This Calgary based organization is helping out in Sierra Leone, Ukraine and Peru with projects that empower women – please think of how you can help them and here at BYKA we will be keeping them in mind as we expand in Sierra Leone. (Picture from SewingSeedsInternational.com web site)



Sewing Seeds International began its first project in Sierra Leone, Africa in 2002. They sent a team of eight trainers to the war-torn country and provided sewing machines, materials and a beginner’s sewing training program to 30 war-widows. They followed up with an advanced sewing training program for these women in June of that same year. To date they have trained over 120 women in Sierra Leone, Africa.



•2 students have set up their own sewing training programs,
•10 have opened their own shops,
•15 are sewing and selling clothing and other items at the market,
•4 have contracts for school and church uniforms,
•25 are sewing for themselves and others for a small income,
•10 are doing repairs for a small income,
•1 is in school learning to repair sewing machines, and
•85% are sewing clothing for themselves and their families, including sewing their own children’s uniforms.

They also have sewing training programs in Ukraine and Peru.

In each country, they have developed children’s programs specifically to suit the needs of the area where they are working. These include teaching English, Vacation Bible School, outreach programs to prisons and orphanages, Canadian Christmas, and in Ukraine they are partnering with a local church in Novovolynsk in building an orphanage facility called Elli-Rose’s Place.​