Weaving dreams and hopes through the therapeutic handlooms

(Story and Photos By Leony R. Garcia)

Beautiful tapestries in lovely and happy hues adorn the homey office cum art center of St. Francis School-VSA arts Philippines, Inc. in its headquarter in Quezon City. VSA stands for Vision of an inclusive community; Strength in shared resources; Artistic expression that unites us all. 

Being displayed along with the handwoven clothes are threads of various kinds and colors, and products made out of these clothes – from cute kikay bags to eco and lady’s bags, wallets, passport holders, hats, headdresses, scarves, shawls, vests, t-shirts, unisex tops and dresses. Taking the center stage of the art room are two Japanese handlooms which is called Saori. And here’s the amazing revelation: the tapestries were woven by the talented students with disabilities and special needs of St. Francis School using these cute, portable handlooms from Japan.

VSA Executive Director Becky Santos with visitors from Daiso Japan,
Bernice and Melanie

Some of the finished products made from Saori weaving

This writer can't resist to wear some of the Saori products

VSA arts Philippines is a nonprofit organization which was formed in collaboration with the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) to strengthen the artistic potentials and enhance the skills of Filipino children and adults with special needs. VSA aims to empower differently-abled persons by giving them learning opportunities, trainings and jobs through skills acquisition. VSA Phils. is an affiliate of VSA International organization of arts and disability.

Included in the programs they offer are weaving trainings and tutorials to differently-abled students so they can unleash their creativity and self-expression. However, to date, VSA only has six handlooms which are imported from Japan and Thailand and are interchangeably used by 20 students/weavers during their classes.

The school currently has 47 students and among these are those with Global Development Delay, Autism, and hearing impairment. According to Ms. Rebecca “Ma’am Becky” Santos, VSA Executive Director, the imported handlooms are very expensive, and costs roughly at P60,000.00 each. Hence, it is not easy for them to buy additional pieces that can greatly assist more students.

Students of St. Francis School attend Saori weaving class

The Saori handlooms from Japan and Thailand

Collaboration to empower persons with disabilities

The Department of Science and Technology-National Capital Region (DOST-NCR) comes to the rescue for VSA as it provided 10 units of handlooms and pledge to provide trainings on the features, operations, and maintenance of the technology as well.

DOST-NCR collaborated with the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) to transfer PTRI’s developed portable therapeutic handlooms.

DOST-NCR funded the project titled, “Improving the Capacity and Productivity of Urban Weaving of St. Francis School-VSA Arts of the Philippines, Inc., thru the Fabrication of PTRI-developed Portable Therapeutic Handlooms”.

The 10 handlooms were set up at VSA early this month. For two weeks St. Francis students, along with volunteers and other groups catering to PWDs, had further training on warping, threading and weaving. DOST-NCR Regional Director Jose B. Patalinjug III recently visited the summer training and expressed amazement how the children worked with focus and determination while displaying their innate creativity. He said that seeing the VSA students weaving and using the portable handlooms firsthand further affirmed his conviction that children who have special needs are capable of thriving.

DOST-NCR Regional Director Jose B. Patalinjug III closely observing
the setting up of the handloom

The PTRI's developed therapeutic handlooms

“These children are truly inspiring. We from the DOST-NCR assures VSA and other similar institutions that we will continue to provide assistance to capacitate more Filipinos with special needs. In fact, we are looking at the provision of additional technology needed by VSA to assist more children and adults who are differently-abled”, he said.

“Indeed, our differently-abled children and fellowmen are capable of producing outputs that can be beneficial to our country’s economic development. With adequate technology, training, and opportunities, we can further empower them so they can do bigger things”, Patalinjug added.

VSA is the agency’s first recipient of the therapeutic handlooms in the region. The official transfer and launching of the technology will be held on May 4, 2017, at the VSA School in Quezon City.

How the handlooms work

The technology is specifically designed to engage differently-abled persons in handloom weaving as a therapeutic rehabilitation for their physical, mental, social, and vocational ability. What makes the handlooms special is that it is strategically designed for the use of paraplegic persons or those with total non-coordination of their lower extremities. It features a hand held lever so the use of treadle in interchanging heddles to lock wefts can be eliminated. The therapeutic handlooms also promotes easy weaving comprehension as it only needs eye-hand coordination for its users.

Weaving machines for those who intend to use their legs are also available.

Likewise, the PTRI-designed technology is developed to empower those with special needs by providing opportunities where they can earn income through handloom weaving.

Meanwhile, Ma’am Becky is overwhelmed with the support of DOST-NCR. After all, she has been working on giving the children with disabilities learning and livelihood opportunities since the establishment of St. Francis School in 1996. 

Some of the weavers of the summer training and their products

Our fashion designer friend Ramon Favila and myself tried weaving.
It's really fun, stress-buster, and therapeutic!

“If you look closely at our students, you can see how skilled and determined they are, especially in weaving. We are indeed very thankful to the assistance given by DOST-NCR as we can now support more students with special needs through the additional handlooms. But right now we would be needing donation of threads so we can continue the training after this batch,” she said. The first batch will also have their certification on May 4 according to the VSA head.

She also said that they are greatly looking forward to showcase the products made by the students at DOST’s upcoming National Science and Technology Week exhibit in July.

Santos also announced that her students will be the official Philippine delegate for the Rock & Arts Osaka 2017 Festival in August this year. Aside from receiving further training in Saori weaving, the students and their trainers will serve as a significant gesture of education, tourism and cultural exchange for the Philippines.

DOST-NCR Regional DirectorJose B. Patalinjug III with some of the summer weaving training paricipants and VSA Executive Director, Ms. Rebecca Santos (4th from right). Photo by Cai Dumala-og/DOST-NCR