Case story – Olivia Mbewe
Olivia Mbewe is a single mother of two who was trained under the four months Satellite Tailoring Course Offered at DAPP Dowa Teachers Training College (TTC). The course equips vulnerable adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) with skills and knowledge in basic tailoring with the aim of ensuring that they become self-reliant members of society.
“Before joining the course, all I dreamt about was being independent” Says Olivia
When she got enrolled into the course, Olivia knew her dreams would come true.” I felt excited because I Knew that my goal and vision will be achieve through the training. I started the course and finished the training in four months. After the training, we received the startup tools including a sowing machine, scissors, threads, iron, roll off fabric and a tape measure and were encouraged to work in groups of three’s known as trios” she said
In her trio group, they agreed to find a shop and start sowing. In July 2019, they opened their business and have not looked back since. “As a trio, we have a good customer base and I believe it is because we produce good quality clothes, we manage to sew clothes for various occasions such as wedding and school uniform. To date, we have save K60,000 which is approximately 74 Euros. Our plan is to save up enough so that we all get a new sowing machines. We have invested the money by growing soya Beans and our plan is to sell the produce and then buy the sowing machines “Says Violet
Violet and her trio also plans on buying more materials so that they can sow more clothes and sell at the local market. On top of that, the trio plans on training people in our communities at a small fee as one way of raising funds.
“I thank Sympany from Holland for assisting DAPP to train us in tailoring skill on top of that I thank DAPP instructors for assisting me to become self-reliant” says violet
