Bridging
International Communities Newsletter
Vol. I No.
I--August 2015
A Wonderful Young Woman from Kampala
This is
the story of my contact with a young woman in Kampala
Uganda
A few
months later I called her from the United States
A few
months later we were taking young women into the House of Jjajja Don to learn
how to sew and weave uniforms and other clothing items. They wanted to sell
them and hoped to be able to come up with a marketing plan.
I
returned to Uganda
A few
months after I left, I got a message that Cissy needed to talk to me. I called
her and she talked to me about some very personal things she had not told me of
earlier. She told me she had a young daughter and did not know where the father
was. She was having difficulty with the girls in the house because they said
she had not been open and honest with me. I thanked her for telling me about
her daughter. I told her it made no difference and that I still wanted her to
be the marketing manager for sales. The girls accepted her and ask her to move into
the house with them which she did.
Cissy
was bale to develop a plan whereby the girls contracted with some of the local
schools to sew uniforms and weave sweaters for the students. The girls also
were bale to rent a small shop in the neighborhood of the house. Sales did not
go well in the shops as many of the locals still have stigmas about the girls
who are former prostitutes. Another factor however was that the girls’ products
were better and more expensive that what they were used to having available to
them.
Cissy
called me later and told me that she wanted to have her daughter, Catherine,
baptized but did not have anyone who would be the godparents. I had her speak
to her pastor and I agreed to be the godfather and a nun there agreed to be her
godmother. Catherine was baptized a few months later.
While
Cissy was in the house, she learned new skills and passed the state
Certification test for sewing. One of the
primary goals of the house is to get the girls ready to move back out on their
own with some better skills and loving supports. Cissy and two other girls moved
out of the house to start their own little business. I bought them a sewing
machine and have stayed in touch with them since the move.
These
are Sissy’s words about her life at the time of these ongoing contacts.
I was born in MAKONDO Rakai district. My
parents paid for my education up to a Diploma level. After completing my
diploma course in Marketing, I came to Kampala Kampala
my mother while I remained in Kampala
It is from the street that that Don picked
me and adopted me to the house with an
assignment of marketing the items produced by the house inmates. During my stay
in the house, I learnt skills in tailoring, knitting from the instructors
provided by Don.
I would like to further my academic skills
in Marketing to attain a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing so that I can support
the organization to market its products. In return it will also give me
employment to enable me to take care of my daughter. This will accord me opportunity to gain a
decent social status in life.
I am a single mother; I do not know the
whereabouts of the father of my daughter. As we stand today, I am still
jobless, finding it hard to get food and money for my daughter.
I request DIDOFO for financial support to
upgrade my academic skills to graduate level.
Cissy wrote these words as she was
leaving the House of Jjajja Don. She has dreams of a better future for her and
her daughter. She wants to continue her education. Life for her will be
difficult as it is difficult for most young people in Uganda . I
believe she has developed a character that shows her how to survive without putting
herself at such great risk. I chatted with her on Facebook a few days ago and
this is the essence of our conversation.
Facebook Chat with Cissy Nandango on 8-18-2015
Cissy: For sewn goods here at Nantere I Started a group called
‘‘''Agali Awamu Voice Of Youth Dev't Group''’’ In Nantere with 30 youths we
started Sewing Activities and I Am Also Active.
Don: Excellent let me know how this all develops!
Cissy: Do you want to know how group members develop?
Don: Yes I would like to hear about what you are doing and
accomplishing
Cissy: We Found that we have the same problem of economic empowerment
and we started as group of 10 people in the same area with contributing cash
round but now we are 30 we save money in the group we have a vision of fighting
poverty. Members do tailoring and we also practice farming we do garlic farming;
we make nursery bed for some trees like kilotons etc.
Don: Excellent. Who came up with the idea of forming into a
group?
Cissy: I My Self
Don: Excellent! I am so proud of you! That is the same
strategy I used in getting the girls to start the house. I knew they could not
get off the streets alone. They needed each other.
Cissy: Wonderful Statement. You pray for me I Also Pray for you...
I wanted to tell you this story so
that you could get a feel for what we are doing to work with these young women
on the streets of Kampala .
It is a long and involved process with no set course or direction. It can be
messy and demanding with no certainty of success. However, it is as joyous as
life can be as we see the deep and profound changes that occur in so many of their
lives.
I hope this allows you to have little
better understanding what we are doing in Uganda .
Donald E. Leach
President
Bridging International Communities
Post
Script
A report from Kampala Uganda today (August 18, 2015) says
there are 8 girls in various primary and secondary schools from the House of
Jjajja Don, four more are living in the house learning vocational skills and
one girl is now back in her college program. There are five more girls in the
pipeline to leave the streets and return to school in January.
We are now dealing with 18 young women who have been
taken from the streets of Kampala
and removed from commercial sex work. It takes around $3500 a term (three terms per year) to keep the girls in school and
provide for them in the house during their breaks from school (which is a
critical time since many girls work the streets while on break to earn fees for
school). Anything you can do to support us in our efforts to work with
these marginalized young women is greatly appreciated. Please pass this message
on to your friends and ask them to consider helping us too. Remember to use smile.amazon.com for your Amazon purchases and select
Bridging International Communities 46-3971672 as your charity to support with
your purchases!!!
