SOFFIA MAGAZINE 6TH EDITION

sew, they won’t buy or wear
them, most of the time. My
customers always tell me,
“Design for us, you’re creative”,
so I have their support,
both in the Gambia and
abroad.
Our society believes that
when you receive an education,
you must become a
lawyer, doctor, or even an
accountant! We want to hear
from you about the importance
of skill work.
In those days, skill work was
not recommended that much.
People believed that after
completing school, you should
only work in an office. The
world is evolving, and people
are realizing how many benefits
there are to learning a
trade/skill. A month’s worth
of salary earned by working
for yourself is far greater
than what someone in a suit
is making for someone else
in that same month, and at
least for yourself, the money
is coming in almost every
day, as opposed to monthly.
Furthermore, no matter where
you are, the skill you acquire
can be useful to you. It is clear
we live in a fashion era, which
means fashion shows can be
found at any event you attend,
wherever you go. The Gambia
might be lagging when
it comes to that, but we’re
catching up. The first thing you
ask yourself when you wake
up in the morning is what do I
wear today and what matches
what. This is where skill work
comes in. Office work is not
for everyone. Initially, there
were a few conflicts between
parents and their children
when I started my design
school. Despite their parent’s
wishes, the kids wanted to
go into the fashion industry. I
convinced the parents to allow
their children to choose their
area of interest and now, alhamdulillah,
they realize this is
what their kids are good at.
What inspired you to start a
designing school?
I have travelled to various
international trade fairs and
fashion shows representing
The Gambia. Most of the time
I hear my colleagues from
different countries talk about
the different design schools
they have in their respective
countries, and it occurred to
me that the Gambia only has
tailoring workshops and our
sewing skills aren’t up to par.
Often, Gambians will travel to
foreign countries for proper
designs, and you can’t blame
them since we have very few
good, and well-trained designers
here. A designing class is
a must to perfect your craft.
Most tailoring workshops in
The Gambia are filled with
magazines where other designers’
designs are just being
copied. It’s at this point that I
concurred that this wasn’t going
to help our industry. I found
a talented group of students
and strongly recommend
those who wanted to become
designers to attend a training
school, one that I’d be opening
myself to. My only solution
was to open something in the
Gambia for these young people
could get the opportunities
we were not able to have
and help grow the country’s
fashion industry. The school
is working as expected, there
are many different complected
aspects of fashion, some
of which is knowing which
material goes with which, how
to choose colours, and how
to cut patterns. They learn
all those things. I faced a lot
of challenges in building the
school, but I am glad that
it is complete, and classes
are taking place. The hiring
of designing teachers was
the most challenging party; I
could not find one in the Gambia
that met the standards I
was looking for. I had to hire
people from outside of the
Gambia, house them and pay
them in Dollars, but I went
into this knowing these challenges
would arise, so I sent
my daughter to study abroad
in order to at least have one
lecturer to start with.
In addition to sewing and
designing school, what other
activities do you engage in?
I am currently the vice president
of the fashion designer’s
association of the Gambia.
I am also a member of the
Women’s Chamber of Commerce
of the Gambia, as well
as the Senegal Gambia Federation.
In the Gambia, the
fashion designer’s association
is the first ever to be established.
When I joined, I was the
youngest person in the group.
We also organize events in
order to raise funds for young
designers. So, aside from sewing
that is what I devote my
time to.
How do you balance work
and family life?
That’s a very good question,
and I’m blessed to have a very
supportive husband who has
supported me throughout my
career, but balancing work life
and family isn’t easy. In order
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