STEKAskills is a dedicated Scottish charity that has partnered with the wonderful Malawian organisation STEKA (Step Kids Awareness) to fulfil their inspiring vision of creating a Centre for Vocational Skills & Community Enterprise in Malawi.
Together, they are on a mission to empower marginalised young Malawians, who were previously trafficked, abandoned or orphaned, helping them find their voices and build sustainable futures. The goal is to reduce their dependency on donors, and guide them toward high-quality employment opportunities.
Vocational skills training is so important in a country where poverty means that only 1% of the population can go to college.
For the past several years leading up to Christmas, we have been selling their unique and exquisite handmade tree decorations in our salons, all of which have been made in Malawi by the team at STEKA. The money raised has not only helped build and entirely kit out a vibrant hairdressing school within STEKA’s vocational teaching block, and pay for a teacher, but has also brought joy and opportunity to the young people at the STEKA centre, who couldn’t be more thankful for the difference it has made to their lives.
STEKA was first introduced to us by the late Cat Nicholson, whilst she was manager of our Ocean Terminal branch.
STEKA’s Chairperson Emma Wood was a client of Cat’s. Together they arranged for the beautiful trees that display the decorations to be set up in each of the salons and for staff to learn about the origins of the decorations. We then set to work raising as much money as we could.
This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship, and Cat was always at its forefront. We welcomed some of the residents of STEKA school into the salon and heard first-hand the impact the money we raised had made.
Then, devastatingly, in March 2023 after a hard-fought battle, we lost Cat.
So instrumental was she in bringing STEKAskills and Charlie Miller together that the very easy decision was made to name the newly built school ‘The Cat Nicholson Hairdressing School’. While the decorations which had previously been shaped into angels, reindeers and other traditional Christmas shapes, last year they were made into cats in her memory.
We have, of course, continued our relationship with STEKA, not just in Cat’s honour but because it is a truly wonderful charity.
This year our salons will once again be selling the decorations, fashioned this time into bees, butterflies and reindeers, as well as beautiful double-sided pinnies made from traditional chitenge material.
STEKA’s mission now is to raise money to pay for food so the students can afford to leave home during the day and still eat, as well as providing kits for their graduates to be able to set up their own businesses.
Cat’s mum May has picked up the torch too, distributing the stock to be sold in the salons on behalf of the charity.
She also joint hosted a STEKA stall at our recent event ‘The Big Christmas Do’ on Wednesday 20th November. It was truly wonderful that May was able to meet so many of Cat’s clients and share precious memories, as well as talk about the fantastic work that STEKA do.
In the summer of 2024 Holy Corner’s Manager Amber Swift, one of Cat’s dearest friends, appealed to our partners at L’Oréal for any help they could give in finding second-hand hairdressing tools to donate to the school.
L’Oréal went one better; they had 20 beautiful sets of scissors made to be gifted to the budding hairdressers in Malawi.
The scissors are made by Kyoto, a high-quality brand that our hairdressers use in our salons too. They have all come with the distinctive STEKA logo engraved on them, and their own pouch. Poignantly, Cat’s son Louie and her husband Bruce received this beautiful delivery into our Holy Corner salon alongside Amber and our Managing Directors Jason and Josh, where they readied them to be passed on to Emma who took them out to Malawi. Louie proudly packed them into a suitcase himself.
The money raised for STEKA has of course come from many of our wonderful clients. None of this would have been possible without your generosity.
So, from STEKA and from Charlie Miller…THANK YOU.
To learn more about STEKA head over to their website where you will find an option to donate directly to them. The decorations and pinnies are also available in all four of our city-centre salons, whilst stocks last. If you can’t make it into any of our salons, STEKA also have an Etsy shop.
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