Theresa had a difficult start to life, facing abuse, sexual assault, and familial estrangement at an early age. Despite these enormous challenges, Theresa refused to give up. She sought a better life through pursuing an education and serving a full-time mission; after which she married a wonderful man and was about to become a mother when her commute to work on a bumpy, rough road to the next town caused a miscarriage.
Theresa and her husband were eager for children, so the loss deeply grieved them. Her doctor told her if she wanted to have children in the future, she’d need to avoid commuting across the roads in their area. She and her husband realized Theresa’s current job at the local missionary training center, and any job she could get with her accountant certification, would not allow for the children they longed for.
Providing for a Family
Theresa and her husband had no familial support, and they couldn’t afford to live on one income. So they looked for a career path that would allow Theresa to stay home safely during pregnancy, and later set her own hours, so she could care for their kids.
In 2009, her husband suggested she pursue a degree in fashion because she had already been designing jewelry and clothes for fun. “He pushed me because he saw my abilities,” Theresa says. “That idea was the best decision we could have made . . . not knowing that the Lord was preparing me for the future, to take over my husband’s responsibilities in years to come.”
Where the Perpetual Education Fund Stepped In
In 2011, Theresa and her husband decided on a two-year program at a local fashion school. They couldn’t afford the program on their own, so her husband suggested they apply for the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF) loan and scholarship program. After qualifying through PEF’s 5-step process, Theresa was able to start school in January 2012.
While studying, Theresa made great strides in building her business. Three weeks into her training, she had her first client. In April 2013, she registered to own and run her own business, hoping to start a training school of her own.
After graduating in April 2014, she began working out of her living room with the industrial sewing machine and knitting and overlock machine that she’d bought to use in school, thanks to the support of friends and PEF.
Her and her family’s joy was full, and by 2015, they were successful enough that she and her husband rented a shop and hired an employee. Theresa says, “My husband was the strong pillar of my business, and still has been the cornerstone.”
The Love of Spouses
Theresa’s husband had been her constant support and inspiration to create her flourishing business. He was excited to help her expand her fashion business into the fashion school she’d been dreaming of.
Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2016.
With Theresa’s husband having only months left to live, the couple considered their future. Theresa closed her shop to take care of her ailing husband full time, and her husband helped her secure a two-bedroom apartment so her business could continue after he was gone. Theresa was with him to the end, and says of him, “He was very supportive till the day he passed on.”
Turning Education into Service
Three months after her beloved husband was buried, Theresa returned to work and started the fashion institute she’d been dreaming of.
Theresa build the foundation of her fashion school with her own hands.
Despite her new set of challenges—grieving her husband as a single mother of three children—she was determined to share the education that had benefited her with others. Soon, Theresa found other women who shared her goal of wanting to help young girls acquire training and become self-reliant. With their help, her school gained four more industrial machines.
In addition to training on craft and apparel, her school offered courses on entrepreneurship, to better prepare students to start their own businesses after graduation. Five students graduated in the first year of the school being open, and twenty-two more students were enrolled. Aware of the challenges entering students faced, Theresa ensured the school provided accommodations for prospective students who lived farther away.
Today Theresa’s school is a PEF-approved institution, and she says, “We set our graduates up as entrepreneurs with business insights for self-employment.”
Her fashion institute is known for delivering exquisite graduates—including many PEF students like herself—who produce excellent, tailor-made garments. The school offers practical, affordable, and unparalleled education while using the latest fashion technologies available. Theresa’s fashion school is a charitable organization that’s empowered many women to be able to care for themselves and their families, and her efforts are ever-growing and adapting. An example is The Kayayee Project.
The Kayayee Project
As Theresa describes, “‘KAYAYEE’ is a Ghanaian term that refers to female head porters or bearers, who carry loads for other people for a fee as a means of livelihood. They live in slums, markets . . . without basic sanitation . . . and nutrition conditions with little or no education, no employable or any entrepreneurial skills.”
Her fashion institute provides these women with free vocational-skills training in dressmaking, tailoring, fashion illustration, computer-aided designs, and entrepreneurship, so as to improve these women’s livelihood, self-worth, and economic circumstances. The project also helps pair students with internship programs and an industrial sewing machine to support their entrepreneurial journey.
The Kayayee Project won the National Award at the 2019 Small and Medium Enterprises Ghana Awards for their positive impact on the community, as well as many other honors.
From a Vision to Reality
So far, Theresa’s school has trained over 180 students, and their current total capacity is 304 students per enrollment in their 6-month fashion design program. They are registered with the Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (COTVET), and with their accreditation from the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), they will add 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year fashion design programs.
Theresa’s latest goal is for her school to become a college in the next five years, with her production section of the business now focused on fabric-doll making, doll accessories, soft toys, and apparel.
Theresa proudly says, “It’s something I love to do because it’s something I went through, and I benefited from it.”
Caring for the One
Today, Theresa is a mentor who has facilitated the self-reliance, dignity, and empowerment of hundreds of youths in her community and beyond. As the Savior did, she looked for those whose hands hung down, and she helped lift them up using the gifts, love, and support like she first received years earlier.
Filled with gratitude, Theresa says it best herself, “Using PEF as a means of getting education and entrepreneurial training . . . has brought me this far. I give total gratitude to God for His direction at every stage in the journey. I’m grateful to my late husband for the inspiration he had for me to get an education in fashion. May the Lord continue to inspire our leaders to lead us in the way of truth and light, as the institution of the PEF has blessed many lives and homes.”
The Perpetual Education Fund has continued to grow and adapt its offerings to help members in need across the world with opportunities for self-reliance and betterment. Learn more about PEF and its benefits below.