Agathe Uwamurera, 28, is a tailor at Kimironko market, in Gasabo District

Every day I wake up depending on the program I have with my clients. There is no specific time to wake up but normally I don’t sleep beyond 7 a.m. The first thing I do is take a shower heading to the sitting room to have breakfast with my family.

I normally get to work around 8 a.m. when I have an appointment with a client. My work is not that busy to make you wake up early every day. Sometimes I may even only work a half day. I can sit for three hours with no clients. I go home in frustration and return late afternoon.

I tell my work mates to ring if a customer turns up and take this opportunity to do domestic work. When I called upon, I immediately rush and serve my clients since I don’t reside far from my work place.

We have a rotation among all fellow tailors so that we don’t all have to be there at all times. We meet up with each other in the morning while waiting for clients and exchange some ideas about our work. There is no time wasted.

All the money I make from sewing goes towards paying the rent, sending the children to school and feeding the family. At the moment my income is limited by the fact that I don’t have a good enough sewing machine to make the fancy things clients are looking for.

We have for a couple of months planned to form an association, but financial constraints have let down our mission.

I break off for lunch at around 1 p.m. in a nearby restaurant. I normally take a one-hour time resting and resume my work at 2 p.m.

I normally work seven days a week unless of course it is a public holiday or Umuganda. I head home around 6 p.m. We have supper by 8 p.m. and hit the sack at 9.30pm.

Ends