A Season of Renewal: Students Meet the Makers Behind Their Uniforms
At Tumaini Tutor School in Tanzania, Spring brings more than just new blossoms — it’s a time to refresh the Uniform Lending Library with clean, mended, and newly crafted uniforms and shoes.
This month, our students enjoyed visiting the talented local tailors and cobblers, who hand-make their school clothing.
Students saw how each stitch and sole carries craftsmanship, care, and pride.
Thanks to donor support, local women are empowered with business funds to wash, iron, and repair uniforms, while skilled artisans sew new pants, tops, skirts, and handcraft durable shoes for growing feet.
Together, this community effort ensures that every student steps into school with confidence and dignity, dressed for the classroom and the future.
Refreshing our Uniform Lending Library
- Women's Business Group members hand-wash, line-dry, and inspect over 1,000 student uniform pieces for tears, missing buttons, and good zippers.
- Our talented seamstress, repairs weak or missing parts of uniform tops, pants, skirts, and sweaters.
- Next, we "rev up" the school generator and iron uniforms for their return to the Library and back into the classroom!
Stitched with Care: Students Meet the Makers Behind Their Uniforms
- Treadle machines hum rhythmically as ankles flex back and forth, creating one experienced stitch at a time. Tailors create various colors of skirts, pants, shirts, and blouses to meet the uniform requirements for each of the 11 government schools that Tumaini Tutor students attend.
Crafting a Uniform Library Shoe that Lasts
- Objective: A Uniform Library with sturdy shoes. We learned early that available, ready-made school shoes lacked durability and did not last a season. Master Cobbler Mahaeri instructs students in the form and function of the foot and how a shoe begins with a pattern of the foot.
- Mahaeri employs six specialists who cut and stretch cow leather to form the upper shoe. Then, they attach the shoe to a firm, pre-made sole and finish and polish it. The process takes 2-3 hours per pair of shoes and costs $27.
"I am proud to help the community, especially these school students. I feel happy to see the students smile. With this, my goals are met." Mahaeri, Master Cobbler
