Dr. Patrick Byakatonda, Director, Directorate of Industrial Training, has today, 11 Feb 2023, commissioned 252 youths at the Mityana Open Troop Foundation & Vocational Institute.

By Mathew Yawe
Fall 2022 Newsletter

Mityana Open Troop Foundation is a Community-based Organization started in 1997 by a group of Boy Scouts who had been affected by socioeconomic issues leading to dropping out of school and unemployment,  while others had been affected by HIV/AIDS due to loss of their relatives/guardians. The high dropout rate led to high crime rates among youths in Uganda. The initiative started by conducting training on HIV/AIDS, health talk-shows, environmental protection, child nutrition in the most risky communities, promoting food security, providing support and education to vulnerable children and conducting functional adult learning to combat illiteracy.

Vocational Training Project

Because of the above concerns, our organization started a Vocational Training project in 2007 by recruiting and training vulnerable youths, widows, and orphans in sustainable skills such as sewing and fashion design, cosmetology, hair dressing, motor mechanics, and agriculture.

However, while much of our interest was in training youths in sewing and other occupational skills, we lacked the funding to afford the tools and machines that we needed.

Our project UK partner, Mr. Chris Eldridge, found the Sewing Peace Project USA, and we wrote an application for sewing machines to Mr. David Schweidenback.  Sewing Peace allocated us 72 sewing machines. This was a great miracle which we were not expecting to happen!!

At the beginning, the project had two manual sewing machines shared by 30 trainees!!

The donated refurbished sewing machines to the Mityana Open Troop Foundation were in very good condition, much better than the machines being sold in Kampala. The Sewing Peace machines were installed in our sewing workshop. Some of the machines were given out to the project graduating youths as start-up machines to enable them to start their own workshops within their communities. In Uganda, a sewing machine makes a very great difference in one’s daily income!

Donated Machines Generate Income for Our Project

Some of the donated sewing machines are being sold in our shop at a cheaper price to some of the Ugandan schools, community based organizations, and artisans, who can’t afford buying the so-called new Chinese machines.

The profit from our shop is used to pay shipping costs,  Ugandan custom taxes, teachers’ salaries, and electricity bills.

Achievements of the Sewing Peace Project

• As a result of the donated sewing machines since 2010, the project has received over 800 sewing machines, 451 projects graduates were provided each a start-up sewing machine.
• The Mityana Open Troop Foundation has been selling at inexpensive prices the remaining sewing machines to other Ugandan charities, schools (both secondary and primary), and individual artisans. The income from the machines we sell has enabled us to pay teachers, electricity bills, and maintenance costs.
• The project has over 40 sewing machines in the sewing workshop. This has enabled more hands-on training than when we started in 2010 with 3 machines.
• The project has become an Ugandan sewing machine importer, paying import taxes to the Government.
• The project owns a Sewing Shop in our town, equipped with an embroidery machine able to create school badges, names on uniforms, making school uniforms. The shop is selling refurbished machines to artisans, schools, and charities. These machines are much better than the Chinese machines in the market.

Our project graduates have managed supporting their families: paying for food, medication, school fees, and scholastic materials for their young brothers and sisters, and paying rent for their workshops.

The majority of our project trainees are youths who had dropped out of schools due to socioeconomic factors. Some of them were even previously selling sex on the streets at a young age for survival and without thinking of becoming pregnant or  contracting STIs.

Challenges

• The project encounters challenges in raising machine shipping costs, including paying the Ugandan Custom import taxes.
• Lack of a toilet and washing rooms at our project.
• Insufficient permanent classrooms/workshops.
• Lack of clean water for trainees.

Conclusion: Many thanks to  the Sewing Peace Project, USA, all volunteers involved in the collections of machines, including refurbishing activities. We also extend our sincere thanks to Mr. Chris Eldridge from the UK, who is always supportive to our project.

‘The Good You Do to Others, Comes Back To You Unknowingly.’

By Mathew Yawe
Fall 2021 Newsletter

On behalf of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, I have compiled a progressive report for May to October 2021.

Mityana Open Troop Foundation is a registered Community Based Organization, with a Vocational Skills Training Centre, which recruits and trains vulnerable youths, mostly young girls formerly selling sex for survival and girls expelled from schools due to teenage pregnancies. We teach our students sustainable vocational skills. Before the closure of all institutions due to Covid-19, the school had a total enrollment of 92. Since the inception of vocational skills training at our centre in 2007, a total of over 800 have graduated. Some got employed while others set up their own workshops. Every graduate of our program is given a sewing machine from Sewing Peace, USA. Without equipment, the graduation certificate is no help, as 90% of graduates can’t afford tools.

