A cooperative without borders where women from 21 countries create new lives

The rhythm of the cars indicates that something is happening at Rua Damasceno Monteiro, 128, in Lisbon. It is the Bandim cooperative that trains seamstresses from different parts of the world, from Angola to Afghanistan.

Maria Helena, 54, came from Luanda in 2011 with kidney failure. With some support from the Angolan government, he settled into a boarding house in Anjos and began treatment with hemodialysis followed by a transplant.

“There is nothing like this in Angola. I am here because we have no living conditions there. Some people die there in Angola,” he tells Lusa, holding the sewing machine he is working on. fish shape, perforated embroidery in various colors.

Bandim’s motto could be color, lots of color. The workshop, which operates in premises provided by the Arroios Parish Council, is decorated with many works made there by the hands of Maria Elena and other migrant women.

The sewing training, each lasting about 100 hours, aims to teach women how to work on collections designed by the cooperative and sold collectively, and to help them find work as seamstresses elsewhere.

The daughter of a tailor, Maria Elena already embroidered at home and made kimonos for her mother. Now that she can “sew well,” she intends to move into production and sales.

“It’s good to learn how to do these things, it’s very good. And there are people here who help, even if we need a document and so on,” he says. Living in a “very small” room, the Angolan artisan dreams of a home and is delighted when she says she has already sold her products to Brazil.

Bandim was formalized about a year and a half ago as an independent project, and its various partners include the Aga Khan Foundation.

It was through the Portuguese government and the Aga Khan Network that Shahnaz, 33, arrived in Portugal as a refugee from Afghanistan, passing through Iran, Turkey and Greece.

With a degree in economics, she is now learning to sew with new stitches. He worked in a bank and taught English at a private school before leaving Afghanistan “for security reasons.”

At Bandim, which he visits with his sister, a clothing store owner in Afghanistan, he devotes himself to a new project: “We are making flowers to put on clothes, at the moment we are planning to sew clothes,” he adds. .

“It hasn’t been easy, we need support and we’re learning here,” he says, recalling that in Afghanistan he had a “very large” family – as is common in Asia – in which the older ones did everything for the younger ones.

“In Europe everything is different. When you’re 18 you go [embora]but nothing” (laughs). At the end of the conversation, she runs to show the works she has already made, flower appliqués on bags and simple dresses.

Mylène Pereira, vice president of Bandim, explains that the training has several levels and that at the end, trainees can work as seamstresses elsewhere if they choose.

Mylene came from Brazil 20 years ago and, at 50, runs Bandim with Farhana Akter (president), a native of Bangladesh.

Farhana, 41, explains the challenges the cooperative faces in meeting the needs of the women who seek it out. “We have 21 nationalities and more than 82 members,” he says.

Bandim needs financial and institutional support to be able to deal with her family situations on different levels, although not all women need money: “Some women come just to be in the company of others because they are alone.”

This space is in demand by graduate students and migration researchers, leading the president to believe that the cultural diversity and knowledge exchange that intersect there constitute a good source of research.

It is in this sense that he develops contacts with researchers from the Universidad Nova de Lisboa in the field of anthropology with the aim of carrying out research and education in Bandim.

“A lot of people here don’t speak Portuguese or English. Some speak only African or Asian languages. Together we create something completely unique. Sometimes we communicate using gestures,” summarizes the former English teacher who takes on this role in Portugal. intercultural mediator and teaches how Bangladeshi embroidery is made.

The co-op also cares about sustainability, accepts fabric donations and works primarily in patchwork. Now you will need “old wool” to stuff pillows and decorative items hanging on the walls with fish.

In addition to the products displayed in the workshop window, they are sold at the market, across the street and in stores selling original products.

With workshops in Lisbon and Sintra, Bandim proudly welcomes ideas, cultures, arts and crafts from around the world to create “a brand of the people, for the people, under the Portuguese sun.”