Now that the Padri Vjeko Kindergarten is up and running, we turn our attention to creating uniforms for our young children. The children range in age from three to five years old, so we have quite a few sizes to consider. The children are so very active, so the uniforms need to be durable and comfortable.

We have both boys and girls in school. In Rwanda, it is our tradition that the girls wear dresses and boys wear shorts. We are in the process of designing our kindergarten uniforms. Lucky for us, we have a resident designer  – Mrs. Valerie Kae Ken. She comes from Canada regularly to help us at Padri Vjeko Center. She decided to make the pattern cutting and designing process, for the uniforms, a learning exercise. She gave our second and third year tailoring students basic block patterns to start. Then, Mrs. K designed the pattern herself and then compared her work with the student’s work, explaining in detail all the steps it takes to design the uniforms.

At the Padri Vjeko Center, our Senior Secondary and Vocational Trade students are issued sweaters with the school logo. So, we decided to make the same style sweater for the kindergarten children.

We also had to think of a logo for our uniforms. Mrs. Ken gave us assistance with this project and helped design a fun, colorful logo for our children. It is embroidered onto the fabric and will be durable and hopefully, stand up to the wear and tear that the uniforms will no doubt be subjected to.

We have purchased a decorative sewing machine that can read a design from a flash drive and will make a permanent logo on each of the uniforms! A religious sister from Uganda has come to assist in our project and train two of our teachers on the machine. She is an excellent teacher and shows so much enthusiasm that is shared with our teachers and staff.

So, soon we will have a bright new uniform for our kindergarten children. They will be wearing bright yellow T-shirts with a bright green uniform complete with a cream colored sweater, all adorned with a happy, cheerful logo!