The Women and Their Stories - Tumushabe and Nightingale

Tumushabe is 31, and was the 4th in a family of 7 children in Kabale, near Lake Bunyonyi. Her father abandoned her mother and took a second wife when she was quite small, leaving the family to "struggle for food, digging here and there". There was no money for schooling for her, and no possibility of re-marriage for her mother. "It is a curse for a woman to remarry", she said, "although it is OK for a man to remarry." She married at 16 and had one child and was pregnant with the second when her father called her home, because the dowry had not been paid. She has been on her own with her own children
and her sister's son (an orphan) since then. She is unable to cultivate the little land she has due to a leg deformity, but hopes to buy a plot of land growing bananas or coffee with what she earns from sewing.
Nightingale is our translator. She's 48 and the 6th in a family of 9 children, born in a village near Mbarara. Her father worked as a bicycle messenger, then an administrator, and made sure all his children had some schooling. He sold their cow and some of their land, so Nightingale could go to P-4. She married a school teacher when she was 20, and has 6 children, five of whom have been or are still in university. The sixth is still in secondary school. She has worked and saved and sold small items all her adult life, to enable her children to get the education she values so highly. In fact she was on her way to Kampala this weekend, to see her son Gordon graduate with his degree in Business Administration.

Other Ugandan Friends

In the last few days, I've had time to look over some of the photos taken by Joan and by Trudy, and wanted to share some of these with you. The first photo is of Resty, who has a shop in one of the craft markets in Kampala, and who sells some of the best quality batiks available. She also works with the National Arts Organization, and has accepted articles made by the Bitengye Designers for sale in her shop. The next photo is of Nightingale, who was our translator this year. She was wonderful to work with, always anticipating where she might be needed

and keenly interested in the Bitengye women. In

fact she has offered her home in Mbarara to anyone who has need to come to town, whether for health reasons or for new fabric, as her children are now all grown up, and she has extra space. Next are the leaders of the Mutual Benefit Society in Kikagati, including Recheal and Lydia. Elly was our guide and a wonderful resource while we were visiting in that area. He is an amazing man, who made a radio station from parts of a calculator and other parts. He worked for ACTS for some years, but now he has been discovered by the UN and is one of their IT people. But he made it a condition of his

employment with them that he be able to take regular time off to work with the widows and grandmothers group in his home of Kikagati. Lastly are the group of elderly widows in Kikagati. They are too old to work in the fields any more, so the younger widows support the older ones, sharing what little food they have with them. As you can probably tell, all of these courageous folk are often in our thoughts. When we said goodbye to the Bitengye members they said to us "Please don't forget us." And we won't.