Harambee Gwassi Kenya: Tailoring Project"Akili ni mali" - "Knowledge is power" (Swahili proverb)

Professional Center: tailoring Project

Because of the conditions of life in our villages and poor prospects for the future, many people and especially young people migrate to large cities, especially to the capital Nairobi, where instead of finding fortune end up living in slums in an even more misery dramatic. To counter this trend by 1998 between the various training initiatives undertaken at Nyandiwa, there is the Polytechnic School, which provides vocational courses in computer literacy and the Tailoring Project. The Tailoring Laboratory of 'IKSDP Creative Centre’ is an example of efficient and sustainable local enterprise, created to develop and exploit local crafts and self-sustaining the projects of the Centre.

In the laboratory work six employed people and are manifactured the uniforms for schools and for Scouts of Kenya, in addition to the bags and home accessories of Harambee collection, In the near future is provided for the expansion of IKSDP tailoring and other craft activities to create new job opportunities through training of new staff.

The Harambee Collection products (bags and home accessories, aprons, shoes, kitchen gloves, portatorte, bags for packing bottles, pillow ..) are distributed in Italy by the Social Cooperative "Altrove" (NPO-CTM Altromercato) at the following stores: "Bottega del Mondo-Altrove" (Arese & Bollate, Milan). For informations: mariagrazia.sferrazza@alice.it

Interview with Margaret and Maria Grazia

Creative workshop: the Recycled Bag