AFF was approached by a International Aid worker working with Bedouin villages in the Near-East. They saw that there a wealth of sheep wool that was not being used, and that many women no longer knew how to spin. AFF purchased a Lendrum portable Spinning Wheel for this aid worker and these Bedouin people are taught how to spin using both drop spindles and the spinning wheel.
Spinning used to be very much a part of the Bedouin culture, unfortunately the older women have stopped and the younger women are not being taught the skill. AFF as part of our desire for economic opportinities is teaching them how to produce a yarn that is marketable.
A basic spinning wheel can be made from materials available in the village. The AFF Associate will also show them how to use the yarn and the wool in their daily lives, and to generate income. This is AFF promoting cross-cultural friendship funding a program that address pressing need for economic opportunities.
Gandhi believed that hand spinning, combined with weaving on hand looms, was a way for the people to become self-sufficient and independent. He claimed that if people worked at spinning wool, poverty would be greatly reduced if not totally eliminated. Gandhi was convinced that the revival of hand-spinning and hand-weaving could make a large contribution to the economic and the moral regeneration of the country. AFF believes this still true today.
