Helping Women Break Out of Poverty in Zambia

In the Ngwenya Compound in Livingstone, Zambia, 30 women gather at St. Monica’s Parish Annex in the Anglican Diocese of Lusaka three days every week. The women are part of a skills training program aimed at fighting poverty in this poor community located less than 20 miles from Victoria Falls. They are taught tailoring, design and tie dying. The classes not only help them learn a trade, but enable them to earn extra money from the sale of their products.

“I feel proud about being able to make items that can provide income for me and my family,” said Maria. She began in the program as a student and has been an instructor for nearly four months. “I can take the items I produce out to my fellow sisters and others in the community,” said Maria. With the instruction she received in the program, Maria has made children’s clothing, dresses and kitchen sets which include a glove, apron and window curtain. “Even my nineteen-year-old daughter, Gertude, has taken an interest in sewing,” she said.

Their modest tailoring and design studio is filled with scissors, thread, an array of colorful fabrics as well as new equipment purchased through a partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD). The support provided four handheld and two electric sewing machines, two over locking machines and, a button making machine.

For the women in the program, the class means more than learning how to make a dress, sew a curtain or tie dye a head wrap—it is giving each woman hope and an opportunity to learn a skill and break out of poverty.

“When I worked with the Diocese of Lusaka to start the program in 2000, I wanted to help people find a trade,” said Melita, skills training coordinator. “I go into the Ngwenya Compound and see the suffering. Most of the people are not working and do not have jobs. It is important to gain survival skills,” she said.

Through the Zambian Anglican Council, the Livingstone Anglican Parish is working in partnership with ERD to provide vocational training to the community of Ngwenya. Many of the women came through other ERD supported programs run at St. Monica’s. ERD and the diocese offer an HIV/AIDS prevention of mother-to-child transmission program, provide psychosocial care and food to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, distribute long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and educate vulnerable populations on malaria prevention. 

Patience* enrolled in the program so she could earn a living. At 32 years old, she and her husband, a carpenter, are HIV positive and have two children. She is also raising her brother’s three daughters following his death from AIDS. “I came here to learn to do something that could support my family,” she said.

Since joining the group, she has learned to tie dye fabrics and create dresses and head wraps.

The group hopes to market and sell their products to local businesses in Livingstone.

“There is a change and transformation that happens to the women who participate,” said Melita. “Through this and other programs offered through the Anglican Church in Zambia, we want to see the eight Millennium Development Goals achieved,” she said.

For more information on Episcopal Relief and Development’s programs, visit http://www.er-d.org/ or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129.

*Denotes name changed.