Trainees

“I feel greatly honoured to be one of the beneficiary of Mayamiko Trust. The knowledge gained here, is the key to my bright future. I had no knowledge in tailoring, but now, I know how to sew both hand sewing and machine sawing. Being a divorcee, am confident that now my two children will be able to go to school and they will eat good food. May God bless Mayamiko”

Doreen Suta, Mayamiko Trainee

Grace Chafukira

Widowed since 2004, Grace had been taking care of her children on her own, trying to make ends meet working as a maid. With no other support and little education, she saw no hope for her family to escape poverty.
Grace joined the Mayamiko programme in January 2015: with no prior sewing experinece, she dedicated herself with passion and hard work, and it paid off! She graduated in July and now is working as workshop assistant, absorbing and learning from everyone around her. The assistant role is helping her refine her skills, understand the garment making process better, while earning a living, paying for her children's school fees and saving some money to access her sewing machine grant.

She is also learning English, so one day she can make garments for foreign customers too. It is hard to immagine how difficult Grace's life used to be: she has always had the most beautiful smile on her face, but now she has even more reasons to be joyful.

'I wanted to inspire my children and show them there is a way out of poverty, and that is through skills and education. This is what happened to me: I have now skills that I can take with me wherever I go, and with my work I can ensure my children complete their education, so the poverty cycle can be broken.
I love being part of the Mayamiko family, to all our friends and donors, thank you for your help and donations and please keep supporting us. You are changing our lives'

A day in the life of Jane, Mayamiko graduate, now professional cutter

Every time training was on I would listen in as much as I could. I woke up at 5, just like every morning. It is getting light by then and the birds have been singing for a while. I put some water on the fire, a bigger pot for washing, and a smaller pot for cooking nsima, our local breakfast, for my youngest children. Aged 6 and 13, their appetite is the only thing that gets them out of bed! Within the next hour, everyone is washed and fed and ready for the day. The little one is off to primary school, a mile walk away, and the older one goes to secondary school a little further on. I have 4 other children, so 6 in total and I look after my elderly mother who lives with us.
School fees and life expenses are high and I would not be able to pay them if it wasn’t for my job. What do I do?
I am the main cutter at Mayamiko, a fashion workshop which also has a training centre for the local community. It is still tough to get by, but what a change from two years ago!
I had learned from a friend that the Mayamiko project had moved in the area. I had no skills, but I was in real need for some money to pay school fees. My seasonal work selling beans was not enough and we were skipping meals. The younger children were falling asleep at school because of hunger. Their teacher told me.
So I trusted in God and I knocked on the door and asked if they had any casual work. And the answer was yes. For a few months I helped the team keep the workshop tidy and wash and iron fabric, and I observed the tailors, cutters and production managers.

I could hand sew and I was allowed to bring in the kids clothes and fix them using the machines, and I could also collect the very small pieces of scraps. When the application for the new training round opened 6 months later, I asked if I was allowed to apply. To show how keen I was, I brought in a teddy bear and a door mat I had hand sewn with the small bits of fabrics I had been collecting. I could not believe it when after a few weeks I was offered a place in the Mayamiko training programme. I studied for 6 months with a small group of 5 women, we each had our sewing machine and a wonderful teacher, Charity. We got to eat together with the professional tailors every day, exchanging stories, experiences and tips. We got additional training on how to manage money, budget and plan to help us prepare for life after training. I had not learnt this before, so this was very helpful.
At the end of the course, we got an option to save some money and get a grant to buy a sewing machine. I had started making kids dresses to sell to help me save through our saving scheme organised by Mayamiko, and one day I went to the workshop to bring in some of my savings, and the best thing happened. Paola, our founder was there, and I was asked to join an apprenticeship to become a professional cutter. Charity, who had been my trainer, had been promoted to main cutter, but was due to go on maternity leave in 5 months time and I had the chance to work towards covering for her while she was away. This meant I was to learn how to cut fabric in different sizes and shapes from a paper pattern. Cutting is very important because if you don’t cut well, it is very hard for tailors to sew well, and you can ruin a garment so easily. You have to be very careful and I have a big responsibility to my team when I cut.

I was so excited and worried at the same time. The workshop produces clothes and accessories for the Mayamiko brand which is sent out of Malawi and women all over the world buy and wear, so everything has to be perfect! I worked hard every day, for 8 hours. Having lunch together with everyone else really helped, so I could have a chat and a laugh and relax a little. And not worry about going hungry all day for it is hard to work on an empty stomach. I also got a chance to ask questions and understand more about how it all worked. It was the first time in my life I had a salary at the end of the month, and I knew exactly how much I was going to earn, and thanks to the financial training I could budget and prioritize.
After my apprenticeship I was told I was successful and Mayamiko offered me a full time job. I now have a higher salary, paid sick leave, paid holidays and Mayamiko alsopays into the government pension scheme as well as a gratuity scheme, which is another way of helping us save.
It is more than a dream that I now have the safety of a monthly income and if I do my job well, I can keep growing and maybe I can also train to become a tailor. That would give me more skills for the future. I would also like to learn English better.
What makes me the happiest is that I can ensure my children and grandchildren have an education, and never have to go hungry. Because with an education they can choose what they want to become in life, all doors are open, and if they fail they only have themselves to blame.

So now it is time for my daily walk to the Mayamiko workshop. It takes me about 45 minutes and I use the time to pray and give thanks, and think about the day ahead. We are in between collections so today I am cutting some lounge shorts to go with our organic cotton T-shirts. They are a bit like pyjamas but you can also wear them for other things like relaxing and walking around the house or the garden, and reading.
And I have been given a challenge to be creative and cut some small animal shapes with our scraps, we don’t like wasting anything. We’ll use them to decorate wash bags and shoppers. We call ourselves a ‘Zero Waste’ workshop and believe me, we find a use for everything!

