Botha’s Hill NPO hosts skills training courses

EMBOCRAFT Training Centre Trust is difficult to miss, with the colourful, life-sized metal elephant and giraffe sculptures flanking the entrance.

The newly opened craft shop is a drawcard for the Botha’s Hill-based NPO which also offers a selection of training courses and sewing services available to the public. The shop, meant to promote entrepreneurship, is stocked with beautiful handcrafted items perfect for gifting or home decorating.

The NPO offers training courses and skills development for communities that need it the most. The core function of Embocraft is to train people from the surrounding community who have no formal education and desperately need an income.

Embocraft Training Centre Trust was started in 1986 by Brenda Locke when she was approached by her housekeeper for sewing lessons. The lessons began in Locke’s garage before moving to the current premises in Old Main Road, near Hillcrest. This location is easily accessible to numerous communities and allows the NPO to reach as many potential students as possible.

Today, Embocraft offers various free courses, which include welding and metalwork; basic and advanced sewing on industrial machines and overlockers; basic computer skills and training; fabric painting run by an independent graphic designer, and woodworking classes.

The NPO offers a crafting morning once a month which requires the crafters to give an hour’s worth of volunteering for the organisation. A warm, spacious conference room is for hire by the general public, a resident tenant offers bespoke napery and screen-printing, and the services of seamstresses can be engaged through the NPO. The well-trained seamstresses can make up literally anything from rain jackets and other types of clothing to bags and picnic blankets.

Embocraft Training Centre Trust is happy to accept donations of fabric and sewing essentials.

For more information contact: info@embocraft.co.za