UJW Sewing School plants seeds for life

Being given a skill when life is tough is the biggest gift of all. Graduates of the Union of Jewish Women’s (UJW) Sewing School have a career ahead of them after having nothing positive in their paths.

The four women who graduated on 4 July not only have a diploma to their name, they also have a sewing machine and proven ability to design and create stylish outfits.

“The sewing school changed my life because I could make beautiful garments,” said Nomvula Setuke, one of the school’s graduates from 2020. “I could make things that I never thought I could. I started selling, and I earned some income by doing so. I’m now financially stable and can support my family,” said Setuke, who did the course when she was already in her sixties.

This year’s four graduates are full of confidence, having made the outfits they modelled in their graduation ceremony fashion show in July.

The school, at the premises of the Oxford Road Shul, started in 2010. Since then, it has empowered more than 100 people by teaching unemployed men and women from 18 to 65 how to sew. All of these graduates are able to work for themselves and create beautiful garments.

“The school was created to contribute towards alleviating South Africa’s poverty problem through skills development,” said Ariane Heneck, the director of the sewing school. “We teach our students how to sew so that they have a skill that they can use however they may choose.”

“Most of the graduates go on to work for themselves, producing items for sale to their families and friends,” said Heneck. “Some have even started clothing brands.”

“When the four-and-a-half-month course is over and the graduates are modelling their designs, they have such a sense of pride and empowerment,” Heneck said.

Though the course costs R400, “it’s difficult to get that amount of money when you’re unemployed”, Heneck said. “People often have to fall back on their families or money they have saved. We try to serve them the best we can. That’s why we don’t give our students qualifications from CETA (the Construction Education and Training Authority). If we did, the course would be too expensive and inaccessible.

“It’s amazing to see how far our graduates have come in such a short time,” said Heneck. “Many enter our school without knowing how to thread a sewing machine. By the end of four and a half months, they are making elegant evening gowns.”

After attending a few programmes at the San Kopano Resource Centre in Alexandra, Setuke, one of the school’s most successful graduates, heard about the sewing school, and made further enquiries.

She worked to get her certificate during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they learned to make masks and other garments like beautiful dresses at home.

After graduating, Setuke made and sold baby cushions, and created her own brand, Cotton Harvest. Then she got a call from Heneck asking her to step in as teacher at the school while the regular teacher was away. She has since become the sewing school’s full-time teacher.

“I’ve grown so much, even while teaching. Some of the things I thought I couldn’t do, I can now do perfectly,” she said.

“Some of our graduates start their businesses making dresses for their church, some work in other businesses making clothing or curtains,” said Heneck. “We’re lucky to be able to prepare them for whatever their future may hold.

“They all impress whoever they show their garments to. Some have been able to build their businesses after showing their dresses at church,” she said.

“Our students come to school every day, and for those four and a half months, they work hard to get skilled so that when they graduate, they can compete with some of the best seamstresses in town,” she said.

Heneck said their numbers dwindled over the COVID-19 pandemic, but even in the years since the pandemic, the school hasn’t had the volume of applications it had before, receiving only eight applications for the upcoming intake in August.

“I don’t know if the market is saturated and that’s why we haven’t been getting as many applications,” she said. She’s also baffled why people aren’t jumping at the opportunity to learn a new skill that can help them to improve their lives because “it’s a skill we give them. The ones who finish or are fantastic seamstresses.”

“We have lots and lots of donations of fabric that our students use to create their beautiful garments, but we wish we could do more to help these men and women kickstart their career,” she said.

“We aim to make sure that every student that graduates can do anything that a good seamstress can do: make curtains or a dress. There’s nothing our graduates cannot do.”