-Physically Challenged Tailor Seeks Business Boost
By SHALLON S. GONLOR | Shallonsgonlor@gmail.com
SANNIQUELLIE, Nimba County — Esther Dehmie walked into the clinic on her own two feet. One hour later, she could not stand. That was 2011. She had just given birth to her third child. The delivery went wrong, and by 8:00 a.m., the 49-year-old mother could no longer move her legs.
“I went to give birth at about 7:00 a.m., and by 8:00 a.m., I became crippled,” she told WomenVoices News over the weekend. Fifteen years later, Dehmie still does not know what happened inside that delivery room. She never received a diagnosis. But she has not stopped moving—even if she now moves with crutches.
Her husband died in 2018. Since then, Dehmie has shouldered the weight of raising three children alone in Sanniquellie, Nimba County.
She learned tailoring as a young woman, a skill she thought would be a side income. It has become her lifeline.
From a small shop, Dehmie sewed children’s clothing to sell. But rainstorms recently damaged her workspace, leaving her without a proper place to operate. She refused to give up. “I have decided to go into the communities and marketplaces to sell because business is slowly going down,” she said.
Now she moves through the streets and markets of Sanniquellie on crutches, carrying the clothes she has made and offering them to anyone who will buy. On her best days, she earns between L2,000. It is not much. But it buys food. It keeps her children fed. It adds to her weekly savings, tiny as they are.
“I am facing the additional pressure of supporting children whose educational needs continue to grow,” she said. One daughter is preparing to start university. The new school year is approaching. The costs keep rising.
Dehmie originally moved to Sanniquellie from Gbeh Manbor Town in Electoral District #3 as a young woman seeking education. She attended Sanniquellie Central High School but dropped out after becoming pregnant. Now she is asking for help to build something permanent.
She needs sewing machines. Materials. A proper shop that will not collapse in the next storm. “I want to build my shop and get more machines so that other tailors can also work with me,” she said. Her dream is not just to survive. She wants to employ other young people and women in her community who have tailoring skills but no resources.
