Job prospects for the Zulu people who live on tribal land near Durban, South Africa, are bleak. Three years ago, the nearby Rotary Club of Hillcrest addressed the unemployment rate by partnering with Embocraft, a skills-training group serving the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The group offers classes in sewing, computers, textiles, welding and woodwork, with the goal of alleviating poverty.

Hillcrest Rotarians have co-sponsored four sewing courses, each lasting 15 sessions, for Zulu seniors or others who are unable to travel to industrial areas for employment. “There’s not a lot of work available, so people have to travel for jobs. That can require taxis or buses, which are expensive,” explained past District Governor Peter Dupen.

The participants — 10 or so in each class — learned to sew basic items such as cushion covers, napkins and pillowcases on hand-operated machines. The community selected the best students from the first three classes to participate in the fourth, which used electric sewing machines donated by Embocraft. The sewing project has been a success, Dupen said, and the participants have sold a number of the items they’ve made. Next, Rotarians will offer training to sew uniforms for the community’s schoolchildren — giving the craftspeople some income and making uniforms more affordable to locals.