THE KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society recently launched their sewing room, a project initiated by president of the organisation, Veetha Sewkuran. Officially opened on Wednesday, 7 April, the sewing room offers skills development and employment opportunities to women from the Society.
Sewkuran said she initiated the process after seeing the need for employment among the clients of the Society.
“Our sole purpose is to empower and uplift our clients and help them grow and improve their lives, and we can only do this by training them for jobs that they are able to handle and thereafter employing them, to fill these posts,” said Sewkuran.
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With this goal in mind, the sewing room was set up to empower the Deaf and Hard of Hearing women at the Society, explained Denika Pillay, public relations officer for the Society.
“They will be trained and then employed to sew items such as garments, pet jackets and picnic blankets. The focus of this project is to empower partially sighted and deaf persons by strengthening their capacities in sewing as well as finding employment. In addition, the project advocates for gender equity with the efforts on encouraging the women’s involvement in the economic sustainability in KwaZulu-Natal. The Society acknowledges funding assistance from Celrose (Pty) Ltd, JMV Textiles, Golden Horse Casino, Arusha Dasrath and Salo Mudaly, for the donation of sewing machines, overlockers and material to help bring this project together and the training of our ladies,” said Pillay.
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KZNBDS is a well-established 85-year organisation that caters to the needs of the blind and deaf community. The Society currently reaches the poor, unemployed Blind, Deaf and Deafblind persons living in rural areas who do not have the finances or ability to receive Rehabilitation services.
For more information on the KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society on 031 309 4991 or email info@bdskzn.org.za.
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