By Jo Collins, team member from First Presbyterian Church of White Bear Lake, MN
When asked prior to leaving for Sierra Leone why I was going, I was hard pressed to find an adequate answer except that I felt drawn to participate. My immediate purposes were to spend time with the young women in the tailoring class to help them learn to make their own Days for Girls sanitary hygiene kits. And second, to identify sewing needs we here in Minnesota could support, thus helping the students develop skills to provide income for their families. It didn’t take long, however, for me to realize that my overall reason for being there was two-fold: to WITNESS for myself the valuable work RHCI is doing to improve the mortality rates of women and children, and to ADVOCATE for its continued progress when I returned home.
I was impressed by the enthusiasm and interest the women had for sewing and learning new skills. They were genuinely eager to try out new tasks and tools like using a rotary cutter to cut multiple layers of fabric. It was amazing to see how much they could do with so little, on treadle machines no less, and in some cases with their young children underfoot. In fact, one day I observed someone breastfeeding while sewing on a treadle machine…. so much for safety! We also wondered how they were able to keep their white uniform blouses so pure white clean with all the dust and just a washboard for laundering. Working with their instructor, Asnma, and being with the young seamstresses was one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I have had in a long time.
This sewing experience…..plus observing health care clinics crowded with women and young children in neighboring villages, participating in the distribution of Days for Girls hygiene kits at a secondary school for girls, and just meeting and interacting with residents of Tikonko and RHCI in-country staff have all built a commitment on my part to do whatever I can to support RHCI’s mission in Sierra Leone….. Starting with assuming responsibility with Julie Becker for shipping barrels of donations to Tikonko. I’m also asking friends and family for financial help to ship these barrels. For now, I’m looking forward to helping at the next and future RHCI fundraising dinners and will be looking for other ways of staying connected and making the most of my unforgettable time in Sierra Leone.