Amaya is Transforming Lives with Fabrics

Photo: David Myles

BY DAVID MYLES

Founded in 2009, Amaya is a vendor of African inspired clothes and items. The idea of Amaya was conceived shortly after Letitia’s (Founder of Amaya’s) mother passed away in England. On a visit to Ghana (the birthplace of her mother) Letitia met a gracious women named Florence in East Legan. Recalling the occasion, Letitia said, “She had a sewing machine and the handle would always drop off her machine.” Wanting to help Florence, the two worked together and in doing so fostered greater self-sufficiency through the use of better equipment and facilities.

After returning back to London, Letitia began selling African inspired items such as dresses, men’s outfits, handbags, backpacks and jackets for all different occasions from her home.  Finding a space locally in the W12 district of London, Letitia stayed at this location from 2013 – 2018. Ivie, who is the founder of The Ankh Well Being Centre in Shepherds Bush was an avid visitor; “Ivie and Beverly (Ivie’s colleague) would buy outfits. For years, she had been telling me to come here, I got a space.” It was not until internal problems arose at her previous location did Letitia’s take up Ivies’ generous offer to be bestowed with a highly regarded hub to operate from.

Letitia revealed that “Originally it was supposed to be called Amya.  Yaa meaning Thursday born in Twi and then Ama was my late mum’s name. We used Ama and then Thursday born, which is me.’’ The mother of two also has Caribbean roots; her father happens to be from Barbados. “I am fascinated by colours, I am fascinated by textures and I just fell in love with tie and dye because I could do a design and then I won’t do that one again. So you could have the same jacket, but you will never have the same style.’’

Amaya strives to be as ethical as possible and Letitia is committed to sourcing out materials herself to ensure that it adheres to her high standards. “Apart from the tie and dye I can see the products being made. Sometimes the people who make the items give some of their profits to schools, like school uniforms; when I am paying I give that little bit extra to help the schools.’’

Admittedly, Lettia declares that a lot of the other general fabrics are coming from Holland. ‘’Sometimes you don’t have a choice, but I do have a choice. When it is made; I can determine where that money goes to.” Many of the items that Amaya sells are recycled and donations can go as far as the northern delta region and the border of Togo. Letitia says “I mostly focus on rural areas, I would say Africa as a whole, but mostly Ghana.’’

Items donated range from clothing, jeans, trainers and t-shirts. “I realized that there is a lot of jeans which are durable, but most of the people there are small, or very thin. A waist of 36, or 38 doesn’t normally fit people, so I thought instead of this going to waste, lets turn it into something else.”  Depending on the size, recycled items are used for small products such as: handbags, hats, and oven gloves or larger items including: backpacks, dresses and shirts. Amaya’s creatively is endless, stocking even hot water bottle holders and using laptop covers patched with recycled materials.

Amaya finally gained their UK charity status in 2018 and hope to extend their projects and initiatives into Ghana and the neighbouring regions. Amaya now has an operation site in Ghana that consists of the people they have helped and who make some of their items such as: shoes, bags and dresses. Where it is viable, they intend to centralize their manufacturing and are in need of more machinery and equipment to expand. Amaya also plans to support the elderly and others in the UK who are skilled in areas such as sewing.

Amaya is seeking dedicated people to volunteer for as little as two hours a week. Amaya is situated in the basement of The Ankh Well-Being Centre, 10 Adelaide Grove, Shepherds Bush, London W12 OJJ which also stocks natural products such as: Morginga, Hemp Oil, Flaxseeds (Linseeds), wholegrains such as spelt and skin care products, as well as jewellery, artefacts and crafts.

Telephone: 0208 743 1985/07950745160

To make a donation visit Amaya’s website: www.amaya.org.uk