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!

Safe Spot for a Seam Ripper

Where to put a seam ripper when it's not in use? In your hair of course. I've seen some of the women store their pins in their hair as well, although they're not always as easy to remove. Those who have had their hair braided with "extensions" do not have this same handy spot for storage, although their various hairstyles are amazing. Today is Sunday, the one day when the Bitengye ladies do not come over to Canada House. We will walk up the hill to the Cathedral for the English service shortly, then spend a day catching up on a little rest, before beginning the third and final week of the workshop. Time has flown by, and there is much that we would still like to teach the ladies. Instead we are teaching more designs to Alice, and she will teach them these designs through the coming year, when they are ready for them.

Anna and Table Runner

The table runner's batting is a layer of flannelette, and then it's backed with an African fabric. With a shortage of table space, Anna has decided to lay hers out on the cement porch of the big house before pin-basting the layers together. This photo was taken yesterday morning, early in the day, when a cardigan was advisable. It reached 40 C. by 3 o'clock the same day! Thankfully it begins cooling down when the sun sets, and there is often a bit of a breeze that appears at about the same time of day. Not every day is a wonderful day, and yesterday was a tad frustrating. There are four women who are still having trouble with a quarter inch seam allowance, and one in particular who seems to get worse and worse the more we correct her. I have talked to them about the need for "good quality", but sometimes it seems there is a gap in understanding that can't be explained in words. It's then that I remember that for these women, making a table mat is the difference between being able to feed their families or not. Which sometimes results in their less-than-careful sewing. They can practically see the shillings piling up each time they complete an item, and no-one wants to get left behind.

Knight and Nightingale

Friday and Saturday were both workshop days, and the hum of treadle sewing machines was steady from eight thirty in the morning until five thirty in the evening. The ladies completed six table cloths with borders and cloth backing. This was their first experience of putting blocks together into a whole quilt top, and they rose to the challenge admirably. Quarter-inch seams are still occasionally in need of correction, but the women were quite willing to take out any errors and correct them, in order to end up with a "high quality" product. Here I am showing Knight those places that need to be re-done, while Nightingale translates for me.

First Day of Class

Thursday (yesterday) was the first day of the workshop for the Bitengye Designers. First thing in the morning all twelve of these marvellous women arrived at Canada House. There was much hugging and excited greeting of one another - we've finally managed to learn the customary greetings in Runyankole - and then singing and prayer and the day began. We heard a report from each of the areas, and then the sewing began. We had brought Olfa rulers with us, and after a demo in how to use it, they were off and running, cutting and sewing strip units which today will be cut into blocks and assembled into the first new project - a table cloth. There are three women who are still having a little difficulty with their 1/4" seam allowance, but the beauty of this design is that it can be made by these three as well. And it serves as a good "review project" for everyone. The table cloth measures 50" X 50", and will retail for $35. Orders anyone?

At Knight's home

Knight also lives in Rubingo, and we visited her in her tiny place, where she lives with all five of her children, and one grandchild. She was thrilled to show us the bed, mattress, and bedding she has bought with her earnings, even lounging on it to show us how comfortable it is. She has also had some bricks made, and hopes to be able to add onto her house in the next year, as well as to be to buy beds for her children, so that they can all sleep under mosquito netting. "It's hard to attach the netting to a mat," she told us. Knight served us fresh pineapple and kabalagala bananas and African tea, called chai. This is really hot milk with a little tea in it. All the women in the Rubingo area tell me that having Alice nearby is what has helped them most over the last year, that she has helped them solve any problems they have. When I asked Alice if she would like to continue as the Coordinator of the group, the others refused to let her say anything but "yes"!

Visiting Justine

Justine lives in very modest housing, in fact the other side of this mud and wattle house has been washed away by the rains, and you can see the great outside through it. And her sewing machine is just inside the door. With her earnings, like many of the other ladies, she bought a chair to use at the machine. Justine has 5 children, and she has put her eldest daughter through tailoring school, and built another very small house for her eldest son to live in. Her eldest son was sponsored in a mechanics training course, and did very well, but now has to come up with almost a million shilllings (close to $600) for all the tools and equipment he needs to begin working. It sometimes seems that obstacle after obstacle faces these women. But Justine remains happy and hopeful.

Alice's letter

This letter from Alice arrived just before Christmas - I hope you can read it once it's posted on the blog. It is a letter to all of you who have supported the Kitambaa Sewing Project, really - thanking us and telling us that the Bitengye Designers are looking forward to seeing us again this year. Well, today we head down to Rubingo, where Alice lives and her sewing school is being built. Also where five of the other women live. This will be very exciting! We will be visiting the women in their homes, talking to them about how their sewing has gone in the last year, and what impact it has had on them, as well as meeting with other grandmothers and widows, and seeing some of the other projects underway in the same area. We will be out of email and intenet access for the next 4 or 5 days, so will send you photos from our visit once we're back here at Canada House.

Kitambaa Sewing Project Update

What do squash have to do with the Bitengye Designers? Well, everything. Joanne Colleaux, an enterprising fund-raiser from the Salmon Arm area, had an abundance of spaghetti squash in her garden this year. Joanne was already a supporter of the Kitambaa Sewing Project. So one Guild meeting she took an Alice bag packed with a squash, and a set of Bitengye placemats, set as though the squash was the main course, for her "show and tell". She then sold all of the squash, and is donating the proceeds to the Sewing Project. This is certainly one of the most enterprising fund-raising efforts I have heard of to date! But there are generous people all over Canada who are once again donating to this project, and making our second workshop with these remarkable ladies possible (less than 6 weeks now until we fly!)
This week we have tremendously exciting news, in that we were able to let her know that we have now raised enough money for her to begin building the classroom for her Sewing School.
(she has plans to add a dormitory at a later date, so that students from afar can board with her while they study). She had already earned enough to have the land levelled and to have the bricks made, so now she has enough to begin putting up the walls. So all of you out there who have purchased one of her now-famous bags, or one of her other items, know that you have been part of seeing this happen. A huge thank you to everyone, particularly to those who have made a direct donation to Alice's school. I can't wait to see it, and will be sure to send you photos once in Uganda.

