Earning From Thread and Needle

It is about 6:30 a.m. and UPENDO WA BWANA tailoring shop has already opened its door to customers. “An early bird catches the worm,” says Maurice Oluoch, the proprietor.

In the workshop, he is touching this and that to ensure that all is ready for the day’s work. On the walls hang a variety of suiting materials for customers to choose from.

A mother comes in: “Fundi, please join me this short; my son will be late for school.” Pulling the machine and stool close to him, Maurice looks around and gets a thread. In a matter of minutes, the short is mended. “Asante fundi,” the mother says as she walks away.

“This is how we do it,” Maurice says jokingly. Things appear cool and under control in his workshop, which measures about 10 feet by 10 feet.

However, the journey thus far has been anything but smooth, as Maurice reveals. His childhood dream was to become a doctor, but that was never to be. He dropped out of school in form four in the first term, as nobody could meet his school fees after the death of his brother.

He resorted to charcoal burning in the village just to make ends meet, which he describes as an “uphill task”: “You know, some people could not pay me even after delivering my charcoal to them, some promising me to come ‘tomorrow,’ which never came.”

Maurice eventually moved to Nairobi at a friend’s invitation. “Coming to the city was one thing I never envisaged,” he says. “I totally had no dream of Nairobi since I had no relative in the city who I could visit.” When the friend invited him to the city, he adds, it was like the doors to heaven opened wide for him.

Little did he know that God had planned well in his visit. “When I got the city, [my friend] asked me if I was interested in learning his tailoring skills. And honestly that was one thing that I longed to know. I warmly accepted the offer.” While training, he spent nights in a temporary kiosk-cum-workshop in his host’s neighbourhood in Dandora.

Today, Maurice is married and owns his own workshop in Dandora phase one, with six sewing machines. He has also trained 15 youths and continues to train more, offering job opportunities to many in the area who would otherwise be jobless. At the same time, he commands great respect among organizers of weddings and similar events, who say that his work blends well with the occasion.

Maurice is optimistic that his business will grow to offer even better jobs to area youth despite numerous challenges.