Meet the machinist.

Name: Gail Jebyboe
Age: 53 years old
Family: Children and grandchildren
Time at Rain: 4 years
Task at Rain: Maschinist (sewing)
If I had a superpower: ”I want to make everyone happy.”

 

Gail does make everyone happy. She’s already a superhero in that way. She bought us one Persimmon each, her favorite fruit, because she told us we just had to taste it. Andrea, Tasmiah and I had a short interview with her. As always, it was interesting to get to know a new person and her story. We also learned some about what a working-place in a realtively poor country can be like.

She was working as a maschinist at Speedo for 20 years before they shut down in South Africa. Through a friend she got the job as a machinist at Rain. Ans she’s perfect for the job, it takes me one glance to see that she is fast on the machine.

New friends and encouragement
In the beginning at Rain, Gail felt shy and insecure because she’d never done the kind of sewing that is done at Rain before. But everyone was very friendly to her and with their help she learned how to make all the different slippers and small baby-shoes and so on perfectly. Now she’s looking forward every morning to come to work, because there are always different tasks. 

Something Gail really appreciates about working at Rain is their regular activities together. They go on team-buildings and throw parties at the end of every year. This is where Gails feels like she really gets to know her collegues and that is something that makes the ordinary work easier too. They learn how to communicate and grow into one big family.

A factory is nothing without it’s workers
Gail has been working within the factory-industry for many years now. She knows that it is the workers who make the factory. Everyone is important, the one who is sweeping the floors, the one who cleans the windows, the ones who sit on the machines. A good boss takes care of the workers. Gail gives us several examples about how Bev, the funder of Rain, have been showing her solicitude; once when Gail was sick Bev followed her to the hospital and sometimes if they’d met in town Bev has been giving Gail a ride home. She appreciates that her bosses at Rain always speak respectfully to her, and never shouts.

To be as fast as Gail is on the machine can be a disadvantage in some aspects. She always wanted to become a designer. That’s her dream. But since she is so fast with sewing, her earlier bosses never wanted her to move from the machine. Thereby she was never given the chance to design. Now she tells us that she is too old to do something like that. She is still happy with her job, but would really like to try design sometime. She thinks that with all the experience she has of fabrics, she would be able to do it. And what can I say? Education can really be part of fulfilling someones dream and it should be a possibility given to anyone who wish to try.

Let’s build oppurtunities for nice working-places. Where you can feel safe and as a part of a group. Feel important to what the company is doing. Feel respected by your boss. Be offered the opportunity to develop. Let’s choose Fair Trade-companies like Rain, where deeper values than money-making belongs to the company’s core.

Rain is a member of World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). At WFTO’s webiste you can find more companies who follows the same values.