Halagevaderahalli! How fast can you say that?
Brenda was recently asked to share Jacobs Well’s training expertise at a new project in the Halagevaderahalli area on the outskirts of Bangalore. Established by the NGO Oasis India, this tailoring programme is set in the midst of high unemployment, violence and under-age marriage. Oasis is committed to bringing about a positive transformation in the community and it was fantastic to see the training sessions bringing together women from different religions and backgrounds.
Oasis wanted to encourage the ladies in the programme to look beyond the training and see where their new skills could lead them – enter Brenda and Jacobs Well! Sharing a similar root to this new Oasis project, Jacobs Well was a clear example of what could be achieved in the future. In order to succeed in tailoring, the trainees need to concentrate on skills, quality and professionalism. Brenda gave one presentation sharing all about Jacobs Well, one on what professionalism means and how to start putting that into practice now (yes even in training, much to everyone’s amusement!) and then a workshop on quality, spotting the differences between examples of excellent workmanship with poorer quality pieces.
The sessions were a great success and a good laugh too! It was a valuable opportunity for us to look back and see how far Jacobs Well has come since our early days as a training scheme, the lessons we have learned and how we can support other community groups to succeed. Vocational training is something we’re hugely passionate about and it was our pleasure to spend time encouraging these ladies to work towards a bright future.
