Calgary charity helps ‘sew’ seeds of hope for Sierra Leone war widows

Providing a safe, comfortable life for her and her two children was beyond one Sierra Leone war widow’s wildest dreams.

N’Mamah Kamara’s husband was killed during the country’s decades-long war, leaving her to fend for her young family alone, with no money and no skills to speak of to even try to earn a living.

“No hope. We was hopeless.”

It took the Calgary-based not-for-profit, Sewing Seeds Canada (SSC) founded by Sylvia Rempel (of Sun Ice fame), to help Kamara learn the skills that eventually helped her open two custom tailor shops and a sewing training centre in her native Sierra Leone.

“N’Mamah was one of our very first students and we just watched her progressed. We came back numerous times — we’ve trained over 200 women in Sierra Leone and she was the one who took it to the next level every time,” said Sewing Seeds team member Tammy Bartel.

SSC has completed missions in six different countries. The program, says Bartel, is designed to empower underprivileged women by teaching them valuable and practical skills they can use to help support themselves, their families and even their communities.

“The way that Sylvia’s designed this is to teach women and increase and build self-confidence.”

Kamara was also able to take advantage of the charity’s microloan program to help build her business and welcome 18 students to her training centre where she also teaches. She has come to Calgary to partake in a pilot project that will see more women learn to teach SSC’s program including Heather Compton who spent her career in the financial services industry.

“What I know is, if you give, if you give women economic empowerment and an ability to earn a living, you change the world.”

And you give them something many, like N’Mamah Kamara, were without.