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"This past Saturday was spent visiting the homes of the women in our community that have been identified as being in the most need. 'In the most need' translates typically to women whose husbands are sick, have passed or have left them and who are now struggling every day to feed, clothe and provide the basic necessities for their families... this usually means one meal a day at dinner, babies with swollen bellies, ragged little clothes, dirt floors to sleep on and tired, discouraged mothers that work nonstop to try and maintain the status quo of not quite sufficiently caring for the children they dearly love.
Sitting on a bench in front of a little hut, listening to a mother's story as her eyes get shiny and her lip starts to shake - listening as she asks that we pray that she will have enough hope and strength so that she will not be tempted to leave her children... is a moment I will never forget.
I found myself going through a thousand emotions and thoughts, contrasts of feeling overwhelmingly small and helpless and yet challenged more than ever to do something... finding myself thinking 'I wish everyone in the world could sit on this bench and listen to this story... just once' - the world would be a different place.
The happy ending to this story is that these women are all a part of the OVCP seamstress program that will go for 6 months and will 'Empower' them with the skill of tailoring. I watched today as one of our mothers sewed new buttons on for her 4 year old boy 'Lukiya' yesterday and proudly dress him back up with his like new collared shirt. Something she would not have had the skill or material to do months ago.
Once they finish the program, they are 'Equipped' with a foot pedal powered singer sewing machine to take to each of their homes so that they can be hired by members of the local community to make or mend clothing, curtains, etc. The school also hires them to make uniforms and bags, headbands, skirts, and more for sale in Canada and the U.S.
I saw Monica, along with the other women walk through the school gates this week. The difference in her demeanor from Saturday is staggering. Her smile is wide, her laugh contagious and her eyes bright. It’s as if in this place, their lease on life changes. Here, they work together. A community of women who are struggling alongside one another... as they learn a skill that will feed and clothe their family, help pay for medicine, help pay for foam mattresses to sleep on or land to farm and to ultimately… provide.
Here, they no longer fit within the description of vulnerable women. They are proud and joyful, they are skilled, they are loved and they have hope.
Weeks like this are filled with contrast, as many in Uganda are. There is so much love, so much gratitude, so much beauty - moments where I can't imagine going through my life without having experienced such perfect joy... paired with stories that are so palpably heart crushing that they will never be sufficiently shared with words."
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