[We just got this report from our partner in Uganda, the Mityana Open Troop Foundation.]

Dear our friends,

How are you?

In January 2018, Mityana Open Troop Foundation managed to open a show room/shop where we sell our products and services: sewing machines and bicycles, sewing products and school uniforms, bicycle repair and spare parts, embroidery services, art and print services, sign posts, sweaters, . . .

We hope that the profits will suport paying vocational teachers and other project activities.

Yours always,
Mathew Yawe

[More photos]

Greetings

• Guest of Honor Owekitiibwa Abraham Luzzi
• Director Basic Education Ministry Of Education & sports, Mr. Nsumba Lyazzi Robinson
• Vocational Chancellor
• RDC
• Mayor
• Madison Ardizz & Mr. Nino Ardizzi
• All invited Guests, ladies & gentlemen

With great pleasure, I take this opportunity to welcome the guest of honor, distinguished guests, Madison and Dad Nino Ardison from Canada, at our Sixth Vocational graduation ceremony, today, the 18th of November 2017.

Background: Mityana Open Troop foundation  was registered as a Community based organization and was started by a group of scouts  who had been affected by socio-economic factors and the HIV/AIDS scourge.

Later in 2007, we found it important to start offering sustainable vocational training to vulnerable youth, school dropouts, and youths unemployed due to lack of job skills. The training included hair dressing and weaving, carpentry and joinery, motor vehicle mechanics, and tailoring & fashion.
The training lasts for two years. Graduates get certificates and start-up tools to enable them to start jobs and workshops right away in their own communities.

Organization leadership:

• Chancellor: Mr. Joel Lugoloobi
• Patron:  Ssempala Julius
• Vice chairman Board of Directors: Conc. Robert Musisi
• Board Members: Rev. Balamu Mukwaya
• Mrs. Oliver Mukwaya
• Chief adviser Mr. Ssekandi Kakembo
• Chaplain:  Rev. Lukabwe
• Principal: Mr. Yawe Mathew

Instructors:

• M/s  Margaret Yiga (Hair dressing)
• M/s Nanteza Nuulu (Hair dressing)
• Edith Nakabaale (Tailoring)
• Mr. Kawuma Flobius (Tailoring)
• Ssalongo Ferdinand Nsubuga. (Maths, Luganda, & English)
• Engineer Ssetenda (Motor mechanics)
• Conc. Robert Musisi (Motor mechanics)
• Mr. Muyanja (Carpentry)
• Mr. Bukenya (Electrical)

Achievements

• This is our sixth graduation ceremony.
• The government of Uganda, through its Ministry of Education, supports our vocational project by giving funds for the instructors. The small fee we charge trainees caters for electricity, maintenance, and feeding, which is expensive.
• We registered the vocational project under the Uganda Ministry of Education.
• Kolping Mityana Womens project supports our project by sponsoring 10 orphans.
• Three Charity organizations — Fields of Life, Africa Renewal Ministries, and Unbound — sponsor some vulnerable children at our project.
• With support from profits got from the sold sewing machines from Pedals For  Progress / Sewing Peace Project USA, plus some funds donated from Dr. Knight Anthony of Tools With a  Mission UK, enable us  construct the Girls dormitory which is to accommodate 50 students.
• We have been provided with educational seminars by hair beauty companies such as Movit and Darling.
• Pedals for Progress donates sewing machines and bicycles to our project, which have up-lifted and supported many of our activities.
• Carried out voluntary community work by cleaning and sweeping Mityana Central market, Taxi park, and surrounding streets.
• Volunteered in making hair dressing & weaving , sewing clothes for police ladies and police men Of Mityana Police station, at free cost. However, we carry out good turn in communities, as scouts.

Appreciations

We thank very much the government of Uganda for supporting our vocational project by paying for the training of vulnerable unemployed youth.

Thanks go to the Principal Secretary BTVET, Mr. Patrick Byakatonda, for having considered and supported our project and benefits from the Government program.

We extend our sincere thanks to Pedals For Progress / Sewing Peace USA, which is headed by Mr. David Schewidenback, who provides us sewing machines, and even made ‘Me’ their Uganda Representatives / Coordinator.

We thank hair-dressing companies and charities sponsoring orphans at our project.

We extend many thanks to Mr. Chris Eldridge of the UK, who has done so much in financing sewing machine shipping and some of our project activities.

Finally thanks very much M/s Madison Ardizz and Dad Nino Ardizz, for visiting and being with us at our sixth graduation ceremony. Please thank you we love you so much.

Challenges

We have insufficient classrooms at the project; the majority of the trainees study under tree shelters and shades. It becomes worse if it rains because there is nowhere to go!

