Sewing With Nancy

It goes without saying that learning new skills can improve your life. When those skills are learned in Central America from North American volunteers the result is improved lives for both the students and the teachers. I'd like you to welcome Lynda Pracht. Lynda is the coordinator for the Wisconsin-Nicaragua Partners of the Americas. Lynda, I searched you out because you have been teaching and your volunteers have been working with Nicaraguan women teaching sewing, plus many other things. It's a very inspiring story. Thank you. You've been involved with the Partners for the Americas for how many years now? Thirteen. You've been to Nicaragua how many times? Thirty-five. So, when you go to Nicaragua and you're working with the volunteers tell us a little bit about how you're relaying your information and education. Well, I was a former home economics teacher which we don't even call it that anymore, right? I went down to Nicaragua and saw that they were doing beautiful work with their sewing skills. Also, some of them need help with sewing skills so I joined the Wisconsin-Nicaragua Partners and became one of the leads for going down to Nicaragua. This is an interesting program. It was started many years ago. You told me it had its 50th anniversary. And that it first started during the Kennedy administration. That's right. Tell me again the name. The Alliance for Progress. Each state had a partner country in Latin America. Or the Caribbean. We happen to live in Wisconsin so our partner country is? We chose Nicaragua I think because of the climate and the terrain. Okay. Initially, you were telling me that there were a hundred centers and they initially started teaching sewing. Here's a picture of one of the sewing centers or learning centers. Tell us about it. It's outside. Yes, lots of the centers are in people's homes. This one is on Jolita's porch. She's there because it's very dark inside the house. They wanted to have it some place where they'll be able to see. I think you can see in the picture also that she has treadle sewing machines there. The name of her center is "The Dolls and Embroidery" because they do beautiful, freehand embroidery on their treadle sewing machines. It's really amazing. There's also a warehouse and a central area in Nicaragua where you come together and disperse information. Right, well, not only information but all kinds of equipment and supplies. So if someone is a volunteer there tell me their typical-- What would they do during a typical trip? Usually, you go to visit about three different centers to give some kind of... learning skills that they're going to teach. Then they visit the country find out more about the country and meet the people. Giving them these skills, you were a past teacher. You had a different class room. That's right. What is the most rewarding part for you? I think knowing the women in Nicaragua. I'm sure you have many close friends. Yes, I do. Being there 35 times is amazing. We're going to have Lynda back next time on Sewing with Nancy &nbspfor a follow-up learning how you worked with the doll clothes and also how women in that area now are supplementing their income because of this great partnership that you can become involved with. So, we'll have you come back for our next program and share that. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about the Partners of Americas and every state has a partner with a Latin American or a Caribbean country

you can go to

nancyzieman.com. You'll find everything Sewing with Nancy on that area. Click on Nancy's Corner and you can get information on the Partners of America, the Wisconsin-Nicaragua Project as well as a link to other areas. We are going to have our second program next time on the "Fresh From the Clothesline Quilts" with our guest, Darlene Zimmerman. You can watch, if you'd like to re-watch that program you can re-watch it on nancyzieman.com all 52 programs of the current Sewing with Nancy &nbspseries and of course the past series will be there, too. So, you can find all things Sewing with Nancy there. Thank you for joining us, as always. Lynda, thank you for being with us. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.