Students are trained for 2 years in Sewing & Fashion Designing, Hair Dressing & Weaving, Motor Vehicle & Cycle Mechanics, Carpentry & Joinery, or Metal Fabrication.

Every year, there are 3 training terms of 3 months each; for each term the centre recruits whoever wishes to join.

Achievements

• 

  The Sewing Workshop floor has been renovated and we installed 2 cutting tables with a micro loan from M/s Ivonne Reilly Sencebe of the USA. The workshop floor had been dusty, not conducive to learners and damaging sewing machines. This Madison Sewing workshop was constructed with support from Madison Ardizzi of Canada.

• The project sewing shop has been producing face masks and selling them at a price lower than our competitors’.

• 

  The Tyne Hall hair dressing workshop roof has been renovated with support from Mr. & Mrs. Jane Louise Colin Neil Dippie, of the UK. The roof has been leaking for a long time. The construction of Tyne Hall workshop floor and boundaries was sponsored by Mr. Chris James Eldridge of the UK.

Challenges and Limitations

• By the second lockdown and school closure in mid-June 2021 due to Covid-19, a number of students had not fully paid their school fees. All training institutions in Uganda had been under lockdown since March 2020. This has caused serious loss of income for our project!
• The Organization still encounters challenges in raising funds for shipping Sewing Machines from Sewing Peace USA.
• The Organization lacks a computer, printer, and photocopier, which we need to print end-of-term exams and other office documents. Currently all computer work is taken to town.
• The project needs a computer lab with internet access, to enable students to find dress fashions, learn computer skills, and get Health information. In addition, this computer lab would be used by our community volunteers to access the Ministry of Health for health-related issues.
• The project requires a new embroidery machine that can use a USB drive and that can run faster. The current machine is slow and often needs routine maintenance and servicing.
• The Organization requires office furniture and a staff room, as instructors don’t have a place to sit and keep their kits.
• The Training Centre lacks clean water. There is a very small (2000-liter) water tank, which lasts 2 days. Then students have to go on foot 1 km in search of water from unprotected water sources. This has resulted in many cases of Typhoid.
• We have many cases of malaria among project trainees, as they lack mosquito nets.
• Our project lacks a toilet for boys. Currently boys and girls share one pit latrine, which is not recommended by the Ministry of Education.
• The project lacks an incinerator, where sanitary pads and other wastes can be burnt easily.

Community Impact

• The Mityana Open Troop Vocational Skilling Project offers affordable training to school dropouts from our communities, including unemployed youths. The project trainees come from the 6 surrounding districts: Mityana, Mubende, Kiboga, Kasanda, Kyankwanzi, and Hoima. The non-formal skills training we offer has very much benefited parents whose children have dropped out of school, as most institutions in the area offer only formal education.
• Over 800 trainees have graduated since our inception in 2007. These graduates go back to their communities and set up their own workshops, passing along their acquired skills to fellow youths who didn’t join our project.
• The community can also buy inexpensive goods and services from trainees in the carpentry workshop and the sewing project, where we make uniforms and offer sewing repair services.
• Our sewing shop also offers embroidery services to schools formerly traveling to Kampala.
• The Mityana Open Troop Foundation is the only shop in the area delivering high quality used sewing machines at inexpensive prices. The machines are from Sewing Peace USA. Many schools and tailors in the area have been supplied with these machines.

Way Forward and Recommendations

• We are fundraising for a new 2-classroom block, to enable us to create a conducive training environment and have room for more students.
• We need a new toilet for boys, who currently share facilities with girls.
• We need embroidery machines with USB input, as the one we have is very slow and requires mechanical servicing all the time!
• We need an incinerator for burning sanitary pads and other wastes.
• 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.
• We are organizing a Christmas children’s party for December 27th, with guest speakers, drinks, cakes, biscuits, music, and gifts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, on behalf of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, I extends our sincere thanks to the following great friends and partners: Mr. Chris Eldridge, Mr. Colin Dippie & Mrs. Jane Louise Dippie, Mr.Nino Ardizz, M/s. Madison Ardizzi, Holly Williams, M/s. Ivonne Reilly Sencebey. You have all been so supportive to our organization, during this pandemic lockdown and before. This has been and still is a very challenging season of limited funds and people losing their jobs.

I also extend our thanks to Mr. David Schweidenback, President of Sewing Peace, and the generous communities of the USA, who have been donating high-quality refurbished sewing machines to our needy Ugandan communities. Please, the used sewing machines which seem unimportant in the USA have uplifted our communities, changing peoples’ lives by creating a daily source of income. Thanks to all the volunteers involved in the collection of sewing machines and bicycles.

Please Continue Giving a Hand Up, Not a Hand out.

