Paraguay Fair Ladies Project
When Sara Dirksen and Tarah Armbrester visited Paraguay last September, they never dreamed of heading up a business to help its impoverished women. The two, 22-year-old Lee University graduates became co-founders of the Fair Ladies Project, an up-and-coming fair trade business to give women in Asuncion, Paraguay, a chance to pull themselves and their children out of the slums.
Ladies from the Fair Ladies Project
“We were overwhelmed with the poverty in Paraguay,” said Dirksen, the special projects assistant for the Leonard Center at Lee University. “Many of these women and their children literally live in the municipal dump, living off less than $2 a day. The school we went to help, Ko’e Ju, is one of the Children of the Dump funded programs. We visited it four years ago during Missions Week at Lee. We decided to go back for four months to volunteer as assistant teachers – this time on our own.”
According to Dirksen, she and Armbrester also wanted to help the parents of the children they assisted. When they met with a group of mothers, Dirksen said they discovered the women wanted to learn how to sew so they could make clothes for their children. The problem was that no one had sewing machines.
“We wanted to teach them how to help themselves,” Dirksen said. “So we told them if they came up with enough money to buy one sewing machine, we would purchase two more. We hoped it would reveal how serious they were about sewing and help them appreciate its value.”
The eager women pooled their money together and purchased their own sewing machine. Dirksen and Armbrester invested in two more.
“We started meeting three days a week, every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the same 15 women came every day,” said Dirksen. “They would walk over an hour just to get to the meetings. The first things we made were pillows which went over well. Then we made aprons and they turned out really well.”
The aprons turned out so well that Dirksen said they thought this was the perfect opportunity for these impoverished women to change their living conditions.
“We offered them the chance to work for 10 times the average income in Paraguay,” said Dirksen. “A Paraguayan named Lorena Oriedo, with the Church of God, offered them free classes on money management, how to save, communications and business skills. They are currently making aprons by hand, baby bibs, and hand bags, embroidering and crocheting each one personally. You can see that these women have dreams. They want to change their lives and they are trying to help themselves. We love them so much. We want to see all of them do great.”
Dirksen said people should think of purchasing these fair trade products as a way of helping the needy and getting something unique in return.
“These women can make clothing for their kids now. They can have a dream of getting out of poverty thanks to their learning a trade. Now others can share in their dream and impact these lives for less than $15.”
Dirksen, said the Paraguay-made items are placed on the world market but can also be purchased on consignment at Hardwick’s Men Store in downtown Cleveland, TN or by contacting Sara Dirksen at P.O. Box 3450; Cleveland, TN 37320-3450. For further information contact Fair Lady Trading Company .
William Wright
Taken from the Cleveland Daily Banner
March 11, 2009
© 2009 Church of God World Missions
