Stories of Resilience: Sarah

Sarah Dilangalen, Women’s Federation President of Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao supervises two women on sewing Inaul face masks.

Sarah, 61, discovered her interest in sewing at the age of nine with the inspiration and guidance of her skilled dressmaker mother. In a family of eight in Datu Abdullah Sangki (DAS), Maguindanao, Sarah and her mother are the only ones who love tailoring.

"When I was in Grade 3, my mom encouraged me to learn sewing. I can still remember my first tailored clothing which was my set of school uniforms—it was a white blouse and a maroon skirt. My mom would do the cutting, then I would sew."

That was the start of Sarah's journey as a dressmaker.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she started seeing the increase in unemployment of women in their community. As the President of the Women's Federation in DAS, it motivated her to train mothers and the youth in tailoring.

"The implementation of the Cash for Work Project of Oxfam and RDISK in our barangay created much-needed opportunities for women."

Sarah, alongside 25 women, strived hard to put up a dressmaking business, starting with thirteen thousand pesos (Php 13,000) in capital and four sewing machines. Opportunities rippled when bulk orders started coming in from nearby municipalities in Maguindanao. The women in the community learned to sew products such as pillowcases, curtains, seat covers, bed sheets, gowns, and ready-to-wear garments. Moreover, the women produced COVID-19 essentials such as face masks and personal protective equipment (PPE).

Sarah, 61, discovered her interest in sewing at the age of nine with the inspiration and guidance of her skilled dressmaker mother. In a family of eight in Datu Abdullah Sangki (DAS), Maguindanao, Sarah and her mother are the only ones who love tailoring.

"When I was in Grade 3, my mom encouraged me to learn sewing. I can still remember my first tailored clothing which was my set of school uniforms—it was a white blouse and a maroon skirt. My mom would do the cutting, then I would sew."

That was the start of Sarah's journey as a dressmaker.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she started seeing the increase in unemployment of women in their community. As the President of the Women's Federation in DAS, it motivated her to train mothers and the youth in tailoring.

"The implementation of the Cash for Work Project of Oxfam and RDISK in our barangay created much-needed opportunities for women."

Sarah, alongside 25 women, strived hard to put up a dressmaking business, starting with thirteen thousand pesos (Php 13,000) in capital and four sewing machines. Opportunities rippled when bulk orders started coming in from nearby municipalities in Maguindanao. The women in the community learned to sew products such as pillowcases, curtains, seat covers, bed sheets, gowns, and ready-to-wear garments. Moreover, the women produced COVID-19 essentials such as face masks and personal protective equipment (PPE).

"I am now focusing on training women members because I want them to learn. I need to be more patient when training them. It makes me proud of these women seeing that they can make garments now. It is a skill that they can get income from, especially now that everything is so expensive."

Moving forward, the Women's Federation aims to build a multi-purpose workspace, to raise additional capital, and to procure new sewing equipment with the help of the local government unit. Aside from tailoring, these women also ventured into gardening and cooking activities that can support themselves and their families.

With more than 50 years of dressmaking knowledge, Sarah wishes to train more mothers and youth on sewing in order to help their respective families. Aside from being a source of livelihood, she also hopes that women treat dressmaking as a bonding and community activity, similar to her childhood experience with her mother.

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This story is written by Princess Taroza and is part of the Delivery of Cash for Work Opportunities and Messages on Covid-19 Awareness and Prevention to Women in Mindanao Project implemented by the Rural Development Institute of Sultan Kudarat (RDISK) and Oxfam with support from The People and Government of Japan and UN Women.