By Mathew Yawe
Fall 2020 Newsletter
Mityana Open Troop Foundation is a registered Community Based Organization, with a Vocational Skills Training Centre, which recruits and trains disadvantaged youths, including young girls formerly selling sex for survival and girls expelled from schools due to teenage pregnancies. We teach sustainable vocational skills. Before the closure of all institutions because of Covid-19, the school had a total enrollment of 105. Since we began vocational skills training in 2007, over 801 have graduated; some got jobs while others set up their own workshops.
Every graduating youth is given a sewing machine from Sewing Peace, USA. If we did not award a machine as a benefit of the program, the training would be a waste of time, as 90% of graduates can’t afford to buy one.
Learners are trained for 2 years. We offer programs in Sewing & Fashion Design, Hair Dressing & Weaving, and Motor Vehicle Mechanics.
Irine Nakazzi
Irine Nakazzi is a Sewing & Fashion project graduate of 2018. She has 2 children. After graduating, she and her fellow graduate Agnes Nanyange rented a room in Mityana Town, where they installed their sewing machines. At their shop, they make and sell curtains, mattress covers, and school uniforms. They also sell sodas and water.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, they are making face masks, charging US $1 for 2 masks. They can make 30 masks a day.
Achievements
- With the help of Mr. Chris Eldridge of the UK, we are getting another shipment of sewing machines from Pedals for Progress / Sewing Peace, USA.
- We are painting and renovating the Mityana Open Troop Foundation Main Block, sponsored by Mr. Colin Dippie & Mrs. Jane Louise Dippie of the UK.
- We are buying bricks and constructing a septic tank for the boys toilet, sponsored by Mr. Nino Ardizz & M/s Madison Ardizz of Canada.
- To slow the spread of Covid-19, our sewing shop is producing face masks and selling them at a low price.
Challenges / Limitations!
- All training institutions have been under lockdown since March 2020 and cannot reopen until 2021. This has caused serious loss of income at the vocational project, as trainees pay some school fees!
- Since January 2020, we have had a shortage of sewing machines for sale,
so we have nothing to sell the many schools and tailors who come to buy machines. - We still have trouble raising funds for shipping sewing machines from Sewing Peace.
- We lack a computer, printer, and photocopier, which would make it easier to print our end-of-term exams and other office work. Currently all computer work is taken to town.
- The project requires a new embroidery machine that is faster and more reliable than the one we have.
- The organization requires a staff office and office furniture; for now our instructors don’t have a place to sit and keep their kits.
- The Training Center is short of clean water. Our 2000-liter water tank is emptied in 2 days. Then students have to walk 1 km to get water from unprotected water sources.
- There are many malaria cases among project trainees, as they lack mosquito nets.
- There is a great need to renovate the leaking roofs of our training halls.
Way Forward & Recommendations
- We are fundraising for a 2-classroom block, to enable us to create a conducive training environment and to accommodate more students.
- We wish to repair the roof of the Tyne Hall workshop, for our programs in hair dressing and weaving.
- We hope to renovate and paint the girls dormitories, sewing workshop, and Tyne Hall.
We need to build a Boys Toilet. Boys currently share with girls, which is not recommended!- We are asking for donation of embroidery machines, as the one we have is slow and requires mechanical servicing all the time!
- We welcome volunteers who can teach sustainable skills to our youths. We would like to partner with similar vocational training institutions elsewhere in the world. This will help us learn how they operate. Plus it will help our Ugandan youths create friendships with fellow youths and learn about their cultures.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I thank Mr. Chris Eldridge, Mr. David Schewdeinback, president of Sewing Peace, Mr. Colin Dippie & Mrs. Jane Louise Deppie, Mr. Nino Ardizz & M/s. Madison Ardizz, who have been so supportive to our organization, especially now during the pandemic. This has been and still is a very challenging season of limited funds and people losing their jobs.
I extend our thanks to the generous communities in the USA, who have been donating their used sewing machines to our needy Ugandan communities. Please, the used sewing machines, which seem not important in the USA, have really uplifted our Ugandan communities, changing peoples’ lives by raising their income.
Finally, I am calling upon who ever can enable us to construct at least a 2-classroom block and who ever wishes to sponsor some needy Ugandan youths to acquire sustainable vocational skills. For each training term, each trainee requires at least US $95, to cater for all working materials, food, and school-maintenance fees.
The struggle continues and we really would love more in-kind and financial support to enable us to deliver services to needy communities.
Please continue giving a hand up, not a handout. Thanks.
Stay safe from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yours,
Rev. Mathew Yawe
Executive Director, Mityana Open Troop Foundation