Editor's Note: this post was written by guest blogger Danielle Allyn. Danielle is a student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is currently spending her summer interning for Mamafrica Designs in Bukavu, DRC, while conducting research for her senior thesis.
"In 5 years, I want to be living so well that my husband [who rejected me] begs me to take him back. I want the opportunity to tell him no, and to tell him that I am better off making a life for myself and my family." Mamafrica artisan Asifiwe, vibrant and full of life, is one of the youngest student seamstresses working at Mamafrica's Ushindi center in Bukavu, DR Congo, the provincial capital of South Kivu. Each day, the women of Mamafrica arrive promptly at 8 am (some of them traveling up to two hours on foot) and begin crafting Mamafrica's handmade clothing and accessories from local kitenge fabric. The women learn to sew and earn a monthly income through their labor. In a town with nearly 80% unemployment for women, Mamafrica's income-generating production should not go unnoticed. But the center is more than a source of training or livelihood for these women and their children. Within the walls of the Ushindi Center, Bukavu's Mamas have created for themselves a community of beauty, strength, and resilience.
"I once lived in an area where I faced discrimination because of my illness," artisan Nabintu Charlotte says. "But when I joined Mamafrica's sewing program, I began to realize that I truly was a person of value. I can overcome hardship now because I accept myself."
Mamafrica offers monthly literacy programs, trauma counseling, healing arts, and educational programs for the families of each artisan. Incoming members are screened according to set criteria. Most of the women currently employed at Mamafrica are survivors of sexual violence and have been displaced from various villages in South Kivu province due to conflict ...
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