Trainees fail to pay the little we ask them to pay at the project, which affects project activities like feeding them!

We lack enough seats in our workshops.

It is still a challenge to pay for shipping sewing machines and bikes from the USA to Uganda.

The newly constructed hostel is not big enough to accommodate the number of trainees we have at the project.

We lack clean water and piped water at our project. Contaminated water has affected the cooking, washing, and even the lives of our trainees, as they get skin diseases and stomach diseases including typhoid every academic term!

God Bless You Always.

Mathew Yawe, Principal, Mityana Open Troop Foundation

By Mathew Yawe
Fall 2017 InStitch

[Our new partner in Uganda is the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, started as a Boy Scout group but now admitting girls. Their director Mathew Yawe has sent us several reports on their activites in 2017. For more perspective on Uganda in 2017, see the post in this newsletter by Patricia Hamill.]

Report of 29 July 2017

On 24 July 2017 Mityana Open Troop Foundation received 73 sewing machines from Sewing Peace USA. There were manual and electric machines all in good condition and looking so attractive.

Currently we have been lacking sewing machines to be given to our vocational project graduates as start-up tools to enable them to start their own workshops.

Here are our plans for the machines:

• 23 Machines will be installed in our vocational workshop.
• 10 Machines will be sold to graduates of November 2017, each for 200,000 Uganda Shillings (UGX): US $55. This money will be used to cater for shipping costs, custom taxes, ECU charges, handling charges, and transport to Mityana. The profits will be used to pay for the next shipment, which we hope to request this year.
• 40 machines will be sold to the artisans who need them at UGX 250,000 (US $69). Currently a sewing machine in Uganda costs US $83 or more.

Proposed Sewing Machine Workshop In Our Town

We have planed to set up a sewing shop and workshop in our Town of Mityana, where we shall be selling the sewing machines at a cheaper price, carrying out machine maintenance, knitting, making school uniforms, school badges, and embroidery work, as there is no any Embroidery machine in Mityana.

However, at our workshop, we shall be selling and repairing mountain bikes. And our trainees will be trained in how to repair sewing machines and bikes at our town workshop.

The generated funds, will help paying our vocational instructors / teachers.

Expenditures on the Shipped Sewing Machines

• Shipping from Sri Lanka: UGX 2,880,000 ($800)
• Uganda customs charges: UGX 1,520,700 ($422)
• ECU charges: UGX 2,261,000 ($604)
• Handling fees by Bolore Co: UGX 470,000 ($130)
• Transport from Kampala to Mityana: UGX 140,000 ($39)
  

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• Total expenditure: UGX 7,271,700 ($1995)

I once again extend sincere thanks to Mr. David Schweidenback of the Pedals for Progress / Sewing Peace project. All volunteers worked so tirelessly in collecting and refurbishing and packing our donated sewing machines. They look so good and attractive. Thank you so much.

I finally thank Mr. Chris Eldridge, our project partner in the UK, who paid all the shipping costs and gave us much support in getting the machines to Mityana, Uganda.

Report of 27 October 2017

Dear fellow scouters,

Today, 27 October 2017, I have conducted an Investiture Ceremony where 12 cubs, 15 junior scouts, and 8 rover scouts (totaling to 35 scouts) were investitured into the World Wide Scout Movement.

The function took place at the Trio Primary school. The scouts demonstrated marching, performed a flag ceremony, recited the scout promise and scout law, sang, etc.

Long live scouting.

Report of 4 November 2017

Hi fellow scouters & friends,

Today on Saturday, 4 November 2017, Mityana Open Troop foundation vocational trainees and scouts have volunteered at the Mityana District Police Station: hair dressing, weaving, hair washing, hair styling, hair braiding, and sewing. All the services were free of charge, done towards our vocational project trainee commissioning, due to take place on 18 November 2017.

For that event, we would like to cater for food for 600 guests and for the purchase of start-up tools for the graduating trainees, to enable them to start their own jobs right away.

Report of 18 November 2017 Graduation Ceremony

[We got another report from Uganda on the Mityana Open Troop graduation ceremony of November 18th. That report arrived too late for the original publication of the newsletter, but here are some excerpts. Click here for the complete report.]

Achievements

• This is our sixth graduation ceremony.

• The government of Uganda, through its Ministry of Education, supports our vocational project by giving funds for the instructors. The small fee we charge trainees caters for electricity, maintenance, and feeding, which is expensive.
• We registered the vocational project under the Uganda Ministry of Education.
• Kolping Mityana Womens project supports our project by sponsoring 10 orphans.
• Three Charity organizations — Fields of Life, Africa Renewal Ministries, and Unbound — sponsor some vulnerable children at our project.
• With support from profits got from the sold sewing machines from Pedals For  Progress / Sewing Peace Project USA, plus some funds donated from Dr. Knight Anthony of Tools With a  Mission UK, enable us  construct the Girls dormitory which is to accommodate 50 students.
• We have been provided with educational seminars by hair beauty companies such as Movit and Darling.

