Twenty-five-year-old Kyra Campbell is seamlessly stitching together a lifelong dream.

She’s doing this one carefully measured seam at a time, as she completes an intensive sewing programme offered through Clover Mamas, hosted at the Auckland Park–based Bernina Training Centre, where women and youth are being equipped with practical, income-generating skills to strengthen their communities.

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For Campbell, sewing is far more than a new craft; it’s a legacy. “Since childhood, I always wanted to sew.”

She recalled how she watched her grandmother transform fabric into beautiful garments with effortless precision. “Before I could use a machine, I’d cut up my own clothes just trying to make things.”

Though the programme only started towards the end of January, it has already broadened her skills. Here, she’s learnt how to operate and thread sewing machines, understand different fabrics, choose the right needles, and grasp the ‘why’ behind each technique. What she hopes to master next is pattern-making, which she sees as her key to creating full, wearable garments.

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Campbell dreams of becoming a designer, and eventually starting her own brand, but her ambitions reach beyond personal growth. After completing the programme, she will return to her community of Eldorado Park, and through Clover Mamas teach others the skills she has gained.

“It’s important to have a skill, because you never know what tomorrow holds. A skill gives you something to fall back on.”

Her story is a reminder that sometimes, the thread passed down through generations can stitch an entirely new future.

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