By Mathew Yawe, Executive Director, Mityana Open Troop Foundation
Spring 2023 Newsletter
On behalf of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, allow me to present to you a report of our activities from Janaury to April 2023.
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. Currently the project has a total of 111 Trainees, girls and boys.
Learners are trained for two years in sustainable skills such as sewing and fashion design, hair dressing and weaving, motor vehicle mechanics, carpentry & joinery, or metal fabrication.
There are three 3-month training terms per year. For each term the centre recruits whoever wishes to join.
Since the inception of our Vocational Skills Training project in 2007, more than 1,200 have graduated. Some got employed while others set up their own workshops.
Every trainee in the sewing program works with a sewing machine from the Pedals for Progress / Sewing Peace Project of the USA to enable proper hands-on training.
Other P4P/SP sewing machines are donated to the graduating youths to enable them to start their own workshops right away. In Uganda, graduating a trainee with only a certificate and no equipment is a waste of time. It’s estimated that 90% of Ugandan graduates can’t afford start-up equipment.
Achievements
The Vocational project held its Eighth Graduation Ceremony on February 11, 2023, when 205 youths graduated with sustainable skills. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Ebola in our Ugandan Operational Districts, this is our first graduation ceremony since the Seventh Graduation Ceremony in November 2018.
Breakdown of graduates:
- 101 tailors
- 70 hair dressers
- 10 domestic electricians
- 20 motor vehicle mechanics
- 4 bakers
The project leased a plot of land for growing maize and beans to feed project learners, as buying maize flour and beans from food stores is so expensive.
We also hold talks concerning STIs, HIV/AIDS, youth friendly services, etc.
Income and Expenditure January to April 2023
Exchange rate: 1 U.S. dollar (USD) to 3,300 Uganda shillings (UGX)
| Income January 2023 to April 2023. (USD $) | Expenditure January 2023 to April 2023. (USD $) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | School fees contribution from trainees | US $ 2,727 | salaries for the Instructors and support staff | US $ 600 |
| 2. | Selling of Sewing machines. | US $ 454 | Sewing machine shipping from USA | US $ 1600 |
| 3. | Sewing & fashion products, embroidering services, face masks. | US $ 110 | Trainee feeding | US $ 1000 |
| 4. | Carpentry workshop products. | US $ 301 | Training working materials. | US $ 500 |
| 5. | Government of Uganda, youths skilling program support. | -Nil- | Electricity bills for school, carpentry, sewing shop. | US $ 400 |
| 6. | Kolping Mityana Womens Project, 5 Vulnerable Orphanage school fees support. | US $ 500 | Computer services & stationary. | US $ 30 |
| 7. | Fields of Life Orphanage school fees Support. | US $ 419 | Compound slashing / maintaining. | US $ 60 |
| 8. | Unbound Kampala Ltd Vulnerable Orphanage school fees Support. | US $ 350 | Sewing Show Room & Carpentry Workshop premise Renting. | US $ 597 |
| 9. | Firewood | US $ 200 | ||
| 10. | Operational licences / Taxes | US $ 239 | ||
| 11. | Sewing machine servicing | -Nil- | ||
| 12. | Condolence support to project trainees and teachers, having lost their closest dear ones! | US $ 1000 | ||
| TOTALS: | US $ 4,861 | US $ 6,226 | ||
Challenges / Limitations
The Training Centre lacks clean water. There is a small water tank, 2000 liters, which is emptied in 2 days. Then students have to walk 2 km to get water from unprotected sources.
We lost Rev. Balam Mukwaya in February 2023, a board member who donated to the project land fund.
The organization requires office furniture and staff room, as instructors don’t have a place to sit and keep their kits.
The organization still encounters challenges in raising funds for shipping sewing machines from Pedals for Progress / Sewing Peace USA, as the project gives sewing machines to graduates as start-up equipment.
The organization lacks a computer, printer, and photocopier for printing end-of-term exams, and for other office computer work. Currently all computer work is taken to our town to be worked on.
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.
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.
We lack our own land for growing maize, beans, and potatoes for feeding trainees. The same piece of land could be planted with Robusta coffee and macadamia nuts, cash crops for generating income.
Community Impact
The Mityana Open Troop Vocational Skills Project offers affordable training to school dropouts from our communities, including unemployed youths. The project trainees come from the six 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 formal education only.
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 an incinerator for burning sanitary pads and other waste.
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 the time!
We are organizing a Christmas children’s party for December 27th, with guest speakers, drinks, cakes, biscuits, music, and gifts.
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, on behalf of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation, I extend our sincere thanks to the following great friends / partners who have been so supportive of our activities: Mr. Chris Eldridge, Mr. David Schweidenback and Mr. Alan Schultz of the Sewing Peace Project USA.
I extend our thanks to 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.
Thanks.