First Day of the Workshop

Monday was the first day of the Bitengye workshop. We had travelled down to Lake Bunyonyi over the weekend, where we met with Maudah. We told her that now that she has all the skills,
machines and income to start her own business, she is a "graduate" of the Bitengye Designers. She has already rented a space in which to teach her own students, and she will continue to sell her crafts at Bushara Island on Lake Bunyonyi. In her place is Dinah, who has been making table napkins over the last year, and wishes to expand her skills. The other women have given her a warm welcome, and all of them have begun to make a slightly revised version of placemat. The idea is that we will evaluate everyone's placemats when they are finished, and those who have made a "top quality" product will move on, while those who haven't will keep making placemats. Alice has taken on responsibility for the teaching, and is doing an excellent job. Day 2 is about to begin, so I must rush and get dressed, so I am ready!

A Hot Day in Mbarara

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a hot one. The ladies worked hard on their table runners all day, and most of them had finished their first one by six o'clock, when they returned to the hostel where they are staying. Yesterday was also the first lesson in putting on binding, and here are Tumushabe, Sheilla and Maudah, who found one of the coolest spots in the garden to sit in while they did the hand stitching. Today they will continue with these table runners - I think you'll like them. A quilting friend on the Sunshine Coast showed me how to make these, when I was at their retreat last fall. Thank you so much!

Sheilla and Maudah

Sheilla is 22 years old, and from Rubingo. She has a 2 year old daughter, Viola. Sheilla is HIV positive and is also caregiver to her mother, a widow, who is also HIV positive. Viola is negative. Sheilla had already taken classes in tailoring, but was looking for some way to sew from home, and joined our group when one of the ladies from Kikigati was unable to come. She likes to sew fast, but has also become skilled in also sewing carefully, during her time in class. Here she is holding up one of the cushion-cover designs the women have been working on.

And here is Maudah with another style of cushion cover. Maudah is from Lake Bunyoni. She is 41 years old and has four children, aged 12 to 20. Her fifth pregnancy was a difficult one, and the baby was stillborn. The delay in getting her to hospital resulted in some permanent injury, and chronic pelvic pain. No longer able to cultivate the family garden, she began to sew as alternate means to earn an income. Her quilted items are carefully sewn, and she is an extremely hard worker. She and Tumushabe will sew together when they return to the lake, and hope to earn revenue for school fees from the high quality items they make.

To date, about half the women involved in our project have required medical care. When they are back in their villages, this is not possible, and in all likelihood, they would put up with any dicomfort or illness, or resort to traditional medicine. But while they are here, they know they will be attended to at the nearby Ruharo Clinic. They have been treated for malaria, pelvic inflammatory disease, urinary tract infections, HIV-related infections and still-to-be-diagnosed conditions. This is something we did not anticipate, but is all part of working in this part of the world - a "workshop expense" one would never see in Canada.

Knight, Maudah and Tumushabe

Here is Knight, ironing her placemat. We've become used to lighting the charcoal fire each morning, so that the irons can be filled first thing. Many women have never used an iron before, and we have never used this variety, so lots of learning is being done by all. Knight is a widow from Rubingo. She's 41 years old and has 5 children whom she has been raising on her own since 1993. She is involved in gardening and making mats. She's an active memberof the widows' group in her area. Her biggest concern at the moment is her eldest son, Isaac (18), who is too old to go on to secondary school and who would like to become a mechanic.
Tumushabe and Maudah were the first two to finish their sets of four placemats. Once their mats had passed inspection, I pinned them together and wrote their names in the book in which I am recording all completed projects and the amount they will be paid for each. There was great excitement the first time this happened - clapping and whooping and singing. And the demand that their photograph be taken. Now there are at least a dozen sets of these placemats packed into one of the totes we will be taking home with us - not all perfect, but pretty impressive for first time attempts. Today one group has moved on to making huts, which will be pieced together as wallhangings.
Others are still perfecting their mat-making skills, but no-one is giving up, and those who are farther ahead are helping out those who are having a little difficulty.