As Sheryl WuDunn writes in Half the Sky, “When you educate a girl, there is a ripple effect that goes beyond what you would get from a normal investment…When you educate a girl, you educate a village”.

Statistically, women reinvest much more of their income(s) into their family to directly benefit their children. As they are more likely to manage the day to day functioning of the household, holding down the fort so to say, regardless of whether they work from home, outside the home, or solely look after the home, women are often responsible for funding their children’s educations. In addition to preparing healthy food, and providing medical care for their kids, women are the driving force equipping the next generation—the generation that could break free from extreme poverty. The reality is that, every investment that empowers a woman, sparks a ripple effect that influences not only her life, but the lives of her family and community too.

In an effort to accomplishing this momentous task, Be A Mercy Foundation has set up a vocational sewing program for women in Rohingya Refugee camps and in remote villages across West Africa. This vocational sewing program is twelve months in duration. We have now reduced the number of women attending vocational training classes to 200. And the course period is now 6 months. In previous years, nearly 300 women graduated from this program annually. A total of 1500 women have graduated from this program since its inception five years ago; and as of now there are currently 200 women attending this program. By owning their own machine, each woman can be empowered and enabled to start providing for their family immediately. Each graduate can earn up to $100.00 a month, which is sufficient for her to support her entire family.

By gifting a sewing machine today, you’ll be saving an entire family from hunger, the potential danger of prostitution, and ultimately sowing a ‘goodly loan’ towards their future. As simple a gift a sewing machine may be, in hindsight, it is a gift that facilitates the dignity and empowerment of an entire family.