A Few Last Photos of the Bitengye Designers

Here are Lidiya, Recheal and Stella - on their way home to Kikagati. Besides their sewing supplies, Recheal is taking home a sack full of dresses for the women of the HIV positive group (thanks to all of you who donated these dresses), money to rent two plots of lands on which 8 members of the group can grow crops, the first monthly installment of funds to buy basic food for those in her group too ill to work, and the assurance of money in a transport fund so those who need treatment can travel to Mbarara to get it. I couldn't resist including the next photo of the women quilting away in a heavy downpour. These heavy thunderstorms arrive quite quickly, and the women simply moved their machines a little further toward the centre of the classroom, so that they wouldn't get wet while sewing. And lastly is a photo of them walking down the road, away from Canada House, to the hostel where they stayed for the workshop, and the community centre where they ate their meals. These women have given so much to us, and as we pack our bags ready to go back to Kampala, we are already missing them.

Justina, Knight and Sheilla

As in the first two years, several of the Bitengye women needed medical attention while they were attending the workshop. Justina was first to come to our attention. This 47 year old mother of six children, had spent all her earnings last year on food for her family, the needs of the 6 families of relatives who live nearby to her and come to her regularly for assistance, and had neglected her own health. When she saw the doctor at the clinic, he prescribed an amazing 6 different medications for her rampant infection. She was feeling a lot better by the end of the workshop, and hopes she will have enough earnings this year to continue
work on a new house for herself. "One by one makes a bundle", she told me. Knight and Dorothy both needed glasses prescribed this year. And Knight needed ongoing treatment for her congestive heart failure, first diagnosed when we were here last year. As for Sheilla, at 24 she is still the youngest
member of the group, and in much better health than last year. She has realized the importance of taking her HIV medication every day, and feels better for it - an important thing as the mother of two small children. Every day she came early to the workshop, to sweep up the floor from the previous days' scraps and to light the charcoal fire for the irons, and if there was time, to get a head start on her sewing for that day. What I find staggering, is how women have to put up with ill health - they simply suffer and continue working, through ailments that are really grim. I wonder if providing ongoing medical care should be a part of the Kitambaa Sewing Project, to make sure that each of these women gets the care they need in a timely way, year round . . . I think so.

The Workshop Comes to an End

The workshop for the Bitengye Designers came to a most successful end on Wednesday. Certificates were presented to all the women, and a draw made for some extra prizes. But the highlight of the day was showing Alice one of the two donated Featherweight sewing machines that she will take back to Rubingo with her. She was so excited! She already has plans to have solar power installed, and will be able to connect the sewing machines once the solar power is in place. The second machine didn't fit into our luggage this time, but will go to Uganda and to Alice the next time someone has a little extra space in their luggage. Then on Thursday the women packed
themselves and their luggage, sardine-style, into the "specials", booked to take them home to their villages. There were lots and lots of tears, probably because we told the ladies that we will likely not be back in Uganda until two years from now. Alice assured me that these were happy tears, not sad tears, but I think there was a bit of both. We told them we would not forget them, that we'd tell their story and sell the items they make wherever we can. It's a bitter-sweet thing to have them so independent now, and under Alice's capable leadership. We couldn't be more proud of all they've learned and the distance they've travelled over the two years
and three workshops we've conducted. But now it's time for us to withdraw a little, to let them fly on their own. I will continue to write about their individual stories, and of some of the things that have come out of our time here in Uganda, but in the meantime, I want you to know just how much your support of these women has meant to them. Their lives and the lives of their families have been improved so much. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

New Fashions

Two of the new "fashions" this year, are pictured here. Kamidah, Knight and Lydia hold the notebook covers they've made, while Alice models the new overnight bag she's made and is now teaching the students. We will be bringing a number of these new designs home with us, and we've just placed a large order for more of these with the Bitengye Designers, so should have these ready for sale shortly after we return to Canada. While the more skilled sewers make these, the other group continues to work on placemats (now a standard and smaller size!!!), table runners and gift bags. Also under construction are jewellery
bags, a new design of table cloth, a new quilt design and several other smaller items. I can't wait to show you all these new "fashions" - there's something for everyone being made.

Recheal from Kikagati

Recheal is an amazing young woman. At 35, she is the mother of 5 children, 4 of her own and one whom she found wandering in the banana grove and took in. When summarizing what it has meant to her to learn how to sew, she told us that before she never knew if she had enough money to feed her family, but that now she does. She is the person who used her funds last year to buy a door and windows for her house. She is also the founder and leader of the Kikagati group "living positively with HIV". This group supports one another, and travels around the district, performing dramas and singing, in order to
sensitize others to their message of hope. Last year Kitambaa provided uniforms for the choir - we hired Alice made the skirts and trousers and Recheal is wearing one of the T-shirts below. Yesterday she talked to me about the HIV positive group. She is distressed that many of them cannot afford the most basic food, that some are too old to work in the gardens, and that they have nothing to do. They visit one another regularly, always bringing a small gift with them - perhaps a bar of soap or onions or a few bananas. Sometimes they have a speaker come and talk to them, and "then we know", she says, "that 'slim' is like any other disease, and we can stand strong". But hearing first hand stories of men and women in their group, we thought that there must be something else we can do to help. So we are going to arrange for two women to be trained in bracelet making (by Dorothy, from Rubingo),and two women be trained in embroidery (by Florence, Alice's mother in Rubingo). We are going to provide a monthly food fund, so that when members come to Recheal, she will be able to provide them with posho and rice and matoke. And we are going to rent 3 plots of land, so that 12 members can begin to cultivate their own food. Such a small effort, really, but at least a beginning, for a group that has touched me deeply from the first time I met them 4 years ago. Should any of you be prompted to make a donation to the Kikagati group, anything would be gratefully received. Please know that you would be making a major contribution to these incredibly brave and strong people.

A Day in the Life of Bitengye

The last few afternoons have been warm here in Uganda, although it's still cool in the mornings. But the Bitengye ladies still work right through, from 8:30 in the morning until 6:30 at night. And even then it's often difficult to send them on their way. Today a large black cloud had materialized by 6:00, and I encouraged them to go home before the rains came. Their answer was "If we wait, the rain will go." Followed by hoots of laughter. They have no intention of giving up any working time during these last few days of the workshop. Meanwhile, Joan has begun to teach a new member of the group how to make beaded
bracelets. Dorothy is from Rubingo, and had been hoping she could join the Bitengye group. She is a member of the widows group there, and friend of Annah, and was delighted to produce two finished bracelets by the end of the day. Our days usually end with singing and sometimes some dancing, praise for a good day of work, for the opportunity to learn how to make new things, and that we are all are still alive. Not even that is taken for granted.

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.