Ainess
2025
At 42, Ainess is living proof that it’s never too late to start again. After living with obstetric fistula for two years, she received surgery at our Fistula Care Centre in Malawi and was enrolled in our income generation programme – a sewing initiative that provides former fistula patients with a sewing machine, materials and full support to set up a tailoring business.
We caught up with Ainess during our June 2025 monitoring visit, to see how she’s doing post-surgery and hear how her business is progressing.
Since opening her tailoring business, Ainess has made MK 506,000, which she has used to care for her family and invest in their future:
- Paid MK 80,000 in school fees for her daughter
- Paid MK 56,000 in solar connection fees (MK 7,000 month)
- Spent MK 50,000 preparing her fields for maize planting
- Used MK 100,000 for household essentials
- Saved MK 220,000 in her village bank
She earns most of her income from selling clothes. Though she was trained to make reusable pads, many women and girls in her rural community cannot afford them. Living in a remote part of a game reserve, where villages are far apart, Ainess sometimes goes days without a single sale. But on a good day, she can earn up to MK 20,000.
Ainess has raised six children on her own since her husband left. She is now the sole provider not just for her children, but also for her elderly parents. She’s the backbone of her family – resilient, determined and fiercely independent.
Looking ahead, Ainess hopes to expand her business to include secondhand clothing. She’s also saving to buy 10 acres of farmland, where she plans to grow maize, cassava and groundnuts – another step toward securing her family’s future.