• Pedals for Progress donates sewing machines and bicycles to our project, which have up-lifted and supported many of our activities.
• Carried out voluntary community work by cleaning and sweeping Mityana Central market, Taxi park, and surrounding streets.
• Volunteered in making hair dressing & weaving , sewing clothes for police ladies and police men Of Mityana Police station, at free cost. However, we carry out good turn in communities, as scouts.

By Patricia Hamill
Fall 2017 InStitch

Unemployment is not an unfamiliar topic these days. Reports on the economy and job growth are broadcast daily with the intention to give us a sense of momentum and hope. What many realize of course is that there is still a dearth of jobs with adequate compensation. Are the openings that are listed truly available or are they only posted because of policy or legalities and already filled internally? As frustrating as this is, people in developing countries don’t often have the opportunity to even question if a job is open, or to whom. There may not be any, filled or otherwise. This is the ongoing struggle we’ve been trying to have an impact on with our bikes and sewing machines, and our partners remind us how much our efforts change lives and futures.

We recently received a letter from Mathew Yawe, Director of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation (MOTF) in Mityana, Uganda, highlighting the success our program Sewing Peace has had in enabling young people and families to combat the devastation that the HIV/AIDS crisis has wreaked in the region. The loss of life to this epidemic has been reduced over the years, but the long-term effects on families and the economy are still quite apparent. That is why this Non-Government Organization (NGO) Mityana Open Troop Foundation has focused on aiding people in creating financial opportunities for themselves. The resulting income allows children to go to school and graduate, and thus be more likely to qualify for steady employment or business ownership.

The direct correlation between education and employment and a lowered rate of disease and unplanned pregnancy is evident in much current research. So, of course, access to and use of doctors’ services and preventative healthcare is more likely only when one is able to afford the services. As a partner in the cause to fight poverty and its consequences, Sewing Peace shipped 73 refurbished sewing machines to MOTF in July for their vocational workshop in tailoring and design. The project recruits and trains the most vulnerable of the local population in many skills, including tailoring and garment production. The ratio was 1 machine to 4 people. Some of the machines were also made available for program graduates as start-up machines so they could create their own businesses.

In August, MOTF met with 51 residents in the village of Semukombe Mpigi to donate 2 of the sewing machines. The need here is palpable. So often, parents cannot afford the fees involved in sending their children to school. The cost of uniforms, books, and even transportation is prohibitive. The lack of access to proper health education adds to young women being expelled from school because of unplanned pregnancies. There is also the issue of families that lack an adult because one or both parents have succumbed to HIV/AIDS and the children cannot begin to consider any option other than survival.

Here, the death of one particular man had greatly affected his two wives. One widow had 6 children. One had 5. The children had all dropped out of school because there was absolutely no income for fees. Access to medication, clothing, and food was all but eliminated. The donated machines would be the only tools these women have to reverse their circumstances and provide a stable future for the 11 youngsters. With care and maintenance, the sewing machines can also become the tools that some of the children can make use of to start their own businesses in the village or in areas like the capital city Kampala, about 22 miles away, where the population is much larger and the demand for school uniforms and other clothing promises a steady income. Ultimately, this kind of program can assist women in avoiding total dependence on their spouses or sons. Husbands and sons can rely on their whole family to participate in maintaining their wellbeing.

As our readers well know, project sustainability is always at the root of the success of an endeavor and MOTF must also consider the longevity of their vocational programs. Thus, some of the machines were sold to local tailors, offered at a fair and more affordable price than one could find in Kampala. These donations from P4P and the reasonable selling prices offered by MOTF are not easy to provide because the cost of shipping to inland locations like Uganda is substantial. Transporting the containers from the port in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, over the approximately 700 miles of road to Kampala, Uganda, is not a simple task. The logistics of viable routes and reliable trucking becomes quite complicated causing the endeavor to cost half again as much money as it would to ship from New York City, through the Panama Canal, past Singapore, to Sri Lanka, and then to Kampala. This extra expense cannot be transferred to those in need, so it is our supporters and volunteers who ensure that no obstacle prevents the machines from getting to their destination.

As always, the effort continues. The private vocational institution MOTF is now looking to expand its program to include embroidery once a reliable machine can be located so they can also provide logos and names of the local schools whose uniforms they sew. With a continued flow of funding and sewing machines for training and sale, the reality of healthy, long lives and income stability in this region of Africa is attainable.