Sewing Makes Our Hearts Sing 
In 2009, Khalid & Fatin, a married couple, emigrated from their war-torn country of Iraq to the United States. They were
both highly educated individuals in Iraq, however those degrees did not transfer to the US. They finally found the Don
Bosco Center and enrolled in the English as a Second Language course. As part of that ESL course, they were able
to enroll in The Sewing Labs’ Sewing as a Universal Language program. In the process of learning to sew, Khalid & Fatin
tapped into and allowed their left brains to flourish. Fatin said they were focused on their lives in the right brain
functions of math, science and engineering, however it was no longer fulfilling since they couldn’t be employed with
those skills. After graduating from the sewing program at TSL, Khalid & Fatin set up a small sewing studio in the
basement of their home. They are now focusing on garment construction and speak of the sheer joy and happiness they
now have in their lives thanks to their newly developed skill of sewing. “Sewing makes our hearts sing,” Fatin says of their
experience with The Sewing Labs. “Because of The Sewing Labs, we have visited employers in the Kansas City area who are
actively seeking people like us; people who have been trained on the machines these businesses use. Thanks to The
Sewing Labs, we now have many ideas of items we can sew and sell, putting us in the business of being entrepreneurs. 

That is our American Dream!

Sewing Makes our Hearts Sing