Rotary (Nelson, Canada) helped to furnish the Centre and they also bought a good, strong treadle sewing machine, and an industrial machine, as did an American philanthropist.  Second-hand manual machines from the Netherlands, gifts from Camel Productions (Vancouver, Canada),  the Kootenary Quilters, well-wishers, church groups, our dear friends and family have provided initial start-up funding, and have allowed us to develop and to be generous at times to many Zambians in crisis.   The appliqué and embroidery projects are now self-supporting -- generating income that has more than merited our faith and initial donations.

 

The women have planted fruit trees around the Centre, and can cater for workshops organized to educate and benefit the community.   So far the workshops have concerned AIDS, nutrition, health care, environmental awareness and agriculture in a diminishing rainfall area. LADA, an indigenous grassroots organization, has lately held community workshops focusing on issues that bridge the gap between traditional culture and contemporary laws.   Topics include gender, women's rights and marriage laws.

 

A recent basket-making workshop has strengthened the women's ability to make beautiful, traditional Tonga baskets available to the international market.

 

We have also run literacy courses from the Centre.

 

© The Malambo Women's Group

Update 29 October 2007