about our tailors

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wrap up africa llc’s tailors are generally family members of the pediatric cancer patients and increasingly, patients themselves.  we teach tailoring skills and train our participants to make beautiful products, pay them a fair wage for what they create, and provide a market for what they produce.  with the funds they earn, the tailors are able to meet many of the needs they face with a cancer diagnosis such as food, transportation, medical expenses and lodging.

joel

image we first met joel a year and a half ago.  he was a 15 year-old cancer patient from a rural family of limited resources.  his family had sold a portion of their land and anything valuable they possessed in order to help pay for joel’s treatment.  they left him alone at the hospital with what little funds they could and with their hopes for his recovery.  like many children, joel was left to look after himself throughout his illness.  through the generous support of donors we were able to pay for joel’s treatment and he is now in remission and working with us as a tailor.  joel is a grateful and extremely hard working young man.  he walked three hours to our training classes each day and worked hard to learn the skills that enable him to earn a living.
here are a few words from joel:
“wrap up africa has helped me in so many ways, like…
• meeting all my expenses, especially my treatment, and it has also helped to improve my life.
• supporting the life of our family by being able to afford most of the basic necessities.
wrap up africa has really helped me because I imagined I had nothing I could do with my life and so i had surrendered it to god.  i had lost all my hopes even for continuing with school. this is because my parents even sold some part of our land for the sake of my treatment and so we had nothing left to sell since most of the valuable things had been sold earlier.  i have come to realize that cancer is the most expensive disease in my life but i know wrap up africa will help me to sustain my life.  therefore, i wish my heart was a mirror; you would be able to see how much excitement i feel within me.”

dorothy

image dorothy is a breast cancer patient who is working to earn funds for her treatment and to support her young children.
“my name is dorothy aliru from arua in north-western uganda.  i have three children and have been suffering from breast cancer for five years. i want to thank wrap up africa, which has enabled me to meet my health needs and to look after my children. may god bless this project as it continues to save the lives of helpless people.  since i joined wua, i have seen a great change in my life. the first two weeks gave me a lot of money to solve our problems especially in terms of food and treatment.
i’m sure as I continue here i will see greater changes in my life. i want to thank the teachers for their hard work, which has enabled us to make clothes within a short while. i will continue with this spirit up to the end.”