Agnes, Olive and Amina with the donated fabrics

A Preston fabric firm has been helping women in Rwanda get started with their own small sewing business.

Textiles business SMD Group, who operate from Pittman Way in Fulwood, have donated fabric and off-cuts to the Kinamba Community Project.

It helps 15 women in Kigali, aged between 26 and 50, to make clothes and sell them at the town’s market.

Jason Kenworthy, managing director of SMD Group, said: “SMD supports a number of causes and we were first made aware of the Kinamba Community Project by our operations director, Jonathan Pink, whose mother works for the charity. It’s a fantastic initiative and we jumped at the opportunity to help.

“It’s been surreal to see the different perception the people in Rwanda have of the value of the fabric and the ladies there have certainly put everything we donated to good use. It’s made a few less fortunate people very happy and we were only too glad to be part of that.”

Kinamba was left devastated by the 1994 genocide and since then the community project has been working to offer hope to widows and orphans.

Agnes, Olive and Amina, who work in the sewing room, sent a message to say: “We are very happy that somebody in the UK is thinking of us, thank you so much for your gift.”

You can discover more about the Kinamba project on the charity’s website.