Sewing Seeds Opens School for Families at the Dump James R. Callan - Vallarta Today | |
go to original January 6, 2015 |
Puerto Vallarta / Volcanes group meets with Team Sewing Seeds International. Details are coming together! This will be SEW great!! A sewing school in Mexico!
Sylvia Rempel immigrated to Canada and started sewing at an early age, making clothes for her dolls. After she married, she sewed her husband’s suits, ties and shirts. Eventually, she started her own company, Sun Ice Ltd., with her eldest daughter, Angela (Rempel) Grams.
Two other daughters and a son joined Sun Ice which quickly grew into a national label and became the official supplier to the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988.
But that won’t be the greatest legacy Sylvia Rempel leaves.
Sylvia sold Sun Ice in 2001 and in 2002, formed Sewing Seeds International (SSI) with the mandate to set up and create self-sustaining sewing schools in impoverished areas around the world. The plan was to bring hope for a better future by empowering women, giving them the skills and help to improve their lives and the lives of their families and communities.
Since then, SSI has provided sewing machines, materials and instruction in the poorest areas of Sierra Leone, Ukraine, and Peru. Next year, a project will begin in Democratic Republic of Congo.
But the big news for this area, is that Sewing Seeds International has set up a sewing school right here in the Volcanes neighborhood of Puerto Vallarta.
The first class will begin in January. Graduates from this beginner’s class will be eligible for the intermediate class in April, and the advanced classes in September or October.
When the announcement was made through the Volcanes Community Education Project (VCEP), more than 100 Volcanes ladies submitted applications. About thirty of those have been accepted to this initial class. Graduates of the advanced classes will be able to teach future classes and continue the initiative. This provides the potential for an on-going training project which can offer opportunities to many women for years to come.
Read the entire story at Vallarta Today.
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