Tiyese
WHO WE ARE
Tiyese meaning “Let’s Try”
The Tiyesee -Cooperative can be found deep in the Linda compound, a suburb of Livingstone. ‘Tiyese’ means ‘Let’s Try’ in Nyanja, and is made up of 16 women who produce hand and machine sewn textile products. Their collective goal is to provide support their family members who reply on them for their education, healthcare and livelihood needs.
Tiyese was originally launched by the Zambezi Sunrise Trust volunteers who have been collaborating with the artisans since 2016. The volunteers taught the women how to hand sew a range of products and over the years their sewing skills expanded to include machine-sewn products.
Since the on set of the COVID 19 pandemic, the ladies have worked tirelessly with multiple organisations to produce the masks which protect Livingstone’s frontline healthcare workers, patients and school children. They have now created a bespoke textile range, exclusively for ABANYA with fabric hand picked from Livingstone’s local marketeers.