Sewing for Life

Last spring, during our previous visit, the tailoring apprenticeship program at Maison de la Gare was just kicking into action. Kalidou, a talibe not so long ago, had been hired to lead the program, under the supervision of Tailor Baka.  Older talibe in transition were signing up, in hopes of finding a path to an independent life in the future. Lacking skills, education, or family support, independence is often just an elusive  idea. So many of these boys are likely to remain tied to their marabouts, as the daara is the only place they have to lay their heads at night.

When Dad and I arrived at the centre Monday Morning, Kalidou and his team were in action, measuring, cutting and sewing. But, the number of participants had significantly diminished. There is room for 10 apprentices at a time. The apprenticeships are designed to last at least a year, maybe as long as two years. Kalidou had just three apprentices, Souleymane and Elhage began in May, and Ibrahima, who just recently joined the program. I asked him where the others had gone. Omar had actually found regular work as a shopkeeper. And, with his karate skills (he had made his way to green belt in the Maison de la Gare karate program, and he is a skilled fighter) he would be a valued employee, able to guard the store as well as take care of customers. Others had left because they did not have the time. If they still lived in the daara, they would have had to produce a regular begging quota of money to the marabout. So, at their older ages, that means working in the market, doing small odd jobs as porters or lifting heavy materials. It can mean a lot of hanging around the market waiting for work that may or may not come. And, if they are free of their marabout, they still need to do this to earn their rent. And, they all need to eat. Money must be found for that too. 

I asked why they could not sell enough of their output to be able to buy lunch for the boys, pay them a little bit, enough that they don't have to spend their days finding fleeting work to survive. Afterall, once the apprenticeship is complete, they will have the skill to last a lifetime, to sustain themselves and even be able to build families of their own in the future, raising boys who will never see the inside of a forced begging daara. Senegal needs more of these. "There are not enough customers willing to buy". Furthermore, only Kalidou really has sufficient skill yet to generate products efficiently enough as required for a successful business. The others are still learning. They make beautiful things, but it takes them more time and supervision.

Some of my karate friends in Ottawa and I had previously discussed the possibility of the talibes making shopping bags which we could sell for fundraising. I discussed the plan with Kalidou who got to work making samples for me. We eventually settled on a large, colourful shopping bag, together with several smaller grocery bags for fruits and veggies, maybe bread, so plastic bags can be dispensed with. Kalidou suggested some bright, African patterns and then his team got to work.

I posted pictures of the samples on Facebook, asking if my frinds thought such things would sell. I was astonished to receive over a dozen responses almost immediately. The orders were flowing in! I could not wait to tell Kalidou, Elhage and Souleyman of the interest abroad in what they were doing. If we could sell the bags at home and send the money back to sustain the tailoring program, maybe other volunteers could do this too, creating a continuous source of business, even when the orders in Senegal are hard to come by. We showed Norweigan volunteer, Mari the bags. She was very interested and was sure her friends back home would also be. With such an increased revenue source, they could afford to not only keep buying the fabric and supplies needed, maybe a small stipend might also be afforded for the apprentices, just enough to keep them from having to find other work to survive. 

Meanwhile, in order to fill their first international order (for me) of about 20 big grocery bags and many dozens of smaller grocery bags, the tailoring team worked until 1:00am this morning, and they were already hard at work when I arrived at the centre today. Seeing the possibilities for this extra source of revenue, the boys likely won't stop sewing until our departure Sunday. There is a buzz about the possibilities for the tailoring apprenticeship program, and inquiries from talibes are already perking up.