BY KHAMA LINCOLN
GIZO BASED ISLES MEDIA FREELANCE REPORTER
AS the Four days lockdown in Gizo lifted on Monday morning elderly Mother and Grandmother Mezi Biliki returns to her sales site in the town.
At the Wesley United church compound in Gizo she displays her homemade lady’s tops, also for teenagers and little girls.
However, on Monday she’s not able to sell some of her usual food stuff products as shops in the provincial headquarters closed days before.
Nevertheless, she picked ripe soursop fruits from a tree grown at her home and utilized that to improvise with her popular fruit juice drink. So, on Monday she was selling the homemade apparels and the soursop juice.
Mrs Biliki, uses the opportunity to sew face masks from linen and costs the mouth and nose covering for ten dollars each. Women and girls are her main customers of the face masks, as disposals at the health center runs out.
The 63-year old said, sales nowadays are not like before during when her children are at school and her marketing was very good, and back then when she and her husband, Joel Biliki whom in the past years had worked in shops able to meet their children’s education.
“Now we are not busy with school fees, we do marketing for survival,” She said.
My husband helps out to carry the clothes here and hung them up. Joel is a very helpful man; he also helps me with washing and cooking, he’s humble and simple,” She said, “Its hard to find that kind of man.”
Mrs Biliki from Susuka village in North Choiseul, like most girls in the 90s acquired her sewing trade from her mother and as she pointed out continues to develop it and become a confident and skillful embroider herself.
She mainly produced the Island design blouse with thin linen fit for the hot island climate, and also upon requests from people want clothing according to their sizes.
She also did her sales at Noro, and when she had travelled to Honiara to visit her Sister Dalcy Tekulu, she brought her products and displayed them at Red Mansion Motel at Panatina.
While at Gizo she said, public servants pay days are the best sales days. Mrs Biliki also allowed people to take the outfit products home on credit and pay later.
“People can order their sizes, and I can figure that out by only viewing them.” She said, “I don’t draw on the paper, I just cut straight into the clothes and first hook up the lace.” I get the materials here at the shops in Gizo.”
“Some married women brought their husbands old clothes, and asked me to patch them. Women must fulfil their roles as wives,” She pointed out.
“I said to their husbands, your wives have to mend your trousers and wash your clothes,” she added, “And sewing skills is also for extra income.”
Mrs Biliki said, she is willing to help others in the community, provided that people recognize and practically appreciate her effort with some financial assistance, not only in words.
She also mentioned girls nowadays are different as they’re exposed and massively influenced by classy fashions, and in a digital age often hooks up to their smart phones.
She said, mothers have to prepare their daughters, to become responsible women, mothers and wives in the communities.
