Job Skill
All of women are taught the basics of Sewing, Small Business Finance and Gardening to see which skill sets come naturally. Based on skills, women are given an area of focus or track to study further. Each track offers opportunities to earn money or start small businesses to generate revenue after they have left our program. Our goal is not to create dependency but rather teach them skills so that they can flourish on their own.
Small Business
The women that naturally understand finance are placed in the Small Businesses track. This means they study small business and help us to run our Kihavo Cobre store for the kids. They assist us in making shopping list and work the store a few days a week. They get to practice their change making skills with our Cobre (fake money) and work on things like customer service. They are paid for their work but we do require them to save a portion of this so that they can start their own business once they finish our program.
Gardening
Earlier in the year, we planted seeds while teaching all of the women about the keyhole garden. The women in this track continue to maintain the gardens and then they get to reap the rewards. We encourage them to not only eat but to sell their produce and assist them with this however we can. Our goal is to get to the point where we could also sell their produce at our local Pemba Craft Fair, where people sell produce from time to time.
Sewing
In our advanced sewing class, we teach the women to sew the items that we sell in our line, Made with Moxie, school uniforms and items that are commonly made by a local tailor. They are paid for each Made with Moxie item that they can sew to our standard. They are also paid per item of school uniforms they make for our sponsored children. They learn tailoring by making pieces for their family and our staff.
We sell our items each month in a local craft market in Pemba, to visitors, through Etsy, at house parties and craft shows in the States. Our beautiful African Wax Fabrics are typically bought from our local markets in an effort to support the local economy.
Have you checked out our Shop Moxie page yet?