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International Women's Day 2021

In this edition of news we are featuring some women who are part of Afrinspire.

Mariam, with her trainee turned employee, Nakato, has set up two Tailoring Shops in Nakaloke and Nkoma near Mbale in Eastern Uganda They specialise in ladies fashion and the dress which women want in a Muslim community, but they take any work on. A recent order for seventy uniforms for a band came through and to meet the deadline all the teenage girls came into the shop to help. Schools had been closed since last year because of Covid so these young girls wanted to work to make use of their time and they are all learning.

But in Uganda the schools are just starting to open again with 1st March as the start date for some year groups, with more to follow on 12th April, 19th April, 5th June and 18th June when all classes will be back, The hope is that September will be a restart for everyone all at once.
Mariam has a particular interest in helping teenage girls access education with fourteen girls on her list. Half the girls are aged 16 to 18 and in the third year of secondary school and the rest are younger primary school children. She recently called together the parents of the girls so as to discuss the return to school and how to share the cost of the fees without trying to depend entirely on outside donors which is an unsustainable approach.

Mariam also leads a women's group. Despite her young age, in her twenties, the older women appreciate her leadership, organisation and integrity. The women all have small income generating activities and support each other in setting up their own businesses: selling food, making charcoal briquettes, raising turkeys, selling second hand shoes and hairdressing.

ZAMBIAN WOMEN

These women are looking to improve their situation because they were displaced last year by floods.
Their families made bricks and built houses but using clay instead of cement. Some did not make houses which would last a year and we heard today that ' Heavy rainfall last week and today is causing more houses to collapse because they are made quickly of mud'. Bad news, but good news that there has been enough rain for growing food.
Of more importance is the need for water and sanitation. Afrinspire has supported a team of young men under Penelope's direction to construct and repair water wells and also to make pit latrine slabs. The current target is to help 119 households in Chibondo Village to have pit latrines. So far 25 have been made. It is the women who want this to happen. Not just for health but for safety as they do not like wandering into the bush in the dark and quite simply they want some toilets.
It is a target for this year for these re-settled people to have good water and sanitation in their new village and Afrinspire is sharing this target with them. Those who can are buying a bag of cement and Afrinspire is funding the sand and the team is constructing.

SPECIAL APPEAL

It costs about £50 to construct a latrine. If you want to help them you can make a donation here and your donation will be doubled.

FOOD FOR THIS YEAR

In our FOOD FOR THIS YEAR programme in 2020, two hectares of maize was planted in November 2020. It is now taller than Penelope.

BUSINESS TRAINING FOR ENTERPRISE IN UGANDA

Rita Mijumbi,. the Director of Uganda Development Services starts off the training in business ideas for a group at the Kamuli Centre. A young lady feeds back from the Group Two discussions. They are using Training course material from the International Labour Organisation which is free to use. The second module is important "After completing the business idea generation module and trainees have identified their potential businesses, then they undergo the second module on business planning. This will help the entrepreneurs to assess the feasibility and viability of their businesses. After this module, some may change their businesses.” say Nkamuhebwa Willy.

KAMULI WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

A group of women in Kamuli, first trained in July 2018 formed themselves into a group who can support each other as they start enterprises. They began a street grocery, selling chapati and chips, mobile money, second hand clothes, pineapple growing, rearing local birds and growing avocado trees. They received a second training in February 2020. They were encouraged to identify a local need and therefore a market before setting up business.

Alice is the leader of the group and she recently decided to make bricks.

ROSE

Finally we want to thank Rose for her amazing work in setting up FAL (Functional Adult Literacy) groups in nine regions of Uganda since 2006 until now. Many more than 100 groups have been formed of 20 ladies per group with some men also allowed. Often travelling deep into the rural areas on motor-bike and making repeated journeys to nurture and monitor the groups. Bringing literacy to thousands and every household having an improved standard of living.
Here, Rose is explaining the course material to new groups in Gabosan village in Paya Sub-County.

We could write about a hundred more women, friends of Afrinspire, if space and your patience permitted. We bring you one final young lady, Rebecca, who trains youth in sandal making. What fun is that!

Thank you for reading this far. Please remember to help the ladies of Zambia create their new homes and village by having toilets in every home in their community. You can support them here and have your donation doubled
With best wishes from the Afrinspire Team