The Next Chapter

The new workshop before renovation...

This week will be a busy but exciting time for me as I embark on life in a second Alli Wano workshop and start three new sewing classes.

...And after a fresh lick of paint by the landlord

I’ll be working alongside The Uganda Down’s Syndrome Association (TUDSA) to provide sewing classes to parents of children with Down’s.

I held a meeting for the mums (and one sister) recently to introduce myself and my passion and vision for the project. I explained that I have a sister with Down’s Syndrome and they were intrigued to see photos of us together in England. They seemed to really appreciate an outsider coming into their world who had an idea of the struggles and joys of this reality.

Adding some African trimmings

We will be having classes of 4-5 people every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until the end of November at least, and the syllabus will be slightly different from the pilot class with Suubi House. Monica and I will be teaching more traditional tailoring skills as well as introducing some new products such as upcycled/customised second hand clothes.

Excitingly, three of the graduates from the first class will also be coming to teach on the areas they have each specialised in. I hope this will be an encouragement to the new students as they see that they too could be teaching in just a few months time.

Elvis wouldn't get off the curtain
material we were trying to use!

While I was working with one of my ladies at her home this week, one of her friends, Shaida, popped in with her three year old son Elvis. He really is such a cutey but unfortunately cannot yet walk or talk. As Shaida can’t afford to take Elvis to a clinic for assessment I am going to support her to do this and hopefully organise some speech and physical therapy if appropriate.

Sewing and Harvesting

This week and next the ladies are learning to appliqué. It has been very interesting to see how they have dealt with learning a new technique as we have been working on Kindle cases for so many weeks now! Appliqué is quite different to any other skill we’ve been working on.

Margaret with her appliqued map of Uganda bag

Half the women, including Margaret (our kafulu, star/expert, who had some small sewing experience previous to joining Alli Wano) have picked up appliqué really easily and others have struggled. The idea is that we appliqué these cotton bags and get them to market as soon as we can because plastic shopping bags have recently been banned in Kampala. I wanted the ladies to pick up the skill quickly so we could start production. I’m keen for them to start earning money and so I started worrying:

• What if some of the ladies start to make money and others don’t?
• Will they resent the others?
• What if some just never get it?

But as I prayed about the situation I felt that God gave me a very clear answer:

John 4:35 “Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest.”

Through this verse I felt that God said to me:

• Some of the ladies are ready – let them go for it!
• Give others more time and they’ll get there
• It will motivate them to work hard if they see others getting money
• It’s not all about money (a point I’ll come back to in a second)

I also feel, although not directly from this scripture, that it would work well for each lady to have a specialism and therefore I’ve started to watch who is best at what, and who enjoys making which product.

It’s not all about money

As I observe the women at the workshop I realise that Alli Wano is so much more than a training school and business. Some of the ladies did not pick up the new technique straight away and that could be for many reasons – we’re all good at different things – but I realised the main reason was because they were having issues in their personal lives and so focusing on sewing was not their first priority.

One lady is having to move out of her marital home because of emotional abuse by her husband, one is waiting for her son to have a potentially life-changing operation this weekend, and another’s son is critically ill. And yet they keep coming. Coming to the workshop each week allows Arios, Oliver, Jane, Margaret, Catherine and Susan a space to vent frustrations from home, to share the ups and downs of life. That safe place is so much more important than whether or not they learn to sew. This is a space just for them, where they can be themselves and do something for them.

All the women would call themselves Christians of one denomination or another and now, as official training comes to an end I feel it’s time to invite them to go deeper on a spiritual level. So I’m devising a tailored (!) bible study for those who wish to come, to help them understand more of who Jesus is and more of His unconditional love for them.

As I step out in this new journey of faith if anyone has any resources they would recommend for women’s bible study/ministry please do let me know!

Busy-ness!

I’ve not blogged for a few weeks because I’ve been so busy with project preparations, getting product samples ready and a few other things…

My friend Zoe was in Uganda for a whirlwind six day visit last week to do some work for Link International and to attend a very important wedding/introduction. We had fun at the introduction which had more than 3000 people, even though we couldn’t understand much of what was being said. It was important that we were there to celebrate, represent Link International and to network as there were many Members of Parliament in attendance.

Picking people up on the side of the road on the way to the introduction. Just out of shot is the baby that Zoe was thrown to look after!

