THE SEAMSTRESS

- Florentina -

By Standing Voice

August 21^st, 2019

I left school when I fell pregnant at 17.

Before then, school was good. I was helped through the challenges of albinism by my teachers and best friend. I always tried my best to do everything others were doing, and to interact and play with other children. I was very talented at sports, especially netball and running, and that helped me to become popular.

Occasionally I was called names—zeru zeru, or ‘sub-human’, was the most common—but I would always fight back. I refused to be a victim.

After leaving school, things were hard. I cooked and sold food to make enough money to support my baby.

But I refused to give up on my dreams, and applied to attend the local tailoring college. My fellow students were initially not supportive. They laughed at my ambitions, telling me I would never succeed as a tailor.

After completing my training, I didn’t have enough money for my own sewing machine. Instead, I worked in a shop alongside other tailors, sharing communal machines. I remember one tailor who rejected me: he said I shouldn’t be there, that my presence would scare off customers.

I didn’t bother about his words.

As my reputation grew, people heard about me from nearby villages, travelling to access my services. I began to prove that man wrong. The times I was told I would never achieve had been turned around; I was witnessing something wonderful and unexpected.

With the money I saved, I came to Nansio determined to start my own business. I bought my own sewing machine and began making clothes and other tailored goods from home.

My skills were superior to the tailors around me, and customers started to favour me. Soon, even the tailor who rejected me was losing his customers to me! Before long I had many clients and was busy all the time. My business continues to thrive today, supporting my three children and I.

Standing Voice’s tailoring workshops have helped this entire community to develop our skills and businesses. I am excited to continue making sun-protective hats after learning this skill at the Summer Skills Workshop, especially since my fellow people with albinism will be key customers!

Looking to the future, I have great hope for my children’s education. I want my business to continue succeeding so I can send them to good schools. I know they can be the doctors and lawyers of tomorrow.

I want to be a role model for my community. When people see what I have achieved they will see that a woman with albinism is capable of anything, that she too is capable of defying expectations and realising her dreams.