Meet Susan, a 36 year old woman from Livingstone. Like most girls from her compound, she went to school. And as many like her, she quit before completing grade 9.  Halfway through her father fell ill, and when he passed away so did Susan’s school sponsorship.

Shortly after quitting, she became pregnant and married the father of her child. It was more of an obligation than a love story. And from that day on her responsibilities contained those of a housewife. Not many years had passed before she was pregnant with her second child, and her usual trot was filled with even more domestic duties. Owing the fact that their little family was living on one low-income salary made everydaylife hard to cope with.

Things did not exactly improve, and after a couple of years her husband, like her father, also died. She was left alone with no formal education, no work experience, no support and two children to look after. Times where desperate, and for a long time she struggled to make the smallest amount of money for herself and her children.

“I was very stuck, because my children was starving. No food, nothing, not even a blanket”.

At that time she would do almost anything for a dollar, as long as she could buy food for her children. “I was not choosing, and that is when I started to work for sex”.She would pass through any bar, and she had no limitations. There were even men who mistreated and abused her, and at the end of the day she had to go back to make more money for the next meal.

“Sometimes they didn’t even give me money, and some of them even ended up beating me. It was not a good situation, it was a bad life”.

The change

News became worse the day she was diagnosed positive for HIV. She was sharing the fate of many of her friends and family in the community, and the only thing she could think about was how it would affect her children. On reflection she said that this was what made her change her life around. With a series of major setbacks her mind was at ease. “If I die it will be a waist for my children” – and she decided that she needed to turn things around for the sake of her young ones.

“Now the pain that I have is for my girl child, is she going to go through what I am going through?”

She went for counselling and took her anti-retroviral medicine. She tried to find supportive networks, and through her friends she was appointed to an organisation known for working with women in her situation. They offered educational programmes and vocational activates to better understanding the situation she was in, and to reinforce her position in the community. She went to the organisation daily.  And as a member they even made sure her children’s school fees where paid for. For being faithful and devoted, the organisation also granted her a placement at a work-training program.

After a year she completed the course, and together with 60 other members she was now holding a seamstress certificate. On completion they even received a sewing machine so they could start mending products from home. The girls were very optimistic.  The organisation told them that with thorough research this might be the beginning of their success.

Life today

Four years later and Susan is still going strong. It is the end of 2012 and her youngest child is now in school. Her path has been rough, and it is one she did not choose herself. But she has made big improvements, and the support from the organisation has been of great help. This is a story many women in the compounds of Livingstone share, and there are no words for the amount of stress they must go through. Susan has demonstrated great willpower and drive, and it is admirable that she has changed the course of her life for the sake of her children.

Even so, she is still struggling to gather a decent monthly income, and it is much below minimum wage. The other fact is that the majority of the money does not come from mending, but from working in a security company. It is thought provoking that she is not working as a tailor on full time. After all, she went through a program that left her with a formal certificate in a well-known craftsmanship.

“Working nights is how I get money to pay the rent and food for me and my children”.

Susan started to work as a security guard while training to become a tailor, and she had a predetermination that she would be able to quit the day she became a qualified seamstress.  But things did not exactly turn out the way she had planned. She never managed to gather enough capital to start up, and when she was mending for other people she only made petty cash.

Today, her monthly salary is 125, – dollars, and 40 of which is from mending. There are a lot of factors that stands in her way of making it as a tailor. And having to be accountable for both funding, researching, manufacturing, marketing and sale is what defies her the most. All she really wants is to become a good seamstress, and she wants to be proud of the products she makes.

“We need to have a marketing managers to look for costumers, and then we as tailors we should sew the items”.

Susan doesn’t like the unpredictability of only being paid by the sales she makes. She has been let down before, and all she wants is to work at a place where she will be paid according to her contribution. “We had a week of business training, but it was not enough.” Susan continues and says that what she does want is another in-depth course in tailoring.

“ I want a teacher that can boost my tailoring. Making sure that the items is made in a proper manner”.

Susan has made a lot of uniforms for school children, and it brightens up her whole face when she talks about it. Once she made her son a track suit, and she proudly states that all the other children where mesmerized. She says she can make a dress suit within three hours, but because of her other work and because of her obligations at the organisation it takes her two whole days. But she takes the time to practice her tailoring skills. Because sewing is something Susan can point out to others, and it shows that she has a talent.

“ I can work I tell you, and when I practice I make sure I don’t loose my skills”.

All Susan wants is a job that will let her work with what she loves, and which will gives her a fair and decent salary.

Interviewed by Iris from WayaWaya.

Follow WayaWaya adventure on http://www.wayawaya.no

This is a good example on how women are meant to face difficulties in life, by acting with responsibilities!