When I first started working at CURE Zambia I noticed that in the hospital chapel there was a bevy of women busy sewing and beading.  I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, so this week I decided to get some answers.  Apparently, the women I saw sewing and beading are the mothers of patients at CURE Zambia.  Many of these women come from all over the country and most are very poor and have very little income.  CURE Zambia’s Women’s Empowerment Program, headed by Reverend Na Haamumba (spiritual advisor at CURE Zambia) is doing its part to help women in the community learn income-generating skills to assist in breaking the cycle of poverty.

“The whole thing started after the realized that most of the mothers that come to the hospital are financially burdened and didn’t have any skills that could earn them an income,” explained Reverend Na.  “We sat down and decided to start the Women’s Empowerment Program in 2007, shortly after the hospital opened.”  The program initially began with women making tie and dye products, but now has morphed into beading, jewelry and purse making, using recycled shopping bags.

The program so far has been quite successful with 10 of the women trained in tie and dye able to sell their products on their own.  This income has allowed these women to send their children to school and purchase seeds to grow vegetables to feed their families.  One of the women is now supplying the University Teaching Hospital with paper bead necklaces and has been earning K 500,000 ($100 USD) a month!  Not bad!  The program has also become popular amongst customers who often order items from the women in the program.  In fact, items made had become so popular within the community that an organization called the Forgotten Voices agreed to give a sewing machine to the CURE Zambia Women’s Empowerment project to help the women sew handbags at a faster pace to keep up with their orders.

“We also encourage these women to take the skills they’ve learned and teach them to the members of their families,” said Reverend Na.  “We want the entire family included so that they all have something to do.”