Stay safe from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

God Bless You.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2022

Yours,
Mathew Yawe, Executive Director, Mityana Open Troop Foundation

By Mathew Yawe, Executive Director, Mityana Open Troop Foundation
Summer 2021 Newsletter

On behalf of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, I have compiled a progress report which I wish to present to you.

Mityana Open Troop Foundation (MOTF) is a registered Community Based Organization, with a Vocational Skills Training Centre, which Recruits and trains disadvantaged youths, young girls formerly selling sex for survival, girls expelled from school due to teenage pregnancies, and youths who dropped out of school due to Covid-19. All these youths are trained in sustainable vocational skills. Before the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to close, the vocational project had a population of over 100 trainees. Unfortunately, by the end of March 2021, the vocational project had an enrollment of 50 trainees!

Since the inception of the Vocational Skills Training project in 2007, a total of over 800 have graduated. Some got employed while others have managed to set up their own shops. Every graduate of our program is given a sewing machine from Sewing Peace, USA. Without equipment, the graduation certificate is no help, as 90% of graduates can’t afford tools.

Students are trained for 2 years in Sewing & Fashion Design, Hair Dressing & Weaving, or Motor Vehicle Mechanics. Every year, there are 3 training terms of 3 months each; for each term the centre recruits whoever wishes to join.

Achievements

• The organization with the help from Mr. Chris James Eldridge of the UK, managed to fund another shipment of 71 sewing machines from Sewing Peace. The machines arrived at the project and have been put to use by trainees.
• To help prevent Covid-19, our sewing shop has been producing face masks and selling them at a price lower than our competitors’.
• In April 2021, the vocational project registered new trainees into non-formal skills training program. These are the youths who have dropped out of formal education as a result of socio-economic effects of Covid-19. Other youths have given birth during the 14-month school closure and can’t go back to their former schools.

Challenges and Limitations!

• The Covid-19 lockdown of learning institutions has caused a number of students to drop out. Most parents lost jobs, and businesses no longer worked well, so parents could not pay school fees.
• The prolonged lockdown caused many students to lose hope of returning to school. Many children were idle and moving up and down, which resulted in teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Some students got petty jobs where they earned a little money and lost interest in going back to formal education.
• Because all training institutions have been under lockdown since March 2020, we have lost an entire year of income from school fees.
• The Organization still encounters challenges in raising funds for shipping sewing Machines from Sewing Peace.
• The sewing training workshop requires a new floor with tiles; the machines needs a strong floor. Currently the floor is dusty, which damages sewing machines.
• The vocational project needs be supplied with 80% manual sewing machines, as they are easier to repair than electric machines, which are expensive to repair when their gears and rollers fail. Even electricity is a challenge in some of our remote Ugandan communities.
• The Organization lacks a computer, printer, and photocopier, which we need to print end-of-term exams and other office documents. Currently all computer work is taken to town.
• The project requires a computer lab with internet access to enable our trainees to access zoom communication with other international students and exchange developmental ideas, and to access health-related issues, including Covid-19 information.
• The project requires a new embroidery machine that can use a USB drive and that can run faster. The current machine is slow and often needs routine maintenance and servicing.
• The Organization requires office furniture and a staff room, as instructors don’t have a place to sit and keep their kits.
• The Training Centre lacks clean water. There is a very small (2000-liter) water tank, which lasts 2 days. Then students have to go on foot 1 km in search of water from unprotected water sources. This has resulted in many cases of Typhoid.
• We have many cases of malaria among project trainees, as they lack mosquito nets. In every term we get over 85% malaria cases among trainees. Malaria is the disease with the highest death toll in Uganda.
• There is a great need of renovating training hall roofs, as all are broken due to leaking iron sheets.

Way Forward & Recommendations

• On the 13th of November 2021, we will hold our 8th Vocational Project Graduation Ceremony, where over 100 youths will be commissioned and awarded start-up kits in Hairdressing & Weaving, Sewing & Fashion, or Motor Vehicle Mechanics. You are invited please.
• We are fundraising for a new 2-classroom block, to enable us to create a conducive training environment and have room for more students.
• We need a new roof for the Tyne Hall workshop, where we teach Hair Dressing and Weaving.
• We need a new toilet for boys, who currently share facilities with girls, which is not recommended!
• We need embroidery machines with USB input, as the one we have is very slow and requires mechanical servicing all 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 and Appreciations

In conclusion, I thank Mr. Chris Eldridge, Mr. David Schweidenback of Sewing Peace, Mr. Colin Dippie and Mrs. Jane Louise Dippie, Mr. Nino Ardizz and Ms. Madison Ardizz, who have been so supportive to our organization. This has been and still is a very challenging season.
I extend our thanks to the generous communities of the USA who have been donating their used Sewing machines to our needy Ugandan communities. Please, the used sewing machines which seem unimportant in the USA have uplifted our communities, changing peoples’ lives by creating a daily source of income.

