Women and Children…

Two or three times each week a group of HIV positive women ( many of whom are widowed mothers caring for several orphans along with their own children ) come together at the NGO center to participate in fellowship and to develop skills that will enhance their ability to create income in their villages and communities. The program aims to ‘graduate’ 2 groups of women a year, each session lasting 6 months, and is intended to teach skills in areas such as sewing, weaving, basketry, knitting, beading, crochet and cooking, etc.



Along with my fellow muzungu volunteer, I attended my first class with the women on Tuesday and enjoyed a great time sharing with them all. About a dozen of us sat in an open air area, a metal roof covering us from the periodic downpours, around a table on which small practice weavings, baskets and beadworks were placed. Here we chatted about crafts in Canada and Uganda, some income generating ideas, self reliance, the marketing and pricing of products, village life, children, orphans, health, gardening, even a little about farming!

The women asked for our help in a few very specific areas…First, they said they really want to know how to make jam! Pineapple jam and marmalade too! And, they wish to receive information and training regarding farming, particularly keeping poultry. As well, they would like to have some kind of handout reviewing skills they have learned at the end of their course, and, they wondered if we could help them regarding materials. At present, they explained, they have very few materials to work with in the class due to the NGO’s ‘budgeting shortfalls’ and as a result are having difficulty developing practical skills in many of the intended areas, particularly sewing.

After our first day together, our short term mandate was clear … we asked the program director to estimate what their financial budget for materials would be from now until the end of this session, namely December ’07 and, we made a plan to accomplish some of the women’s other objectives when we would meet again for our 2’nd get together on Thursday!




But first… Wednesday was a day set aside to work in the child care dept at the center! HIV positive children, sometimes accompanied by their caregivers, come to the center once a month to meet with a counselor and Doctor and to receive ART’s for the upcoming month. There is a special child care area with lots of room and floor space for the children to run around and play in that is equipped quite well with toys including dolls, trucks, abc and number games, puzzles, memory games etc. At one end of the room there are 4 bunk beds for weak, tired or sick children. There are posters around the room, almost all have info on them about HIV/ADIS…even the abc’s are taught keeping HIV in mind….’A is for Abstain’, ‘B is for Being Faithful, ‘C is for Condoms’…I doubt that most of the children I met yesterday can read.



Ranging in age from under a year to maybe 12 or 13, I had fun and shared some time with almost every boy and girl who visited! Most of them were very happy, full of energy, ready to play and learn. Not so sure if they were used to such ‘hand’s on playing’ we noticed how the children noticed when my volunteer partner and I got right down on the floor with them to make puzzles, play with cars and trucks etc. Some of the children seemed very bright with great natural aptitude, quick to learn, strong in health and energy. Others seemed quite weak, a few with large distended stomachs, one little boy looked very frail and did not interact at all. Some seemed very new to the world of toys let alone ones that require hand eye coordination and games or puzzles that require matching etc. There were 2 little girls playing side by side, each practicing to be little Mom’s with baby dolls strapped to their backs in the same manner as they themselves are carried… they were an absolute delight and took to calling me ‘Muzungu Ca Ta Reeen’…!




Near the end of our day with the children, the director from skills development found us and presented a budget that she felt would see the program in materials until the end of this session…she guesstimated 343,000 Ugandan Shillings for materials for 17 people…that’s about $200 Cdn or $11.75 for each participant from now until year end.




Today, Thursday, we returned to spend the day with the women ( and 2 men who joined us) in ‘skill development’ and we tried our best to come prepared! We brought pineapples, limes ( for natural pectin ), a cutting board, knife, pot, sugar, wax for sealing, containers, even crackers to test our ‘pineapple jam’ on as well as recycled paper and glue to show how to make ‘paper beads’ for jewelry. We had a wonderful time… all of us gathered around the pot of jam that was cooking over coal in a traditional small ‘barbeque’ ( most people here use these to cook on every day ) and rolling beads made of glue and paper on pieces of metal while the jam thickened. We also brought along info about knitting, crocheting, weaving, quilting, and promised a book that we will put together to be delivered to them all at ‘graduation’ and will contain the different skills they are learning. We agreed to find out more for them in the short term about micro-financing available in the area as well as to see if we can find a representative from the gov dept that supports small farming to come and speak to the group at some point soon.

After discussion between ourselves, my partner volunteer and I had decided last evening to split the cost to fund the budget that the director of skills development presented to us yesterday. So today, we each received the great honor of delivering 200,000USh cash to the program director hoping that along with the fabric that they wish to buy, they will also be able to supplement their weaving and basketry supplies for the term.

I would like to take a moment to thank one of my family members for forwarding a cheque recently to the PO Box noted on the projects page of this website with the instructions for me to use it as I see fit…

You know who you are!… and now you can know that today you have joined with me in helping a group of women in Mbale, Uganda to take some remarkable steps in self development leading them onward to independence…

Oh, what a feeling…!




It would be a complete understatement to say that the women are very happy and grateful today for the fellowship, the jam, info and funding…as it said on the top of the proposed budget…’Here please receive the following budget of the requirements to enable us subsidise the course work for Skills Department that had otherwise stalled. We believe your help will greatly benefit the students / clients acquire skills that will make them not only earn a living but live honorably.’

Amen!

Tomorrow is a day to be spent with youth/teens…and then Saturday I am traveling to a community about an hour away where a man I recently met has asked for my help in trying to figure out how to support 400 orphans in the area…

Love to you all…Cath

Ps…Remaining somewhat of a distraction, I am still trying to get the photo thing happening here on the blog…One day you will all be inundated with many many shots I’ve had the great pleasure to take! C xoxo