education to set up income-generating
projects. Members can also make nutritious meals at an affordable cost.
As an example, since learning how to make their own pasta last year,
they no longer buy the product, thereby saving money.
The homes of some members now sport colorful and stylish kitchen
curtains, thanks to the RRW club. Lounges also benefited from the
balloon curtain, which was one of the items made last year.
Women share sewing tips during the month’s lesson on how
to sew a bedroom set. The workshop empowers women
financially by teaching them to sew, crochet, knit and bake.
View in Photo Gallery
Many challenges
No one is really sure when the RRW club was established. One of the
pioneers of RRW, Martha Mudzengerere, recalls joining in the early
1940s.
“I was a member in the ‘40s and became a club teacher in 1948,” she
reminisced. “Initially I taught knitting, crocheting and cooking, but we
realized that most women at the time had no access to basic education,
so I was assigned a literacy class.”
Mudzengerere, 101, said she also taught young women who left school
but were not yet married. “The aim of the club was to teach women that
we do not need to buy everything. We can make high-quality products
which cost little and do not strain our pockets,” she said.
The club has its share of challenges. “The church does not have
sewing machines; we use our own and those without have to borrow from
other members,” said Paraiwa. At times, members have to pool their
resources for the association to run efficiently.
“We also face problems raising funds required to purchase materials,” she said.
Despite the many hurdles in their way, club members make their way to
the church sanctuary each Tuesday morning, knitting needles and other
tools in hand, eager to learn and network with their peers.
*Chikwanah is a communicator from East Zimbabwe Annual Conference.
News media contact: Tafadzwa W. Mudambanuki, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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