Furthermore, we extend our sincere appreciations to our new Rotarian & Scouts friends: Ms. Sarah Kim from South Korea, Ms. Ivonne Sencebe Reilley and Pat Curley of the USA, who are trying to raise funds for a computer lab and construction of a classroom block.

Please thank you so much.

I pray that every one is safe from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

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

More photos

By David Schweidenback
Fall 2019 Newsletter

A successful development project has several requirements. We respond to all requests yet are able to fulfill only a small portion of them. Our best answer is that we work where the world allows us to work.

1. Our first necessity is a seaport. Shipping by water is cost-effective. Countries without seaports, especially countries deep in the interior of a continent, are much more expensive to get to. The cost of the overland shipping is double that of ocean-going freight.
2. Our second necessity is a reasonable government at the destination. The shipping only arrives at the front door. It is the government of the destination country that opens the door to let you in. There are many countries that do not accept any used goods.
3. Third and most important is a partner. We seek financial partnerships with the distributors of our bicycles and sewing machines. You equitably distribute a product in an economy by selling it. Just because you sell something doesn’t mean you have to charge a high price; it’s just that you need a mechanism to make the transaction work.
4. Fourth and also critical is the funding. We beg for donations for the first load to get a program started. After that we use our original funding scheme, our revolving fund system: our partners share the costs of running their program. Through the process of distributing bicycles and sewing machines, our partners earn enough money to pay for the shipping of the next container and pay their ongoing business expenses, with some profit left over for the tertiary programs they run. All of our overseas partners have multiple other programs to help their societies; it’s not all bikes. But the bikes produce a constant stream of income to help pay for those other programs.

And then there was David Balaba, the mayor of Iganga, Uganda. Great guy. He didn’t have the first necessity, a seaport. His shipment went from New York through the Panama Canal past Singapore to Sri Lanka, was then shipped overland to Mombasa, Kenya. The cost to bring that shipment overland from Mombasa to Kampala was exactly double the cost of the entire ocean voyage.

David, the mayor of Iganga, did not have a reasonable government. Gaining entry to Uganda has always been difficult and costly. More on this later.

What the mayor did have was number three and number four. He had a solid plan for helping his community in northeastern Uganda. Plus he was able to secure funding from the Live your Mission Foundation. Two out of four — what could go wrong?

On March 21, 2018, Sewing Peace loaded 69 sewing machines and sent them to Mayor David. They sailed away down the Atlantic, across the Caribbean, then across the Pacific into the Indian Ocean and made it to Mombasa on May 23, 2018. At some point during the next month they were probably transferred to the destination, Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Remember that second necessity up at the top. Mayor David had all of his paperwork in order. He is tax-exempt and is the mayor of a fairly good size town. All the i’s were dotted in the t’s were crossed. Ahh, number 2!

The government finally released the cargo in mid-September 2019, over 15 months after it arrived in the country.

By Mathew Yawe
Fall 2019 Newsletter

Mityana Open Troop Foundation is a community organization with a vocational skills training centre, recruiting and training disadvantaged youths. After a two-year program in vocational skills, graduates are awarded certificates along with a start-up sewing machine.

Sewing Peace U.S.A. has done a great job in supporting our organization, having shipped us more than 200 sewing machines starting in 2017.

Here are two of our success stories.

Sarah Nakiganda

Sarah Nakiganda is 20-year-old project graduate of 2017 who was donated a Singer sewing machine.

She is a school drop-out of primary 4. Because she was not thriving in formal school, she was brought to our training centre to learn income-producing skills.

At our training centre she performed very well in practical hands-on work. Since she graduated in 2017, she has managed to rent a small room in the town of Mityana, where she earns money making and repairing dresses of all sorts.

She earns between $5 and $7 U.S. per day. With her earnings, she has managed to pay for her younger two sisters’ education, including their school fees and scholastic materials.

Joan Namiyingo

Joan Namiyingo is a 30-year-old single mother. She graduated from our centre in 2017, received a Singer machine, and now supports herself and her child.

Dear David,

Hope you are fine. Today, 20 August 2019, we have received 73 sewing machines which are so nice and attractive.

Among them we see overlocking machines and Baby Lock machines, 2 sergers, and a hook for embroidery machines.

The machines have been wrapped in a very unique way from the U.S.A.

I once again extend our sincere thanks to you, the Dewan Foundation, the volunteers involved in refurbishing the sewing machines, and to all those who kindly donated such nice machines to us.

Pass on our warm regards and thanks please.

Yours,
Mathew Yawe
Executive Director, Mityana Open Troop Foundation