Thursday, June 4, 2020

GPM women's sewing collective prevents the spread of COVID-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world the widespread lock-downs are having devastating effects on communities in the slums and under-served villages; and the damage is extensive in low-resource communities throughout India.


Government regulations require all citizens to wear face-masks to prevent the spread of the virus in the hope that this step, along with social distancing, will curtail the spread of COVID-19.

Last year Gabriel Project Mumbai, with the support of the Good People Fund, started a woman’s sewing collective - called Tribal Threads - for women living in slums and remote tribal villages. These women receive livelihood for their sewing skills; empowering themselves economically while looking after their families and community.

As the COVID-19 pandemic started we transported all of our sewing machines to the homes of the women who are under general lock-down. Then our team tried several face-mask designs and created awesome durable washable cloth face-masks for adults and children.

15 women in 3 rural villages and 1 urban slum started sewing these face-masks and so far we have distributed thousands of face-masks to COVID-19 designated rural government hospitals, medical staff at primary health care centers, the police force and hundreds of people living poverty stricken communities.

The women are in the process of sewing 14,000 face masks in the next 6 weeks including a 6,000-unit order to supply an entire district police force and medical support personnel who are at the front-lines of the battle against the spread of COVID-19.

We are happy that our efforts are saving lives and supporting the families of the women’s collective during these trying times.

Enjoy this clip of the women of Tribal Threads while they make a face- mask every five minutes!

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