Asiyatu
2025
42-year-old Asiyatu lived with obstetric fistula for an unimaginable 15 years before receiving the treatment she needed at our Fistula Care Centre in Malawi.
Now, she is thriving – thanks to our income generation program, which provides women recovering from fistula with a sewing machine, materials and all the support they need to launch their own tailoring businesses.
During our June 2025 monitoring visit, we met Asiyatu at her newly opened tailoring shop and were inspired by the incredible progress she has made in just a short time.
Since starting her business, Asiyatu has earned over MK 400,000, which she has used to:
- Pay school fees for her children MK 36,000
- Buy two bags of fertilizer MK 200,000
- Prepare her maize fields MK 50,000
- Purchase household necessities MK 100,000
- Save MK 75,000 in her village bank
She makes her income sewing clothes, bags and reusable pads and has also started stocking and selling wrappers (chitenje cloth). On a good day, she can earn around MK 20,000 and about MK 7,000 on a slower day.
But perhaps most impressively, Asiyatu has gone one step further: she has rented a shop and now employs a young tailor, paying him MK 35,000/month, while she pays MK 10,000/month in rent. She’s also selling fish as a side business to boost her income even further.
After raising six children alone following her husbands departure, Asiyatu is proud to be financially independent. Her children now eat three meals a day, their school fees are paid and she no longer lies awake at night worrying about money.
Looking ahead, Asiyatu is saving to buy land so she can build her own home and move out of her mothers’ house. She also hopes to expand her business by buying more sewing machines and growing her shop into something even bigger.
Asiyatu is proof that it’s never too late to rewrite your story.
