I realize that when I talk about the vocational program I’ve
focused the majority of my attention not the masonry program. There are a few
reasons for this, the big one being that I have a pretty good relationship with
pastor Wisner. I felt guilty about this though, because the other trades are
still very important and moving along quite well. Today I sat in on the sewing
class today. The sewing class is pretty interesting. It is under the
jurisdiction of the vocational program but it is different in a few ways. The
program got started a few months before I came down and was one of the programs
that I based my original plans for the school.
One of the biggest differences in the sewing curriculum is
that over half of the student body is made up of women. Most of the vocational
trades are all male. This is not just true for our situation Haiti but in the
US as well. When I was researching the trades last summer I discovered that over
95% of all tradesmen are men. This is not too surprising, the trades are quite
physically demanding, and jobs like that are generally more appealing to men
(though not always, I don’t want to promote any stereotypes). The classes are
about 75% women and 25% men. The men train to be tailors and the women train to
be seamstresses.
The program has a pretty interesting structure. The students
have lessons on the theory of sewing, but lectures can’t teach very much to the
students without any hands on experience, so pretty early on the students begin
to sew. Most of the lessons the students have now are done through on the job
training. When I went down today, I arrived about five minutes after the
classes began and the students were already getting to work tracing fabric and
working at the sewing machines. The sewing machines they use are not the
electrical machines we all used in Home economics class, but they are
mechanical machines used over 100 years ago. They have a foot pedal the
students have to press to move the fabric along and sew. You might be thinking
that a school that uses mechanical sewing machines is a school for luddites,
but it’s the most productive technology available for sewing.
The electricity in Haiti is pretty inconsistent. The
electricity is off right now. This past weekend we had a little bit of power on
Saturday, and then the power didn’t come back until Tuesday afternoon. We had a
little bit of power last night and now the power is back off. Fortunately we
have solar panels that charge a battery pack so we have a little bit of power
when the Haitian power isn’t running. Most places in Haiti however don’t have
this luxury and have to learn to live without electricity for multiple days on
end. A seamstress or tailor has to function in an environment where electricity
is scarce and inconsistent, making a mechanical sewing machine the most logical
piece of equipment for any tailor or seamstress.
The work that the tailors and seamstresses do is not meant
to solely serve as a teaching instrument but has a productive value to it. The
seamstresses and tailors sew most of the uniforms worn by the school children.
When they started the course back last spring the students were just making the
uniforms for the La Croix School, but since then the mission has gotten
contracts with other schools in the area and now the seamstresses and tailors
make the uniforms for multiple different schools in the La Croix area. This is
a very lucrative business. The uniforms have to be replaced on a regular basis,
and they have to be fitted for every school bound child. Though not every child
goes to school, there are over 3500 children in the La Croix School alone, and
even more out in the other communities, and these uniforms have to replaced
about once a year. Making student uniforms can give the tailor and seamstress
students a great first job and help them start their career. Sewing uniforms
also saves the mission money and can bring in a little extra income.
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