A SINGLE mother has decided to put her sewing skills to use and make masks meant to protect persons from contracting the novel coronavirus while preventing the spread of the virulent COVID-19 disease.

Her name is Kacy Johnson; she is 29 years old and she has a passion for sewing, even though she does not consider herself a professional seamstress.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, she revealed that for years she has been part of an online community of persons who sew for a living; and with the rise of the coronavirus and ongoing debate over the use of masks, Johnson and many of her online colleagues saw an opportunity to manufacture masks not only for themselves, but to offer for sale in a bid to support themselves financially.

She said that so far she has made only a small number of masks, but noted that she is paying keen attention to detail in their manufacturing, and promises that her masks will be among the best of those being made locally, since they include an imported filter within the cloth material. In addition, they are very colourful, unlike those clinical- looking surgical masks.

Residing at Nismes Public Road on the West Bank of Demerara, Johnson is mother to three girls. She and her children share the home with her grandfather.

“I started thinking of making these masks a couple days ago and I got that idea from the online group that I am a part of,” she said. “I got the pattern from online and along with some friends, we started to make the masks.”

Johnson said that so far she has made only 19 of the masks, but she is hoping that things go well with their sales so that she can reinvest and make more of them. “Once people order them and want them I will keep making them. And they are good masks in terms of the quality and the cloth… plus the masks are filtered. They are not like normal masks that people are making and selling, because these have filters inside,” she said, adding that a friend assists her with the importation of the filters to use in the manufacturing of the masks.

She said however that because of the high demand for masks, sourcing the materials – cloth, elastic etc.– are proving to be a challenge and she has to “walk the road” in order to find the needed materials.

“First it was easy to get the materials I needed, but with what is going on now I don’t know how I will get them because most of the stores are closed early and you have to get there before they close if you want the items,” she said.

Johnson is hopeful that the latest adjustment to Guyana’s COVID-19 response measures -which stipulates that everyone entering places that provide essential services must protect themselves and others by wearing masks – translates to increased demand for masks and therefore increased sales for her and others who make them locally.

Persons interested in purchasing masks from Johnson can contact her at email address kacyjohnson2@gmail.com or on 6954637.