Meet Mama Nicole, sewing teacher at BOMEN

Now we will start meeting "the Mamas" who arrived a bit later in Suzanne's visit to BOMEN Sewing Group. Mama is a term of respect used for the older women. These Mamas play important roles in supporting the young single mothers.


Mama Nicole is the new assistant to Mama Marie-Jeanne, the director of BOMEN. She is the main teacher for the young seamstresses. She has been in this role for four months.

She is using the second of the two sewing machines currently in use at Bomen Workshop. This one is a treadle machine.

Nicole was working on a beautiful bodice top of a traditional Congolese dress. She was putting a black lining inside; the sleeves were made of black mesh with a border of the bodice material. While I was there she had some trouble with the bobbin and the connection to the treadle. She and Marie-Jeanne worked on the problem for quite a while and finally got things going again.

Tina in the background, is still waiting a turn on the machine.