We’re hoping to raise money towards sewing training centres in Sri Lanka — in the memory of our mother, Frances Mary Fountain. She passed away on April 28, 2023, aged 92.

She spent almost a lifetime in Christian service at Spring Road Evangelical Church, Southampton. Much of this was alongside her husband, David Fountain, who served as pastor and was called home in 2004.

Frances was a qualified occupational therapist and loved crafts. In her retirement years, Frances has had a passion for the setting up and running of sewing centres in Sri Lanka — so women in the villages could earn an income and avoid having to leave their families and work abroad.

Visitors to Frances’ home would find her lounge and other rooms packed with and boxes of material and stacks of sewing machines. She gave towards the building of sewing centres, collected machines and made up sewing boxes for the women with all the accessories they needed.

Her efforts paid off — and the centres, run by churches in Sri Lanka, have helped women to become self-employed.

Now we’d like to raise some funds to expand this work with more centres to help more families.

The sewing centres make a big difference to the lives of Christian women at these churches. It solves a rural unemployment crisis — and protects them in their spiritual lives.

Today’s tough economic conditions mean that some families cannot cope financially unless their women also go out to work. However, the employment options available are extremely limited and can pose major problems.

Many women leave their families to take up jobs in the Middle East as housemaids. One big attraction is the up-front payment of 400,000 Sri Lankan rupees (just under £1,000) from middle-men recruiters who go from village to village, looking for women. This kind of money can seem like a lifeline for families already living in extreme poverty and debt.

However, the women quickly find themselves locked into a two-year contract in the Middle East with no protection around their safety and rights. What’s more, they have no access to church services — which is a great struggle for Christian women who take this path.

For many years, the churches had been praying to God for a solution. The creation of sewing training centres is a big help as it provides local women with self-employment opportunities and a good income.

Thanks to Frances and others, funds have helped women this way. But we’d like to expand this work in her memory.

Churches need resources to set up new sewing training centres, run training courses and provide women with sewing machines when they complete the courses. Any money we raised beyond £3,000 will go to ongoing training and resources.

If you can support this work in Frances’ memory, that would be wonderful.

Thank you,

The Fountain family