Your shopping helps women like Evangeline! (Artisan)

Your shopping helps women like Evangeline break out of poverty!

It takes a lot to escape poverty. This can be especially true for women like Evangeline. It takes access to an opportunity — and your shopping can provide that opportunity!

Evangeline grew up in a leprosy colony. Her father had leprosy and the only way he could get money for his family was begging on the streets. They struggled to get by as a family of six with little money.

Evangeline left school after Grade 9 and taught herself how to use the sewing machine at home. She was eligible to work in the colony weaving unit, where she learned to make parts for bags. She was motivated to gain new skills, also learning how to use and maintain a loom. And when a new opportunity arose, Evangeline was quick to volunteer!

MESH needed workers to add leather trim to their traditional cotton bags. Evangeline rapidly learned the new skills, cutting and sewing leather and canvas. She learned how to use WhatsApp too. Now she co-ordinates between the designers at MESH and the production teams she works with. Her smiling face is often seen on the screens in the MESH studio!

“I like sewing and enjoy the atmosphere learning new things, increasing my knowledge and skills all the time,” Evangline tells us. “I use my earnings to meet household costs, and especially for anything my daughters need.”

She and her husband have been able to save up some money now. With the help of government grants, they have now built a home for their family!

When you buy products from MESH and other artisan producers, you help them provide opportunity to women like Evangline. An opportunity like this can be life-changing — and it’s because of people like you, that these opportunities can be provided.

Thank you!  

Shop MESH products to support artisans like Evangline