Hiiraan Online

“They come in with their eyes down,” Slagle said. “They just have no idea what we’re asking them to participate in.”

In its most basic form, Stitch unites refugee women with English-speaking instructors who teach them the basics of sewing.

But it’s more than that, said Janet Raderer, who runs the program alongside Slagle. It gives refugee women a safe place to practice English, she said, and gives them skills and confidence to move toward self-sufficiency.

“We want to help them to be independent,” Raderer said.

Since Stitch started in 2011, more than 50 women have gone through the program, many coming come from Nepal, Cuba and Somalia. On a daily basis, volunteers will help a group of six to eight students with various sewing projects. A group of 17 volunteers help run the progam as teachers or in other capacities.

Slagle and Raderer said when they first started the program, they had a difficult time taking students out of Kentucky Refugee Ministry’s English as a Second Language classes, which met at times similar to Stitch’s schedule.

Now, the ESL teachers sometimes refer students to Stitch as a way to learn English.

“I think the teachers began to realize how much conversation goes on in here, and we are just amazed with the students that we’ve had for a long time, how much better their English is,” Raderer said.“They’re learning different words — they’re learning ‘bobbin’ and ‘thread’ and ‘scissors’ — but in conversation, they’re learning a lot of English as well.”

Most students come into the Stitch program without any previous sewing experience, so they start by sewing circles and squares on pieces of paper, Raderer said. Once they become comfortable with the machines, they move onto tote bags, pillow cases, aprons and eventually more sophisticated garments like pants and jackets.

“We teach each other,” Slagle said. “It’s a wonderful thing, and I absolutely love coming.”

The students stay with Stitch for varying lengths of time. Sometimes they reach a skill level where they don’t need Stitch anymore, Slagle said, or some get jobs that prevent them from attending class. At that point, if a student expresses the skill and desire to be a “good seamstress,” Slagle said, she will graduate from the class and Stitch will send her away with a sewing machine and a box of notions.

Six weeks ago, Slagle and Raderer added a class on Thursdays, called “The Cottage Stitchers,” for women whose skills have outgrown the Stitch class. The women will make items using fabric provided by the program, and Slagle and Raderer help them sell the items to support their families.

“It gives me great pleasure to see these students at bus stops, wearing outfits they have made in our classes,” Slagle said.

Slagle said the Stitch volunteers often form friendships with the students. She said she loves all her students, and some have even become like family.

Suzanne Uwamahoro, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been a Stitch student for a couple years. Before coming to the U.S., Uwamahoro’s husband and five children were killed in front of her. Uwamahoro has shown Slagle and Raderer a scar from where she was also shot.

Slagle said when Uwamahoro first told her this, she noticed Uwamahoro had been wearing men’s clothing to class. Slagle, who had a bag of clothing she was going to take to Goodwill, thought she’d instead give them to Uwamahoro. When Slagle offered her the clothing, Uwamahoro “burst into tears and just hugged me to death,” Slagle said.