Name: Ngandi Muzama (Flora)Country of origin: Democratic Republic of Congo
In Ukraine since 2006
Profession: seamstress, designer and stylist
Residence city: Odesa
— Residing in a foreign country is similar to being adopted: it does not mean that everybody is obliged to like you, but people try to understand and accept you. You are foreign to them, but they love you in their own way. For example, in the family that adopted a child parents usually love him/her, while other members of the family do not necessarily feel the same. And it is normal. The most important thing is not to lose your heart and faith.
Flora, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a professional seamstress, designer, and stylist. In 2006 she was compelled to flee from Congo and become an asylum-seeker in Ukraine, receiving an official refugee status two years later.
Her mother named her Flora in honor of a woman, who was a designer. The girl was eight years old and baptized in a church, when she saw this woman in a suit made with her own hands and precisely then Flora decided to become a designer. She graduated from the institute of design in Congo and wanted to teach, but since her husband was in Ukraine, she had to follow him and relinquish this idea. In Ukraine she did not have a sewing machine, but after some time she decided to buy it and return to her professional activity. At first, she sewed only for herself because back then nobody knew her. Her first customers were her friends and people who visited church with her. Presently she works alone. Sometimes she manages to organize a show.
In the future, Flora would like to open an atelier and a boutique. And from that point on, she is sure, the progress will come gradually.