Nwabisa's Dream
Hello everyone, my name is Nwabisa Beauty Mlanjeni. I am 36 years old. I grew up in the Eastern Cape with seven siblings and my mother who is a single parent. She was working as a domestic worker, housekeeping and earning 600 rand ($50) per month. In 1999, I decided to come to Cape Town to help my family. I couldn’t finish school because there was no money to send me to school so I tried to find a job. I worked as a street cleaner, office cleaner, and domestic worker. As you know it is difficult to find a good job, especially when you don’t have a qualification. In 2007, I met Anne Rearick and she sent me to sewing school. It is where I started my journey with sewing. I began working with Shweshwe fabric making African clothes: headscarves with beads, hand bags, skirts, aprons, and tablecloths.
I am staying in Window Cleaner’s Hostel in one room that is 2 x 2 meters. I live with my son who is 17 years old, his father left us when I was three months pregnant. In 2017, Anne invited me to the Mama Project (link) where I met Bobbie Steinbach and Lori Taylor. My dream is to expand my business, have my own space, and teach sewing to unemployed youth.
Nwabisa Mlanjeni
I first met Nwabisa in 2004 in Langa, South Africa. Since then, we have become good friends. I am in awe of Nwabisa. Nwabisa lives and works in her small room at the Window Cleaner’s hotel with her 17 year-old son in a cinder block building that houses many families. This building has no heat, rat infestation, broken windows, no bathrooms, and leaking ceilings. Toilets are housed in another building. There are other challenges to living in Langa, including surviving the random daily acts of violence: a murder just outside her door and most recently an assault on her son. Nwabisa has worked many jobs, including as a domestic, cashier, and office cleaner.
Like so many women living in black townships in post-apartheid South Africa, Nwabisa struggles to support herself and her son. In 2007, she enrolled in sewing classes and has built a successful small business making beautiful, traditional Xhosa "Shweshwe" cloth dresses, aprons, skirts and tablecloths.
Given the attendant problems and limitations of Nwabisa’s current living situation, we plan to buy a three room apartment for her in a more secure area of Langa. Here, Nwabisa would be able to grow her business and create a sewing center to teach young women the skills that have enabledher to make a basic living wage. Our goal is to secure $25,000 by June 15, 2020 to buy a new house and work space for Nwabisa. Thank you for your generosity and support of Nwabisa's Dream. We are already halfway there!
Anne Rearick, Bobbie Steinbach and Lori Taylor
