![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/A-proud-student-wtih-makeup-bags-that-she-designed-made-and-is-selling.jpg\" "\\"A")
<\/a>A proud student with makeup bags that she designed, made, and is selling<\/p><\/div>\n
Well, I am going to tackle a subject that I know nothing about, and would be much wiser to allow the expert to do the writing. However, since it is 11:00 pm, and Theresa is going to bed (being much less a night owl than I am), I will see what I can come up with.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n The sewing classes which Theresa began in our living room back in the fall of 2012 have matured into a full sewing and tailoring school which has now moved into the Bible Institute building. The size of the school has stabilized at about five faithful students. Those who came on a whim soon realized that there was a cost involved \u2013 both a nominal financial cost, but certainly a time commitment as well. Very soon those who were not willing to pay the price found other things to do instead.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n As I have alluded to in some of my blogs over the past years, I am taking a sharp turn away from the \u201cgive away\u201d mentality that has too often prevailed in missions, and of which I have certainly also been guilty as well. Time after time it has proven true to me that when we simply give willy-nilly in fashion, not demanding a cost of some sort on the part of the receiver, the gift is perceived to have little, or no value. The niggler of course, is when the very barest minimum in financial cost is more than many can afford. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n For example, with the sewing school; in order that the students esteem the training as<\/span><\/p>\n Donated upholstery fabric pieces - the lifeblood of the sewing classes. Theresa has been blessed on several occasions to receive bags of free samples<\/p><\/div>\n valuable, Theresa has placed a cost of $25 pesos per month for each student. This equates to $2.08 dollars \u2013 not very much \u2013 barely enough to cover the replacement of broken needles, thread, and other consumable supplies. However, each student must also come to the school. For most this demands bus fare to and from the classes. For some this is an economic burden that bites into their household finances to a point that it becomes a difficulty.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Still, to simply devalue the gift to a point where it becomes valueless is also not the answer. So, what is should one do?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The tack that we have taken is to place a cost onto the school \u2013 minimal, but still a cost nonetheless. Theresa has also been quick to train a national assistant and to hand as much of the ongoing training to her as she is able to handle. When material has been donated to Theresa for the sewing school she has given it to the students free of charge. However, when they began to sew clothing and other things that demanded cloth that was not donated, they needed to purchase their own. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Some beginner class project samples<\/p><\/div>\n And it has been working. Cristina, Theresa\u2019s assistant, is now at a point where she is able to take over the school while Theresa is gone. Although she cannot advance the students into higher levels of work because she herself is not there, she is able to maintain the school. The women are doing extremely will \u2013 all of them having advanced from no sewing on an electric machine ever, to being very competent now in their work.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Many of the women now take on orders from within the community and earn extra income through their sewing. This has always been Theresa\u2019s goal \u2013 that the women will be able to use their newly learned skills to develop cottage industries through which they will be able to help to supplement their family income.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n What a blessing this has become for these women. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The next step is to bring this class of women to a point of competence and confidence in<\/span><\/p>\n Some more class samples - once again, from free upholstery samples<\/p><\/div>\n their work that they can actually begin to make a full-time income through their sewing. Then, or perhaps simultaneously, Theresa will begin teaching other women at beginner levels on a different day. She has developed a 15-level syllabus for the school. At this point none of the women have yet reached the highest level, and have not yet been ready to graduate. But, it is going well, and very soon some will be ready to do so.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I will attach the syllabus below for those of you who know more about sewing than I do. <\/span>Each student will make one or more of the project ideas listed in each level. <\/span>Often the women make several samples of each item to improve their skills.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \n \n 1st<\/sup> Level Project Ideas:<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>Designed to build confidence in beginner sewers. <\/span>Items are square\/rectangular in shape and may include hand sewing, stuffing and lining. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>*Read through instructions in manual on using the sewing machine.<\/p>\n <\/span>*Practice stitching. <\/span>Use paper sewing sheets and scraps of fabric.<\/p>\n <\/span>*Square pin cushion with a button center. <\/span>Cushion could also be used as a Christmas ornament.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>