A dream renewed

For 12 years, Mariam Makaika has been living hand-to-mouth.

The single mother of five toiled in her small vegetable garden to feed six mouths and keep her children in school.

“Since my husband and I separated in 2010, life has been a nightmare,” she says.

Makaika is among 30 women trained in tailoring by Malawi Relief Fund in Traditional Authority Wonga, Chiradzulu.

“I could not let the opportunity slip through my fingers. I was among the first to register and I was selected,” she narrates.

Makaika does not regret enrolling for the year-long training that started in November 2021.

“I saw nothing to lose,” she states. “I enrolled hoping to end my poverty.”

Makaika grew up admiring tailors in her rural setting. The burning desire morphed into a lifetime ambition when she dropped out of school in Standard Eight some three decades ago.

“I have always wanted to become a tailor, but I could not afford the training and a sewing machine,” she states.

But Makaika did not want poverty to smother her dream. She sent her son to a tailoring school instead.

“He is now a competent tailor, but we couldn’t reap the benefits of his skills without the machine,” she said.

Today, the woman-led homestead plays home to two tailors with a single machine.

“My dream has now come true,” she says, smilingly.

But while she is over the moon upon receiving the sewing machine and other start-up materials, she still has a hill to climb.

“Yes, we have the machine now, but we have to buy cloths to start making money. I will do everything to raise some money so that I sustain my dream,” Makaika says.

Makaika, 43, says she cannot wait to see her children back in school as she churns out suits and dresses on her new sewing machine.

“I have always wanted to keep my children in school. That I dropped out early should not be an excuse for my children to fail,” she says.

Makaika visualises a future of possibilities.

“I see all my children back in school, once I’m settled,” she says, ready to break male dominance in the tailoring business.

Makaika jokingly warns them to brace for stiff competition.

“I’m more than ready to show men in my line of duty that tailoring knows no gender,” she declares.

Malawi Relief Fund has been working in Chiradzulu since 2015.

Its country co-coordinator Yakub Valli says the Islamic charity empowers people to actively uplift themselves.

“We believe in giving people a hook so that they do the fishing on their own. We hope that with the starter-pack, including the sewing machines we have given them, they will stand on their feet and confront poverty,” he says.

Every trainee walked home with a sewing machine, threads, a pair of scissors and a tape measure.

The next cohort gets underway in January.