Women receive order of 114,000 bocce balls from France

BURDUR

Women workers who opened a workshop together to produce bocce balls after receiving relevant training as part of a project in the southern province of Burdur have received a massive order for 114,000 bocce balls from France.

A course was opened in Burdur in 2019 within the scope of the Hand-Sewn Ball Master Training and Hand-Sewn Ball Production Project in partnership with Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKU), Provincial Directorate of Youth Sports, Labor and Employment Agency and Provincial Directorate of Family Labor and Social Services.

After the three-month course, some trainees began producing balls at home, while others started working in the workshop allocated by MAKU. After continuing for four years, women working on the project, which is also a source of income for them, became a cooperative under the name of “Burdur Ball-Sewing Women’s Initiative Cooperative” in the following process.

The cooperative has received a massive order for bocce balls from France. A French company, which was unsatisfied with the balls they had previously purchased from China, ordered 2,500 sets (one set includes six balls) from the cooperative in Burdur in 2022.

Satisfied with the products, the French company ordered 24,000 sets (144,000 balls) for 2023. Now, women from Burdur are working overtime in the workshop to produce bocce balls to be sent to France.

Aysel Özcan, head of the cooperative, stated that they are currently sending the balls they produce from lambskin material filled with plastic granules to France.

“We will send the ordered sets throughout 2023. We think the orders will continue afterward. We plan to buy new sewing machines and increase the number of people working in production. We want all women in need to come and learn ball-sewing to contribute to their home economies. Currently, 14 people are working in our cooperative, but 300 women are sewing balls at their homes, working remotely,” Özcan said.