By Rezza Mae B Tolinero

It has been almost three years since Shirley Siarot started pedaling the sewing machine at Xavier Ecoville. Just as how her foot treadles to create the bags she sells, the journey of the community’s Sewing and Textile Enterprise has been one that goes up and down, slowly but surely making its way toward its visualized goal of success.

Through the glitches

When Shirley transferred to XE, she opted to commit herself to making a living rather than just staying at home. So she joined the sewing enterprise. With prior knowledge in sewing and years of experience under her belt, she quickly became the head of the enterprise. Leading was not an easy task as the sewers, just like her, originally came from different barangays and she hadn’t quite known them long enough to lead them.

That was just one challenge. There were and still are many. One in particular was the lack of clientele. “Usahay medyo mingaw,” Shirley used to lament while being hopeful that more clients would come soon. In the meantime, to maximize their resources, they would turn to old donated clothes to sew into foot mops, rags and pillow cases, which they in turn sold for profit.

Sketching dreams

It was an answered prayer when “SKETCH Bags,” the social enterprise of Xavier University’s Business Administration students contacted Shirley’s group to sew specially designed and quality bags for mass production.

Zuien Guantero, the general manager of SKETCH bags, tells that the motivation for the partnership was to help leverage the skills of Ecoville’s sewers so customers would want to purchase their bags for their quality and not out of sympathy.

Auspiciously, the British Council found the endeavor promising enough to award it a funding grant worth Php100,000 under its “I am a Changemaker” camp program last year. The seed grant is being used for the development of the enterprise as well as for helping the XE sewing cluster expand its market and increase its earnings.

Reaping what was sewn

The most memorable moment for Shirley as a sewer at XE is the PagBAG-o Project Runway held at Lim Ket Kai Mall last November, where their products were paraded and sold. “Lami kaayo ang pakiramdam nga ang bags nga imong gipangtahi kay na-display ug nangahalin,” she shares.

In partnership with SMART Telecommunications Inc, the sewers were provided with tarpaulins as raw materials for the bags. So aside from the usual katsa bags that XE sells, the sewers were able to introduce a new product line – bags out of old tarps.

Shirley admits that bags out of this material are undeniably more difficult to sew. Never mind, though, because since they’re recycled materials, they cost practically nothing to make. This makes the whole experience for her worth it. The experience enabled her to exemplify the importance of recycling while making a living out of it.

After the PagBAG-o runway show, one of the volunteer models, Caroline Joy Veronilla shares, “It was an honor to be one of the models for the PagBAG-o Project of Xavier Ecoville."

“Seeing the happy faces of the people who worked hard for this project was more than anything I could ask for. It made me feel that somehow, I was able to change their lives. The experience was really inspiring,” she added.

For Shirley, this is only the beginning. Xavier Ecoville’s sewing enterprise still has a long way to go. But as its project’s name suggests, PagBAG-o, has ushered in a myriad of changes in the lives of the sewers and their families. Now, Shirley and her companions continue to treadle for greater possibilities, beyond just bags.