Fashion designer launches embroidery school

(3 Mar 2017) LEADIN:
A famous Moroccan fashion designer is teaching disadvantaged children to embroider in Sale.
Fadila El Gadi funds the project herself to help educate young people and keep traditional crafts alive.
STORY-LINE
The concentration of these children's faces shows their dedication to their new art.
Aged from 10 to 18 they come here everyday to learn embroidery and sewing.
Many are from disadvantaged families and had to stop going to school.
But here they get to learn a new craft and even take some lessons in other subjects such as mathematics.
Sewing teacher Sandra Charteau says learning embroidery helps teach the children focus and discipline.
"They have to succeed in lining stitches up. They have to follow a line and stick to it. And then, they have to really understand this piece, because it's a filling of embroidery. They can not begin where they want and do what they want actually", she says.
The school opened last September and offers children a distraction from what are often difficult domestic situations.
18-year-old Nadia has not only found her passion but might even have found her vocation:
"I want to continue to learn embroidery. Here, thanks to the teacher, we are really practicing. I really enjoy it and I want to make it my job in the future", she says.
This renewed hope for the children's futures is all down to famous Moroccan fashion designer Fadila El Gadi.
Originally from Sale herself she was determined to put something back into the city. But is was a difficult journey:
"At first I had promises. The city of Sale wanted to help me. But they dropped me. As I had already begun to talk to children, and told them that they will integrate in my school, I decided to do it myself", she says.
She adds that it's her way of remembering where she came from.
Embroidery was the skill that made her famous. Her designs are now sold in Morocco, France, Belgium and Switzerland.
However she noticed that this traditional art is declining. Fewer young people are choosing handicrafts as careers and therefore traditional craftspeople are dying out.
So every month El Gadi pays 30,000 Moroccan Dirhams (almost 3,000 US Dollars) to pass these skills onto young people.
She has no help from the government as her school is not official yet. But with inspectors coming soon to register it she's hoping that might change so that they can offer the children internships, "either with traditional embroidery craftspeople or in haute couture houses", she says.
The ultimate dream is to get enough funding to give the youngsters their own workshops. "That will be really amazing", says El Gadi.


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/deb79147b13811534dca57992f68fa55
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork