Kari can sew, fix sewing machines

By PETER ESILA
KARI Vani, 27, from Papa village in Central can sew and fix sewing machines.
He was trained in the village after women from Papa attended a training conducted by the Boera Women’s Association in 2016 with the support of ExxonMobil Global Women in Management programme.
More than 50 women who attended the training have formed the Advancing PNG Women Leaders Network to help them stay connected.
Papa Veadi Magi Sewing Group treasurer Maba Geita told of how Kari registered himself to be one of the participants.
“Every week we meet. There are 10 of us teaching new skills that we learnt from outside. We did like that and did fundraising.
“We invited people to come in. We thought of the 31 other young mothers in our community among them Kari.
“We had less than five mothers who know how to sew, but after the training, it was a big help to the community at Papa.”
Kari was one of the two males who attended the sewing and fixing of sewing machine training.
Kari completed his secondary schooling at Kwikila Secondary in 2013.
He is married and has a daughter. “After secondary, I did not continue but went to do upgrade at the Department of Open and Distance Learning and Port Moresby Institute of Matriculations Studies.
“After that I came to stay at the village.
“ExxonMobil came and did the training here.
“They wanted participants, 30, so I volunteered to come in.”
He is currently living in the village.
“I am not in the employment sector, but I hope to make money, small business out of the skills I learnt.
“During the seven days of training, we learnt how to sew and fix the machines.
“So during the training, we collected malfunctioned machines, we collected 52 malfunctioned machines. Out of these, we fixed 32 manual sewing machine,
“After that, I was walking around, people came to me to fix their machines, and this training has taught me a lot.
“I did not charge them for fixing their machines. I am doing it for free. I am still learning so it is part of my practical.
“The group hopes to put a garment factory for the sewing mothers in the area.
“We will then need more training on industrial machine, which I am also keen to learn.”