Every day is a bit different at Mayamiko, and we are all like a family. Sometimes we don’t get on, but we really care for each other.

Do I like the clothes we make for women all over the world? Some of them I love, some of them are a bit unusual for me.
But I love the fabrics that we choose. The dress I am wearing in this picture is made using some left over fabrics at the workshop. I made it myself. Do you like it?

Sophiloat Kaposa

Sophiloat lives locally in Lilongwe and heard about our training programme from previous graduates. She has five children and her husband is currently unemployed. She joined the Mayamiko training programme so that she could learn tailoring skills, as this will help bring money into her household. She has greatly enjoyed the training so far and has found it very helpful – when her children’s clothes need mending she no longer needs to take it to a tailor as she can do it herself!

After Sophiloat graduates she plans to start her own business, and she hopes that in the future she will have a wonderful family that will not lack anything they need, she wants to be an independent women who can proudly contribute to her household income. With Sophiloat’s positive attitude, drive and the skills learnt during the Mayamiko training course, we are sure she will succeed in building a better future for herself and her family.

Doreen Suta

23 years of age, Doreen walks two and a half kilometers every day to attend The Fashion Lab, coming from her parents’ home in Chipwaila where she lives along with her son and daughter. After divorcing her husband, Doreen had to move back with her parents because she did not have enough money to pay rent. She came to us after hearing about Mayamiko Trust at her local church, and is now learning basic life skills and tailoring. Her dream is to open her own tailoring shop and eventually be in the position where she can teach other women the skills she is learning at The Fashion Lab.

Esthery Thomas

When Esthery lost her husband, she was left to look after her two young boys by herself. She currently rents a house in Ganizani, a three kilometer walk from The Fashion Lab. Having no education beyond primary school, coupled with the burden of raising her children alone, she has never been able to work before. Desperately wanting to secure a stable future for her two boys, Esthery is now undertaking the basic training required to one day start her own tailoring business.

Felisia Chimaimba

Felisia is a 47 year old mother of five from the village of Mzikamanda. After her husband died, she was left to look after her children alone, along with two orphans she has taken in. Circumstances as a child meant that Felisia was not educated beyond the first five years of primary school, and having to raise the children alone has made it impossible for her to have paid work in the past. Felisia desperately desires to be self sufficient and to ensure a decent future for her children. After hearing about the Mayamiko Trust, she approached us to undertake training at The Fashion Lab, where she has recently begun her training in tailoring, literacy, maths and basic life skills. With a little help sourcing the capital, Felisia hopes to start her own business.

Patuma Kabwere Mbewe

A mother of five children, Patuma lives with her husband in a rented house in Kaweche, about two kilometers walk from The Fashion Lab. She has never worked in her life, and never completed primary school. Patuma heard about Mayamiko Trust from a former student of The Fashion Lab, and she is now on her way to becoming self supporting and uplifting her socio economic status. Once she has undertaken basic training in literacy, numeracy and tailoring, Patuma has hopes of starting her own tailoring shop in Kaweche.

Veronica Malili

At 32 years of age, Veronica is married with two children, one boy and two girls. She lives with her husband in Chipwaila, a village located about three kilometers from The Fashion Lab. Veronica finished her primary schooling, but was not educated beyond and has not worked before in her life. Veronica has always wanted to learn to tailor, but until now has lacked the means of acquiring the training. Her motivation to learn sees her make the three kilometer walk each day to The Fashion Lab, where she is now taking the first steps towards one day starting her own business.

Janifer Beetone

Originally from Zomba, Janifer moved to Chinsapo where she met and married her husband. Sadly Janifer’s husband passed away shortly after. With six children to raise and no income or skills, she joined the Mayamiko training programme so that she could help support herself and her children. Before joining the Mayamiko training programme Janifer didn’t know how to sew at all, now she has learnt to make her own blouses, skirts and dresses!

Mayamiko offer a grant to trainees when they graduate from our programme. This is the funding for half the cost of a sewing machine, so that trainees can continue to learn and start their own business if they chose to. Janifer hopes to save the additional money required and also aspires to work for Mayamiko in our production unit one day, so that she can live a stable and independent life, and send her children to school. She is very grateful for the life changing opportunity which Mayamiko has given her.

Lezitta Kakopa

Lezitta grew up locally in Lilongwe, she has two children and joined our training programme after hearing positive stories from previous graduates. Lezitta is divorced and is the sole provider for her children, with no other skills training or previous employment she is greatly enjoying the training as she can see that it is going to do great things for her life and will enable her to provide for her children.

Mayamiko’s training programme will provide Lezitta with a set of skills so she can gain employment upon completion. She hopes to either work for Mayamiko once she has finished the course or raise money so that she can fund the remaining money for the sewing machine grant and work from home. Ultimately Lezitta wants to be able to send her children to school, it is inspiring to see these women fight so hard for something the majority of us in the Western world have taken for granted.

Anna Kambanja

Anna is originally from Mangochi, she married and settled in Chinsapo. Anna has four children and is currently the sole provider for her family. She heard about our programme on the local radio when Elizabeth, who runs WITEE was being interviewed. She immediately contacted Elizabeth and is now on her way to learning the skills required to become a competent tailor.

Anna is really enjoying learning the new skills. She sees this as an opportunity to provide for her family in the future and believes it could change her life forever, and is hopeful that her training will enable her to provide for herself and children so that she doesn’t have to beg for a living.