By Betsy Ramser Jaime
‘My name is Miss Mirriam Musonda aged 22 years old. I hold a certificate in First Aid which I trained with the Zambia Red Cross Society.’
Mirriam describes herself as being very determined with strong skills in leturing, demonstration, and sewing.
She sharers, ‘Having been adopted at one of the orphanages I learned a lot of skills from the Zambia Red Cross and today I am of the best lecturers who trains girls and vulnerable women in communities and help with skills in first aid and sewing development of clothing.’
Mirriam sews reusable sanitary pads and also spends her time training girls to improve their lives for themselves and their families. Many of the girls that she works with have dropped out of school and have few options available to them.
Describing her business and income Mirriam says, ‘I earn a good income from reusable sanitary pads and empowering my fellow young women to start earning a living. Going forward I am planning to expand these projects and turn them into an NGO by bringing more youths, especially the vulnerable in communities and those moving the street of Lusaka town up and down.’
Since joining Zidisha earlier this year, Mirriam has raised several loans to purchase additional sewing machines and a variety of fabric for making dresses, suits, and party dresses.’
Most recently, in June 2022, as she requested a $183 Zidisha-funded loan, she described her upcoming goals for her business and projects, ‘With the funds raised from this loan, I need to buy 7 sewing machines to help teach and develop sewing skills for young girls in our community. I have embarked on a bigger project of sewing more reusable washable sanitary pads. This is because the demand has increased for our target market which in this case are the women and young ladies. The profits made will be used to buy more fabric materials for sewing more clothing so as to earn more income generation and develop more skills in our community.’
On June 18, Mirriram took to her Zidisha discussion page and shared, ‘Dear lenders and backers, the previous loan you helped to raise indeed did a lot for me, especially on the part of teaching and impacting young girls in our community to acquire sewing skill on reusable sanitary pads. Am grateful for your support because more youths are benefiting in our community and their lives are changing because of your support through Zidisha loans.’
Would you like to make a difference in the life of a Zidisha business owner like Mirriam? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to see how other entrepreneurs are changing their lives and communities.
Betsy is a Writer and Editor living in Florida with her husband. She has been writing with Zidisha for 5 years and loves sharing the inspiring stories of Zidisha entrepreneurs. You can connect with her on her personal website.
