Sewing Academy students, from left, are Tejovan Brander, Anecia Bester, Shirley Pieterse, Laken Swarts, and Jean Tey Heubner. In front, at the sewing machine, are project manager Firdouze Damon and founder of the non-profit company Maria Brander.
A former clothing factory supervisor, from Beacon Valley, is teaching sewing skills to anyone willing to learn to help turn their lives around.
Maria Brander, 61, the founder and director of Sewing Academy, a registered non-profit company, in Oval East, believes teaching cutting, sewing and design skills offers people an entrepreneurial alternative to drugs, gangsterism and other social ills plaguing the community.
She has been employed at different factories and worked her way up from being a runner to a supervisor before taking a retrenchment package in 2019.
“The academy was started with the goal of empowering the youth, especially young girls and boys caught in the web of drug abuse,” Ms Brander said.
“Most of these youngsters are unemployed, unschooled and are spending their days sitting on street corners with no hope of employment.”
Project manager Firdouze Damon, 23, from Tafelsig, said they had started at the end of February and they wanted to help the youth, including rehabilitated drug users, by developing their skills in the world of fashion, design and sewing through formal workshops and training courses.
“We want to provide opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and encourage independence for these young men and women. This will ultimately allow them to reclaim their dignity and become self-sufficient.”
Shirley Pieterse, 51, from Silver City, said she walked several kilometres from her home to Ms Brander’s home daily to learn.
“I come every day. Not every day is the same. Then we talk for a bit. We pray with and for each other, and we learn to thread the needle of a sewing machine,” she said.
Ms Pieterse said they had become like a family, and at the end of each day, Ms Branders would send photographs of what they had achieved, on WhatsApp, and she would show her family.
“They are very proud of me because now I can sew and make things for them,” Ms Pieterse said.
A young man, recovering from substance abuse, was not present when the Plainsman visited the group last week, but Ms Brander said that he was one of her success stories.
Ms Damon said they used a Facebook page to promote the programme but they needed funding to sustain it.
“We’d like to offer transport stipends and have more of our own equipment, like a sewing machine, overlocker, scissors, thread and material,” she said.
At the moment, the students take turns on a borrowed sewing machine and much of the very limited budget comes out of Ms Brander’s pocket.
Ms Damon said donated off-cuts of material were a “treasure” that could be turned into a garment, table cloth, curtain or head piece.
They group is looking for sewing machines and overlockers, material, yarn, cotton, zippers, tape measures, pins and needles, marking tools and thimbles. Call Ms Damon at 060 424 7607 for more information.