Sewing Strength from Adversity
Zeyiba at here work and her product
Zeyiba Ashenafi is a 34-year-old lady with physical impairment lives in Addis Abeba. According to her family, the cause of impairment was due to a medical error when she was 2 years old.Zeyiba started her education when she was 4 years of age. She attended a local school as her family couldn’t enroll her in kindergarten for fear of bullying and discrimination.She experienced derogatory and pitiful communication. Zeyiba gives credit to her mother for her current state of high level of confidence. Her mom always keeps pushing her to go out and outshine rather than hide herself. She dropped out of her college (10+1 certificate program in the accounting field) education as she couldn’t afford to make it happen which remains a pain. She used this grudge against poverty which she later on used as a springboard for growth.
Zeyiba had the opportunity of an internship in embroidery work with one of the entrepreneursnearer to her residence for free.She depended on her mother for every expenseas she couldn’t generate any income. For her, it createda bad feelingof being a burden on her mother. Later on, her embroidery skillsgradually developedand paid her back to get wage employment and generated income, as a result.The amount was 300.00ETB per week.However, Zeyibawas not productivebecause of the incompatibility of the embroidery machine and her disability.
Before joining the project,Zeyiba started her own petty business by rentinga working place and a machine foran amount of 450 Birr per month. The traditionalsavingsand credit scheme called “Equb” helped her to establish her own business. She started to develop a sewing skill in addition to embroidery by seeing from her colleagues. At that time, her average monthlyincome reached around 3,000 Birr.
Then, the Tila Project appeared in her life. She was identified by Woreda women and the social affairs office to be included in the project.Zeyiba received hard skills training in the garment field and got multifaceted skills such as overlooking, designing, advanced sewing, etc. Subsequently, she was able to manufacture clotheswithgood quality and quantity of embroidery designsas her lonely product before joining the project was embroidery.
The soft skills training which focused on mindset also boosted her motivation and confidence which enhanced her record-keeping, customer handling, effective resource utilization, marketing,the value of time, etc.In addition, she received SRH training.
Most importantly, after she was provided with hard and soft skills, she had access to a loan of 50,000 Birr with reasonable interest throughthe Tila Project facilitated by ECDD.Zeyiba’s capital has now reached around 80,000 Birr while her average monthly income is 19,000 – 20,000 Birr per month. She plans to expand her business by purchasing her own sewing machines provided that the business grows as she expects and an additional fund is secured. If things go well as she plans, Zeyiba wants to elevate her livelihood and create additional job opportunities for other persons with disabilities and poor women without disabilities.