Embroidering Cultural Dresses

Selamawit Terefe/ENA/

I met Kiya, a tall young girl looking younger than her actual age at one of the local markets embroidering traditional clothes at Shiromeda, Addis Ababa.

She was quite busy carefully embroidering a cotton cultural dress known as Yehabesha Libs that she has to deliver for Epiphany or Timket. I approached her when I saw her smile on her young face to discuss with her about her job. After she hesitated for a while, she gave in to share her story.

Kiya came from Ambo 120 km west of Addis Ababa when she was only 12, thinking life would be simple and easy going.  However, for a young girl with no skills at all life was challenging for her.

Preferring to stay in the city rather than returning to her family, Kiya has no choice but to be a housemaid until she acquired the skill of embroidering cultural clothes. “I wanted to make a living having my own skill which I gradually acquired by looking at how my friends do this job.”

Kiya, who turned to 21 and currently living in a rented house along with her other three colleagues who were housemaids like her was desperate to work by herself.

She said “One thing that I wanted so badly was to stop working as a housemaid and take care of myself. Now I have a skill to make a better living by embroidering Yehabesha Libs using various styles; on top of that now I can support my family.”

Holiday times particularly Epiphany, known as Timket, is high time for people engaged in the embroidery business, as the desire for new traditional clothes increased.

 “During the holidays many people give us a lot of orders. What’s challenging in embroidery business is when the tread cost is covered by us and when the price of tread rises; it takes most of the money” she added.

Kiya aspires to open her own business by developing her skill that she joined at her young age.

Reshad Keder, who joined the business last year, engaged in embroidering clothes at the day time and attends night school. He sounded strong when he told me he has managed his time between work and his education.

According to Reshad, the work varies according to its style as well as the quality and amount of thread used to make it. The work could take them from few hours to three days. They get from 300 to 1000 Birr from their work.

 “This is called “megaz weraje”, this one is the sleeves and when it is combined with descending line called rafter it costs up to 1000,” Reshad added.

Hana Wolde is a 16 years old girl from Sodo in Southern Ethiopia. With the help of her brother who buys her treads, she could be able to save what she earns; Hana has learnt the skill from her brother as working as housemaid was not paying off.

Hana said confidently “Normally I now can finish a dress in a day; we help out each other to finish the embroidery as fast as possible and get paid by the time we deliver it.”

 “Especially at holiday times business is good and at ordinary days we work on few clothes. If the style is difficult we ask up to 500 Birr and if it is an ordinary style it costs up to 350 Birr.”

There are hundreds of youths working in the embroidery business around Shiromeda.

The all white outfit embroidered with shiny threads for an elegant effect are considered as the Ethiopian traditional costume, due to its wide spread use especially during holidays.