Cushion Covers made by the Bitengye Designers

I thought you might like to hear a little more about the Bitengye Designers, and the Kitambaa Sewing and Quilting Project. You will remember that a shipment of new items arrived in mid-May. It included cushion covers, wallhangings, sets of placemats and Alice's bags. We have been taking these to quilt shows and trunk shows, and they've been selling very well. In fact, Alice's bags have sold out, and one third of the money she needs to start building her new sewing school has been raised. But for those of you in farther flung places, you haven't had the same opportunity to see the products first hand, so here are some photos of the cushion covers. The first photo shows you the design of the cushion covers we have on hand on the left (actual colours vary from cushion cover to cushion cover, as does the size), and one of the "new fashions" made by Alice on the right. And the second photo shows you two other designs that we hope to make with the women on our return trip to Uganda this January. Alice saw me working on one of the sashiko samplers when I was there this year, and asked me if she could make one too. Absolutely, I told her. So she made the one on the left and bordered it with African fabrics, while I made the one on the right and bordered it with Shweshwe and Japanese indigos. The cushion covers are a bargain at $15 each, and are sure to add a touch of colour (well maybe more than a

touch) to any room, and 100% of the profit (after the women have been paid) goes straight back into the project. There are still some wallhangings ($20 each) and placemats (4 for $20) left too, although these are going rapidly. For those closer to home, we will be at the Gibsons Landing Fibre Arts Festival the third week in August, at the Comox Valley Exhibition the last weekend in August, in Grand Forks for their quilt show over Labour Day weekend, and and the Vancouver Quilters' Guild Show in October. Perhaps we'll see you there?So the Bitengye Designers will keep making the same products for sale until our workshop with them at the end of January. Once again we'll be spending six weeks in the country, teaching them new project, looking for ways to improve marketing both inside the country and at home, and visiting the women in their homes. We'll be looking for new types of crafts to teach to new groups of widows, and expanding our secondary school education sponsorships to more of their children. It's only 6 months until we'll back in Uganda, and many preparations still remain to be made. Please know that all your contributions, big and small, make a tremendous difference to these women's lives and the lives of their families. Thank you, once again.

They're Here!

Finally, the shipment we've been waiting for, ever since we left the ladies of the Bitengye Designers in Uganda, has arrived. With great excitement, Trudy, Joan and I unpacked totes and excitedly examined over all the finished items that these hard-working women had sent. There were exclamations of awe over the progress made by some, a few groans over a few that haven't quite understood the concept of "straight" yet, and amazement, once again, at the intrepid Alice, and the 64 bags she has sent us, in order that we can raise funds for her sewing school. So all of these items are now for sale.

Cushion-covers, such as the one held up by Joan, are $15 each. Wallhangings, such as the two I'm holding in the next photo, are $20 each. A set of four placemats, is $20. And Alice's bags, modelled by my daughter Jessie, are $15 each. All the proceeds from these sales go directly towards the Kitambaa Sewing and Quilting Project. These are not perfectly crafted items, but are some of the first items made by women who previously had no sewing, ironing, measuring, let alone quilting experience, before. What is so encouraging to us is the quantity of items the ladies have produced, and how many of the items are of "good

quality". Since we left, the women have had to learn how to use locally sold blankets instead of the flannelette we took to them in February, for batting. They have purchased new fabric and thread supplies from "Alice's store", using their own earnings. They have continued to work in the fields with their fellow widows and other grandmothers each day,while still carving out time for their sewing. Most impressive of all, they have produced all of these items in a tiny home, without electricity or running water. They have continued to fetch water, firewood for their stoves, looked after their children, and completed all the tasks that were already part of their lives before learning to sew. This astounds me. And I would be willing to bet that they have still found time for singing and laughter, for drumming and dance, each and every day.
So . . . if you would like to add your support to the Bitengye Designers, please contact me via email , and let me know what you would like to purchase. We will send it off to you just as soon as possible. Tomorrow, Joan and I are off to Quilt Saskatchewan, and we will be taking many of these items with us there. Trudy will be manning the booth in Parksville, who have their show at the end of the month.
And she will have a good supply of these items with her there. But if you are farther flung, please email us or phone us (250-339-3815). We will fill orders in the order that they are received. This is a concrete way for you too, to help these women. And a big thank you, thank you, to those who are already part of this huge group of women, reaching out to their sisters in Uganda.

Bitenge Designers with Joan and Pippa

So here is a photo of the whole group - now called Bitenge Designers. They chose this name themselves - bitenge being the plural of kitenge, which is the type of fabric they are sewing with. They have chosen a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer for each area (Bunyonyi, Rubingo, Kikigati), and Alice will be the overall
Coordinator of the group. Yesterday we gave them their pay packets for the work each one has completed, and then they purchased more fabric from "Alice's Shop" in an exercise that was designed to get them thinking about how to use the money they received. They decided to purchase fabric as a group, and to share it so that they would always have a good selection. Several visitors have dropped by Canada House to see what we've been doing these last three weeks, and we've already sold 10 sets of placemats! The rest will be coming home to Canada with us for sale at home, as will the cushion-covers and wallhangings.