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Meg Foundation School

Teaching Prostitutes Sewing, Reading & HIV/AIDS Awareness

ISSUE:
This team has identified women's involvement in sex work, and in turn exposure to and lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS as one of the greatest problems facing their community. In Kinamba, Kigali, many women and girls have been left widowed or orphaned from the genocide and have felt forced into prostitution with little to no education and skills to secure other jobs. One team-member states, "After talking to the women, we have helped them to decide to leave prostitution and change their lives, but they need skills training in order to be able to earn a living without prostitution."

SOLUTION:
To help vulnerable women earn a sustainable living without exposing themselves to HIV/AIDS through prostitution, the Meg Foundation Tailoring School offers training in tailoring, workshops on HIV/AIDS prevention and reproductive health as well as literacy and English classes. The goals of the project, measured through surveys, interviews and home visits, include that every student is able to make clothes on her own, that the hygiene and nutrition of the women improve, that they understand the consequences of HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it by using condoms, that women understand their options for contraception, and that the participants learn to read and write.

IMPACT:
In its first year, the Meg Foundation Tailoring School has provided 90 prostitutes the skills to achieve a sustainable and healthy alternative for themselves and their families. In collaboration with another Global Grassroots team, "Achieving a Better Life", the women have attended theater performances on domestic violence, and a few have started to discuss the issue of abuse with their male partners, informing them that they now understand their rights. The school is continuing operations into its second year, and is able to generate income to support their ongoing operating costs by selling fabric shopping bags made by the women. In August 2009, with the sponsorship of Jewish Helping Hands, the school was able to produce 650 hand-made bags for the annual conference of the SEEP Network, an international micro-finance association, and in spring 2010 provided the same for the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies. These contracts have allowed them to purchase more sewing machines and cover salaries for several months.

One remarkable success is that all 30 women from the first graduating class have left prostitution and are able to earn as much money through tailoring contracts as they did through sex work. The women have formed their own sewing cooperative and are seeking microcredit through a local microfinance bank to buy the start-up materials for the cooperative. The cooperative will allow them to solicit larger contracts, develop a credit and loan scheme, and continue to support one another.