Fields of Life

These past few weeks I’ve also been meeting with my new friend Anne Brown who is from Northern Ireland and is a trustee for education charity Fields of Life. Anne has introduced me to the possibility of Alli Wano parents making reusable sanitary pads – not very sexy but a necessity in Uganda’s rural areas. It seems that soon it will be compulsory for all schools here to provide sanitary wear for female pupils, so the market could be very lucrative. There are some organisations already making these pads, such as Afripads, but they cannot possibly make them for the entire country. Anne has set up a project called I Am Girl, focusing on educating girls about their menstrual cycle and enabling them to attend school even when they have their monthly period. (They would normally have to stay at home during heavier flow.) 

To be able to help not only Alli Wano/Suubi House parents through sewing training and employment, but also help another set of people with the end products would be wonderful. Monica and I are going to look at some patterns and research next week to see if it’s something we want to pursue.

Communications

In amongst all that, as tends to happen in my life, I have offered my services on a voluntary basis as a communications consultant for Fields of Life as they are realising that they need to be more strategic in their comms approach in Uganda. So I’m going to be working with them one morning a week on their comms strategy, as well as conducting some training for staff.

Ex-trafficked women

I’ve also been approached by someone from my new church, Freedom Church, to come and look at the possibility of holding sewing classes at an organisation supporting women who have escaped trafficking. Monica and I are planning to visit this project next week to discuss the way forward with them. I hope that this may be another source of income for Monica.

Arios sewing her first line of stitches

First training sessions

The training sessions this week have gone really well and have been so encouraging for me, the mums and Monica. Tuesday’s class had four women and today’s had three – all have different backgrounds, children and circumstances but they’ve been getting on well; there has been lots of laughing (and lots of hard work of course). 

As I expected, some challenges are already arising – some predicted and some not – let’s just say I’m so glad I have Monica on board. One of the biggest problems is only having two sewing machines. If you would like to donate towards another sewing machine for Alli Wano please get in touch - they are about £80 to buy here.

Seeing the way God is working in different people's lives already is so uplifting. It looks as though next week is going to be just as full and busy and I'm enjoying it all so much. 

Allison

Two confessions to start with:

1. Good spelling is fairly ridiculously important to me, so it may surprise you to know that the name of my project, Alli Wano, is actually spelt incorrectly. (It should be Ali Wano.) 

2. I’ve told you that Alli Wano means ‘He is here’ in Luganda. Well, I may have told a half truth about the meaning of the phrase - you see in Luganda there is no distinction between ‘he’ and ‘she’ so the same word that means ‘He is’ can also mean ‘She is’ depending on context.

Why am I telling you this?

As well as wanting to help empower families with disabled children, my project is also a tribute to a girl called Allison. But who is she?

Allison 

Allison Malacara was a woman whose life was full of creativity and determination. A flamboyant Mexican who loved African textiles, Uganda and fashion; she was a stylist to many Ugandan celebrities. She was also my good friend Zoe’s best friend, but tragically Allison died in a road accident in Kampala in 2013. Along with Zoe she had begun to produce and sell kitenge bags and purses in a bid to help children in Kampala. I never met Allison but I know that she meant the world to Zoe so when God asked me to call my project Alli I knew that it referred to both Him and Allison.

Two by two

This brings me to today. Today I met with my seamstress to discuss the way forward for Alli Wano. I found Monica through Pasiss (you can read about her here) and she is a wonderful woman who I can’t wait to work with. 

Even since before coming out here I have wondered why I’m doing it alone. To have someone there to bounce ideas off, as Zoe and Allison had, and to encourage you is invaluable. Jesus always sent His disciples out in pairs at least, but never alone. I have prayed for someone to partner with me and felt today that I had found my partner in Monica. As we sat and discussed designs and training programmes I shared my fears about the project with her and immediately she asked Jesus to take away that fear. 

I have a new found confidence and am pleased to be able to say that training will begin on Tuesday 24^th February!

The Reason

I want to share a little of the heart reason I’ve come to live in Uganda again. 

Naomi

Few people know this but the thing that has impacted me most out of any visit to Uganda over the last eight years was on my 2009 trip here. And that was meeting this beautiful little girl with Down’s Syndrome in the village who we’ll call Naomi. You’ll know that I have a soft spot for children and adults with Down’s because of my own special sister Lucy.

