Miss Supranational, Chanique Rabe’s Junior Sewing School in collaboration with African Monarch Lodges is excited and proud to announce the launch of the The Sijwa Dress. The dress, available in red, bamboo, jade and ivory, will be produced exclusively at the Sijwa Project in the heart of Kaza, the World’s Largest Conservation Area for Wildlife, in Namibia’s northeastern Zambezi Region.

The dress was designed by Rabe exclusively for the Sijwa Project in April 2021. It is an easy to wear, linen dungaree style dress. During one of her visits to her Junior Sewing School, the then Miss Supranational Namibia, taught the senior seamsters step-by-step how to make the dress and gave in-depth training on dress making. Once completed, the ladies modelled the finished garments with absolute pride. The Sijwa seamsters then made their own dresses to wear as uniform in a bright, happy yellow using the design of the original design of the red linen Sijwa dress.

Rabe opened her Junior Sewing School in collaboration with African Monarch Lodges in February 2021 as part of the Miss and Mister Supranational ‘From the Ground Up’ Community Service Initiative, which promotes grassroots projects aimed at making a difference in the communities of the contestants. The aim is to transfer her skillset to make a real difference in the Mayuni Conservancy, which will give the youth the opportunity to be exposed to new aspirational goals. Rabe’s Junior Sewing School was opened with the full blessing and support of The Honorable Chief Mayuni.

After becoming the first woman from Africa to win the Miss Supranational title in August 2021, Rabe pledged to continue dedicating her time to empower the youth of Namibia with her ‘From the Ground Up’ initiative. The Junior Sewing School at the Sijwa Project remains one of her main priorities during her year as Miss Supranational.

The Sijwa Dress is available to buy on www.africanmonarchlodges.com, as well as in the curio shop of Nambwa Tented Lodge. It is also available on www.naminami.store, Chanique’s online boutique. All proceeds will go back to The Sijwa Project and the Mayui Conservancy, a joint venture partner of The Sijwa Project and African Monarch Lodges.