More Than Just a Job

Imagine this. You’re a mom of two elementary aged kids along with a toddler but you’re also the daughter of elderly parents. You need to provide for your family financially but you also desire for your kids to get an education. The nearest public school is a five mile walk. Your child is one of fifty plus students assigned to one teacher. Supplies are scarce and your child must share a textbook with one or two other students. Oftentimes you get there only to find out the teacher has not shown up and your child won’t receive instruction that day. After traveling to drop your children off at school, you then begin the walk to your job with your toddler in tow. It’s been difficult to find work where you can bring her along safely but you feel the responsibility to provide for your aging parents. The days are long and you hope that your children are receiving a good education but you aren’t sure they are learning much in the school they attend.

Enter a job at Francis + Benedict. You’ve just been hired as a seamstress and been told your children’s private school tuition will be paid for as part of your employment. Their school is just a few blocks from the House of Peace where you will be working and the class sizes are much smaller. F+B will also pay for their uniforms and school supplies and you know the teachers are consistent and will show up every day. You’ve also been given a motor bike and so your commute to work has been cut down from an hour and a half to fifteen minutes. After dropping your two elementary kids off at school, you travel the few blocks to the House of Peace and drop your toddler off in the child development center where a loving teacher cares for other seamstresses children who aren’t yet in school.  Your mind is at ease as you begin your work day and are able to earn a generous wage to provide for your family. Not only that, but all three of your children are being set up for the future as they receive a quality and consistent education. 

This is the reality of many of our sewists at F+B. By providing them a job, we are also opening up the doors to education for their kids that could very well change the trajectory of their life. Would you consider being part of this generational impact and donating towards our Child Sponsorship initiative?