Abstract
The connection between a hand or foot driven sewing machine and an Internet linked computer may seem tenuous, but both have the power to admit their user to a world of work and business. Msafiri confesses a strong loyalty to the machine which his grandmother used to earn her living and which enabled his mother to dress herself and the family much better than his father’s income might have made possible. Although today the sweatshops of Asia keep the worldwide price of clothes very low (at the expense of their pitifully-paid workers) and the market stalls are piled high with the rejected clothing of the over-privileged citizens of the industrialised countries, the ability to sew is still a doorway to an income and to suitable clothing for the family. Someone who can sew has job prospects: someone who owns a sewing machine has opportunities to get on in the world. What is more, the sewing machine is robust technology with solid working parts built of metal and wood. Many years ago a group of student contemporaries returning from courses in Europe and America were showing off the new television sets and washing machines that they had brought back to their families and friends. Some of them were also quietly laughing at a comrade who had brought back two heavy sewing machines for use by his wife and other family members. Once the power supply went down, as it always does, and when electrical components failed and proved very expensive or even impossible to replace the laugh was on them.
Old technology still has certain capabilities that are very hard to replace. This line of reasoning explains why the arguments for facilities provided by the People Improvement Organisation (PIO) of Phnom Penh in Cambodia are so appealing. PIO is an NGO sets out to improve the lives of the poorest people in the city, particularly women and children. Its schools and training centres are in the slums, garbage dumps and displacement zones of the city. They offer alternatives to the scavenging and other risky and utterly hopeless occupations that are normal for the young people of these areas. Along with free schooling for children, which is supported by health care, meals and life skills training, PIO offers vocational training for older students. The most important thing about this training is that it genuinely promises to admit its trainees into the world of work. At present there are three types of course - computer skills, dress-making and beauty salon work. Perhaps they look like an ill assorted grouping, but in a way they offer a gradated set of skills. People always need clothes for their back; when she can a woman grasps the opportunity to enhance her beauty; and ambitious people hope to acquire security, and even prosperity, with technology skills.
Arguably the dress-making skills offer the most reliable and disaster-proofed alternative of the three. The dress-makers train on foot pedal machines, despite the fact that PIO has received donation offers of electrically powered machines. The cost of electricity and the unreliability of supply meant that they refused these well-meant offers. However, these remarks are not intended to devalue the IT training that PIO offers. To grow and prosper a twenty-first century economy needs technology skills. Technology skills offer individuals one of the best routes to success, wherever they may be in the world. What is so attractive about PIO is that it sees the importance of the whole range of skills. Indeed, the organisation’s staff is seeking to enhance the dress-making and beauty courses by integrating an Internet module that should enable students to access ideas and business opportunities beyond their immediate environment. Realistic and practical training is what matters and although a strong desire to praise dressmakers inspires this column, it is PIO’s breadth of vision that singles it out.