The Community of Saint Paul, through its courses of professional training, has assisted in the creation of a sewing cooperative in Meki, Ethiopia.
Last February, 45 students graduated from cooking, painting and sewing at our "Kidist Mariam" center. Then, ten of the young graduates of sewing classes decided to create, in our same center, a cooperative to make school uniforms. Uniforms are required in all schools in the country, and there are 15 schools, only in Meki. They began to work, and the first order they received was to produce 597 uniforms, for the community school in the neighborhood of Oda. In July the members of the cooperative took the measures to the students, and to this day they are finishing the uniforms, because the course will begin on September 28 and being such a big order, they are just time.
The word about this service has spread, and new orders have already arrived from other schools in the rural area. We are very glad about this new sewing cooperative, and we see that they will not run out of work!