A VISIT TO BOMEN SEWING GROUP

Marie-Jeanne Mujinga, the director of BOMEN Sewing Training Center and Workshop, will be the guest of Congo Cloth Connecting in Michiana and the MCUSA Assembly in Pittsburgh. During this week, get to know her and BOMEN day by day on the blog.

Marie-Jean Mujinga

Suzanne Lind, a member of Congo Cloth Connection, lives and works part of the year in Kinshasa, DR Congo. The pastor of Bondeko Mennonite Church, the hosts of this project, escorted her there where she befriended the women who are teaching and learning sewing. They had many questions and are eager to know when the seamstresses from America are coming to visit as well! This, indeed, is Congo Cloth Connection.

Suzanne Lind:

When I visited the Bomen Sewing Workshop in December, I left $100, which I said was from CCC for a new sewing machine. The new machine has now been purchased and is in use. Everyone is very pleased with it.

Monique Bapa, who started her training at Bomen one month ago, is
working with the new CCC Sewing Machine.

Tina Tshidinda, who is in her first week of training at BOMEN,
waits her turn to use the new machine
while Monique Bapa works on her project.

Monique threads the machine.

Mama Suzanne takes a turn. It's harder to get that handle turning than I thought.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to sew on this piece of cloth?"

With help from Tina on the handle and Monique at the presser foot, Mama Suzanne gets coordinated and sews a seam.

BOMEN Sewing Training Center and Workshop will receive the first monetary profits from sales of cloth. BOMEN is a new project of the Bondeko Mennonite Church in Kinshasa to train women heads of household, teenage mothers, and unemployed young women in sewing, dressmaking, and tailoring. To date only a small number have been part of the program because only two sewing machines are available.

BOMEN seeks help to buy additional sewing machines, tables and chairs, supplies, and rent for a larger building for the center. Local contributions will cover personnel costs. The project hopes to train 100 women in basic sewing skills over an 18-month period. It will help the trainees find employment and establish a production workshop to start young women in their careers.