Aisha thrives in tailoring
AS long as I am able to move and walk, I will be sewing, says Aisha Prasad.
Originally from Vunikavikaloa in Rakiraki, she is one of few tailors who operates a tailoring shop in Nabua, Suva.
Ms Prasad said her passion for sewing began from when she was only a child.
“I started sewing when I was just 12 years old,” Ms Prasad said.
“While other girls my age were playing with dolls and dollhouses, I was playing with needles, threads and scissors.
“When we were very small, a lady came to stay with us for three to four days, she would sew all our clothes and I used to love watching her.
“I was very young at that time, maybe seven years old or eight but that’s how I learnt to sew.”
She said she even sewed her own school uniform, much to her teacher’s amazement.
“My teachers always come to my mother, and she’d tell them that I had sewn my own uniform.
“When I finished school, I found employment in a garment factory and continued doing what I have grown to love.
“After some time, I left the garment factory and began working in other places, like small tailoring shops.
“It was at one of those places that the thought came to me to start my own tailoring business and so I left where I was working and started my business at home.
The mother of five operated from home for a while before she found employment at a tailoring shop in Nabua.
It was during that time that she came across the shop space that she is now operating from.
“I was at a tailoring shop on the main street and I usually walked by this shop and noticed it because there used to be a DVD shop here.
“One day while listening over the radio I heard that the DVD business has closed down and that it was up for rent.
“I went to the shoe repair shop next door and asked the owner about it and he took down my contact.
“Two days later he called and I moved in and began my tailoring business.”
Ms Prasad said her tailoring business fluctuated over the years but she never got into a situation where she had to borrow money because she managed her finances well.
“I never save money earned from tailoring because I always spend it on my husband and children.
“Whatever they need, I make sure I provide.
“My youngest son is in high school, and I provide him with whatever he needs.”
She said the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging because she had to operate from home.
“I don’t like staying at home but I had to because of the virus.
“Luckily my customers were loyal and when they knew I was operating from home, they came home to place their orders.
“What also helped was that my husband is a taxidriver so there was some money coming in from there.”
Ms Prasad said the best time for tailors was during the festive season from November to December.
“Most people look down on this job nowadays and not a lot of people opt to go into tailoring.
“They are all educated so they prefer office jobs.
Young Women’s Christian Association general secretary Eleni Nabalarua.
The nature of the organisation presents an interesting exchange of views and stories of diverse women and girls that provide an even greater platform to learn on a daily basis.
“We have a range of women of different ages. It’s a space where we are able to have inter-generational interactions which is really good because you learn different things.”
These stories of the good old days at the Y provide both a picture of what was and what could be.
She said stories about how the Y was a hive of activities and a safe space for women and girls from different walks of life to be able to empower and be empowered to be powerfully themselves.
“The Y was known as a safe space. It didn’t matter what their beliefs were, because even though we are a Christian organisation, we never differentiated between women or girls from different faiths or beliefs.
“If you needed a place to recuperate, or just take a break, that was what the YWCA was for a lot of women.”
Ms Nabalarua says hearing the stories of those times and women leaders that paved the way for the Y made her proud of the fact that she was able to carry on the baton of the movement.
“We hear some of the stories that women and girls who have come through the Y over the years, about how it changed their lives, how it empowered them, and impacted discussions on decision making that impacted them.
“I am definitely privileged and humbled to have even been considered to take this position that I am in today. Never for a second could I forget the women who have paved the way for us to be able to progress as much as we have as women and young women these days.
“They were the trailblazers, before the word feminism was familiar, the work of feminism was being done by these women.”
The work is far from done but her family’s upbringing keeps her on track to seeing it through.
“For me it’s a reminder every day, that I have different women in my family who have grown up in different circumstances. A lot of the work that I do, in terms of the women’s movement, is because of how they grew up and the stories they shared.
“It’s a reminder to me about how far our families have come.
“If I’m part of a movement that helps heighten their living standards or women like them, that’s something I want to be a part of.
“There are women around Fiji that still do not have access to basic needs, infrastructure or aren’t fully able to practice their rights as women. And that’s where my passion for this work comes from and that’s why I want to be a part of this movement.”