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*** Transforms lives by turning rubbish into topend fashion items ***
In the midst of the Philippines' most notorious slum, British expat Jane Walker transforms lives by turning rubbish into topend fashion items.
A unique four-story building houses the Philippine Christian Foundation, an organisation Walker founded 16 years ago to help scavengers at the Smokey Mountain garbage dump in Manila's chaotic bayside Tondo district.
Walker teaches mothers to make colourful bags, purses and jwellery using items commonly discarded by the public - from toothpaste tubes, plastic bottles and lollypop rappers to magazine pages and soft drink cans.
"It's inspiring when you realise such a simple project helps so many families, " Walker, 48, told AFP.
" We design things from laptop bags and iPod cases, computer cases, all ranges of different handbags, shopping bags, clutch bags , fashion accessories and even place mates made from waste paper."
The products are sold in the country's biggest department store chain, as well as to highend and specialty shops in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, the Middle East and Singapore, with price tags ranging from 10 to 100 dollars.
A portion of the proceeds goes to the mothers and the staff, while the rest is used to finance the foundation's operations.
Apart from teaching livelihood skills, Walker's foundation also runs a primary school where up to 500 slum children are enrolled at any given time free of charge.
The building in itself is remarkable and true to the foundation's recycling mantra.
It is made from shipping containers welded and cemented together in what Walker says is the first such structure housing a school anywhere in the world.
Charlita Carceno, a 51-year-old mother whose three children are enrolled at the school, said Walker enabled her to dream of one day finally leaving the dumps.
For Walker, reflections such as those by Carceno are the reasons she keeps on going.
by- AFP
In the midst of the Philippines' most notorious slum, British expat Jane Walker transforms lives by turning rubbish into topend fashion items.
A unique four-story building houses the Philippine Christian Foundation, an organisation Walker founded 16 years ago to help scavengers at the Smokey Mountain garbage dump in Manila's chaotic bayside Tondo district.
Walker teaches mothers to make colourful bags, purses and jwellery using items commonly discarded by the public - from toothpaste tubes, plastic bottles and lollypop rappers to magazine pages and soft drink cans.
"It's inspiring when you realise such a simple project helps so many families, " Walker, 48, told AFP.
" We design things from laptop bags and iPod cases, computer cases, all ranges of different handbags, shopping bags, clutch bags , fashion accessories and even place mates made from waste paper."
The products are sold in the country's biggest department store chain, as well as to highend and specialty shops in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, the Middle East and Singapore, with price tags ranging from 10 to 100 dollars.
A portion of the proceeds goes to the mothers and the staff, while the rest is used to finance the foundation's operations.
Apart from teaching livelihood skills, Walker's foundation also runs a primary school where up to 500 slum children are enrolled at any given time free of charge.
The building in itself is remarkable and true to the foundation's recycling mantra.
It is made from shipping containers welded and cemented together in what Walker says is the first such structure housing a school anywhere in the world.
Charlita Carceno, a 51-year-old mother whose three children are enrolled at the school, said Walker enabled her to dream of one day finally leaving the dumps.
For Walker, reflections such as those by Carceno are the reasons she keeps on going.
by- AFP
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