Local Zimbabwean Sewing Club Makes Good | Voice of America - English
In Zimbabwe, what began as a small sewing project for four women in the town of Mutare seems to be destined for greater heights. The quartet makes clothes for adults and children and they also make curtains.
One of its members, who introduced herself as Mrs Mucherechedzo,says she expects their modest success to continue as long as they don't run outof sewing machines: "We are faced with a problem ofinadequate sewing machines. Clothing material is now expensive which isaffecting our business. If we could have more machines and have qualityclothing material at affordable prices we would do better." Another club member, ChamunorwaRwafa, says the group needs a bigger and better working environment as theircurrent base is too small. She complains they ? like everyone else ? are beingcharged rent in foreign currency. Rwafasays they'd do much better if they were able to get a loan from a bank, "At themoment we are working a small place but our wish is to have a bigger place.Another thing is to get access to a loan to enable us to buy cloth in largequantities, which is cheaper. " She adds the group's inspired bythe shared belief that without pain, or effort, there's no gain. But her friend, Mrs Muneri, saysshe dreads the increasingly frequent machine breakdowns: "Our sewing machines break down nowand again which impacts negatively on our work. At times this causes a loss ofbusiness because it takes us longer to finish while money loses values inZimbabwe's highly inflationary environment. In addition, it is costly to repairthe machines." The group manages to stay afloatthanks to busy or "peak" times during the year. Club member Sandra Gadzai says business is always briskbefore schools open and the run up to Christmas: "We are busy at the opening ofschools as parents look for uniforms for their children. At year end during thefestive season we are busy as well as people would be looking for new clothesfor christmas and new year periods. " The women say they believe their business willimprove even further if unity government talks, between Zanu PF and the two MDCfactions, are successful.