Blind Women Weave Threads of Hope in a Garment Factory

In a rare scene, blind ladies work in a small garment factory near the city of Welisara in Sri Lanka, as most of them come from far and remote areas. Ms. Shameen Felaldeen who works as an Administrative Supervisor and is the only non-blind person in the factory came up with the idea of establishing the project from her desire in doing a social service. In the beginning, Felaldeen had faced a major challenge in providing the necessary training for the blind ladies to qualify them on the sewing machines. She was able to overcome this challenge through the work of talented women in sewing intricate designs that are challenging even for people who can see. The hard work of blind women in the factory is a valuable lesson to society by developing their skills without being a burden to anyone, in addition to improving the income of their families. The Garment Industry in Sri Lanka constitutes a high percentage of the composition of exports and GDP. The Administrative supervisor says that “the company started working in 2019, and by then the blind ladies had no clue on how to use the sewing machine, but with the time and training, all of them became skilled seamstresses and added that what she seeks is to show their skills of each individual, and provide them with the necessary support”.