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

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  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