Purchase of a knitting machine for the Renée BUREL Center in Ilesa
The Congregation of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit in Nigeria is committed to providing training services to the poor in and around Ilesa. After the closure of the Stephen Social Center, Ilaje, belonging to the Diocese of Osogbo in December 2011, the Sisters of the Ilesa community started the Renée Burel knitting center on a small scale with a manual knitting machine that is now old and obsolete. Poverty rates have risen in Nigeria due to the economic and security crisis. Many families have lost their livelihoods for these reasons. Parents have little or nothing to support their children, leading to an increase in school dropouts, early pregnancies and theft.
Nearly 70% of Ilesa’s population are farmers, whose ability to grow yams, manioc, maize, cotton and kola nuts has been affected by the insecurity caused by Fulani herdsmen. In addition, illegal gold mining is taking place to the detriment of the region’s inhabitants.
In this respect, the Sisters who work in Ilesa wish to give local young people and women the means to acquire skills, particularly in sewing and knitting.
Ø Objectives:
* Make skills acquisition accessible and affordable to young women who have dropped out of school and to those who are already in a family situation.
* Strengthen the employability of the inhabitants of Ilesa and the surrounding area.
Ø Needs expressed:
* Contribution to the purchase of a knitting machine: 3,950 €
* Purchase of 8 bags of wool: 400 €