Our wonderful volunteer Sadia answers a few questions about her background, her first impressions of Malawi and the challenges she faces. Every month we will be bringing you pictures, videos and diary entries from Sadia, as well as personal stories from each of our ladies in Malawi. So stay tuned!
Q – Tell us about your background…
My background is in Fashion Design and pattern cutting. I began my undergraduate in 2002 studying Fashion Design for three years. Finishing that I got my first job in 2005 as a sportswear designer working for RedBull Formula 1. I worked alongside the marketing team designing their two F1 teams team wear.
Within my time at RedBull I also moved to Austria, the roots of RedBull. My creative director opened a creative agency within RedBull and I began designing for their Ice Hockey teams, Football and Nascar as well as F1.
After my time in Austria, I moved back to the UK and began my postgraduate in Innovative Pattern Cutting. This then led me in to pattern cutting for the next five years. Working for a mix of high end designers creating whole catwalk collections, to working for popular high street brands.
Q – How did you come across Mayamiko?
I have always had an interest in Fair Trade and after working for the high street my desire to work within Fair Trade grew. I attended the Fair Trade Expo 2011 in London and this is where I came across Mayamiko.
My aim was to talk to different Fairtrade supplies and designers to get an idea of what type of jobs were available on the market. The staff at Mayamiko told me about their project and explained that they were looking for some technical support in Malawi.
Q – What made you decide to volunteer?
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to cross into the Fair Trade industry. Even as a volunteer position, I understood that the level of support needed at the project would also allow me to implement my skills and gain new experience.
Q – What do you think your biggest challenge will be ?
I think my biggest challenge will be to ensure that the team in Malawi do not rely on me and my presence too much, but for them to learn from me and take on the different roles and responsibilities themselves. My time out there is limited and I want to make sure I leave with a confident team of staff and a efficient running production unit.
Q – What are you most excited about?
I am most excited about living and working within a community, rather that being a backpacker moving on every few days, which I have done in the past. This is my first experience of Africa as well as Malawi so cultures, people, the environment, all excite me.
Q – What are your first impressions of Malawi?
My first impressions have been mostly positive. The Malawian pace of life took a little getting used to, but i’m beginning to work well with it. The landscape is beautiful, the people as explained to me by many are also very friendly. The survival of families in areas of vast poverty is hard to comprehend when prices of transport and food can be relatively high, especially in large cities. People seem to be very politically aware and feel quite hard done by by their own government, everyone tells me the country is going through hard times which I can physically see on a day to day basis. On a more positive note, the people here have a positive outlook to life, they look to religion for a lot of support.
The women are great fun, they all have a wicked sense of humour and have me laughing most of the time i’m at work. They’re all very enthusiastic to learn and appreciate the support greatly. Their health and family situations are all very sad, but on a day to day observation you would never guess what they are going through.
Q – What is the one key thing you want to achieve in your time in Malawi?
My main aim during my time out here is to help improve the standard of training and production to meet the UK standards. This is so that more sales can be generated bringing more money back into the project. The bigger success rate, the more women we can help in the long run.
