These shoes are made for selling ...

This is an inspiring story of three women from the Mutale Municipal area, who call themselves U a kona Manufacturing & Services. The women manufacture fashionable shoes which they sell to the public, to earn some cash.

Mesdames Livhuwani Thavhanyedza from Tshilavulu village, Maria Ngoma and Tiny Malindi, both from Tshilamba, can now put something on their tables due to the fruit of their hard labour. They had no formal training, but they used their creativity to develop their project, situated at Tshilamba Township, on the western side of the post office.

The mastermind behind the initiative, Livhuwani Thavhanyedza, explains how it all started: “We met at a church gathering and all of us were unemployed. We came with several options but we ended up agreeing on what were doing at the time. It has never been easy to establish ourselves as it needed hard work, perseverance and dedication.”

Livhuwani, who uses the cash from the project to look after her four kids, who are all at school, says there are many opportunities to make money, but laziness is a common stumbling block for success. “Our people do not want to use their brains profitably. Laziness breeds misery and our people must learn that they can survive although they are not formally employed. We need to wake up and do something to contribute to the economic development of our society”

Livhuwani says they do not have a fixed monthly income. “Our income depends on the availability of customers at a given time. But we can see there is a light at the end of the tunnel because we no longer struggle to survive.”

The women manufacture the shoes by hands as they are still running short of relevant machinery.

Livhuwani says she started by selling shoes of the same make for someone else and she decided to do something for herself. She then engaged her two formerly unemployed friends in the project. “We buy the material and soles in the shops to make our shoes. We use shoe glue, crochets, special knives, needles and threads to make an attractive product. It needs creativity because one needs to make something that will attract community members to buy the products.”

Another project member, Maria Ngoma, says life is no longer the same since she became part of U a kona Manufacturing & Services. “My five children no longer go to bed on empty stomachs since I became a member of this project. I can now pay their school fees and provide them with basic needs so that they can proudly face the future like other kids.”

Tiny Malindi says women must stand up and do something to uplift themselves. “There is no use to wait for miracles because we are the ones who can make things happen.” She says a pair of shoes for ladies costs R150 and for men costs R180 because of the difference in material.

News - Date: 26 May 2006

Wilson Dzebu

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