Eight months of training in a sewing skills programme supported by Blythswood Care have equipped a young woman in Zimbabwe to earn a wage and support her younger sibling through school.

Tariro was still in primary school when her father died of tuberculosis.  Soon she found herself helping her mother doing domestic work and even working in the fields to earn enough to pay her fees for secondary school. 

Through hard work and determination she got as far as form four before dropping out to support her younger siblings.

It was neighbours in Epworth, a poor and densely populated district south of Harare, who told her about the sewing skills training offered by Streams of Hope with support from Blythswood Care. 

“Former sewing graduates told her she could join our training for free,” says Stephen Damuputirai, director of Streams of Hope.  “In 2021, while she was training, Streams of Hope helped the family with maize.

“Now Tariro is fully employed in the Masasa industrial area as a tailor and is able to pay the rent for the two rooms in which the family lives, and also to pay school fees for her younger brother and sister. 

“Streams of Hope gave her a manual sewing machine and in her spare time she is using it to train her sister.  She asked me to thank you for helping her acquire these skills which have completely changed her life.”