Me and Naomi

In 2009 Naomi must have been about 6 or 7 and she seemed to be quite a happy child. I think because I showed her some attention and affection she would follow me round when she saw me and always wanted me to pick her up. I didn’t see her that much while staying in the village but after only a few days she started calling me ‘mama’. That was when I realised that I needed to distance myself because I knew when I left it might be hard on her. The day that really broke my heart was the day that her mother asked me to take Naomi away with me – she didn’t want her.

Reality

My sister Lucy

I can completely understand why people find it so hard to look after a child with special needs here; it's hard even in the UK. There is no benefits system and there are very few day care centres, and certainly none in the remote rural areas, not to mention the social stigma attached to any form of disability. Everyone is expected to play their part in the running of the house - cooking, cleaning, fetching water and if someone doesn't have the capacity to do that, unfortunately they are seen as a burden.

Recently I went back to the village and Naomi is still there but she has grown so much taller! It was great to see her again and to know that she is ok. The other children tend to push her around and tease her and it crushes me, partly because I realise that if my own sister had been born here, her experience of life could have been so different, but also because I recognise that Naomi has a value of her own.

My project

I'm setting up my sewing machines in my good friend Sarah's outhouse. She runs a fantastic project called Suubi House which ultimately Sarah and her husband Godfrey want to be a community day care centre for children with special needs. I hope parents will be able to come here for sewing training - Suubi House is somewhere parents in Sarah's programme will be familiar with and hopefully feel comfortable in. I don't know how my project will work practically yet because it may be that I need to take my services to the parents – some may not be able to bring their child or they may not have anyone to leave them with. I will have to play many of these logistics by ear.

However it works it will be such an honour to help Sarah and others with a passion for empowering these children and their parents. I want to help parents realise more and more that there are people and a God who value their children and therefore want to invest in them.

So if you ever hear me wavering in what I’m doing here please just remind me of Naomi and her precious precious life.

Courage

Today I went to Kiyembe in downtown Kampala to look for some fabric, zips, lining and other bits for my project and had an enlightening time.

Kiyembe is the area to go to for any kind of quality textiles or sewing paraphernalia at cheap prices. It’s also extremely busy and can be tiring, especially in the 30 degree weather we’ve been having. After half an hour of wandering round and being told to sit on wooden stools while people brought me items such as foam padding and cotton wool in the hope that it might be ‘felt’ I gave up and bought this lovely traditional Ugandan cloth. I want to line my Kindle cases with felt but it looks as though no one has it or knows what it is here, or perhaps it just has a different name.

On my way down to Kiyembe I had passed an older looking woman sitting on the roadside begging for money. She had mutated fingers and toes. Some of you will know that I’ve started to think about how I could empower adults with physical disabilities and I knew that I wanted to talk to this lady when I saw her. I chickened out of talking to her on the way down the hill but on the way back up clutching my new fabric I asked God for courage and for Him to remind me of useful Luganda phrases so that I might be able to find a little bit out about the woman.

It transpired that she was from the north of Uganda – an Acholi woman who spoke Luo. There are estimated to be around 40 languages spoken in Uganda so it shouldn’t have been a total surprise to me. Luganda is spoken only in Kampala and surrounds and is the most useful language for me living here. The lady knew a little Luganda and we managed to have a stilted conversation about where she lives and I discovered that she is a grandmother but I couldn’t get much further.

En-couraged by this small but largely unsuccessful encounter I turned the corner and decided to speak to a young girl sitting on the pavement with a money plate in front of her. This girl, Sarah, also spoke Luo but unlike the last lady she didn’t know any English or Luganda. She was from Lira. Sarah had a problem with her legs and used crutches. She couldn't understand anything I was saying to her so she beckoned for a lady to come over and translate. Left is a picture of my wonderful translator Pasiss (sp?) for the next 10 minutes, who, it turned out loves Jesus passionately and was so excited to help me.

It emerged that Sarah was actually 7 months pregnant and had been stuck in Kampala after her belongings had been stolen – all she wanted was money to get back to Lira and her family.

People’s situations are never simple here, and while I may want to help them, my kind of help is not always what they are looking for, and it’s good to recognise that. But having tested the waters today I feel that I have got over a fear of approaching people and am hoping to go out next week with a translator to find more people and see if they would be able and interested in learning to sew.