In one of my earlier posts, prior to leaving for Uganda, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure how I would be used, but I felt that God was telling me that it would be to bring women together to encourage and support one another. I couldn’t see how I could do this, but after one day in our women’s training sessions it was clear that this would be a theme for all of us.
I was asked to teach a training class for several days on budgeting. The woman that was to lead this class fell ill and was not able to make the trip. Thankfully, another team member, Stacy, stepped up to help me out.
The first day of the women’s training was so exciting; yet, so intimidating. When we arrived at the Smile Africa property there was a large group of women singing and dancing and praising God for sending us to them. When the classes and the teachers were introduced, ours was introduced as being able to help these women manage their money and run their businesses. They cheered wildly ---- no pressure!!!
Stacy and I had one of the largest groups (gulp!). We decided to spend the first day of training gathering information about the women’s businesses and income, expenses, etc. When we left that day, we were pretty discouraged. We came there with our ideas of business --- Stacy has experience managing a law firm and I have experience working in the corporate world. These widows that we were getting to know had businesses such as:
· Growing and selling produce
· Poultry farming
· Hand crafting/bead making
· Fish mongering
Their income? Most of them made the equivalent of less than $1-$2 per day. Their expenses? The largest expenses that these women have are their children’s school fees (school is NOT free) and medical care. They also have to pay rent, but those expenses were less. They have no electric, gas or utility bills as we do. If I could guess an average number of children of these women, I would say they each had an average of 5 children each. However, many are now raising their grandchildren or other family members’ children as well. Food wasn’t a very large expense because they all plant and live off of what they can grow and buy minimal food from elsewhere; that is a luxury.
It was clear that we were out of our element! How do you teach “budgeting” to this group of women? Stacy and I were greatly frustrated and discouraged. We went to bed agreeing to pray and brainstorm in the morning before our next session.
When we got together, we found that an observation that we both had made is that each of our groups (we had split into sub groups for gathering information) had much in common, but one glaring theme was that they did NOT work together. Each one is struggling with their own problems and sharing information and supporting one another was a foreign idea to them.
We spent the next few sessions introducing this idea. We arranged them into groups of like businesses and asked them to share ideas, stories of success and failure, etc. in their businesses. For some groups, this was painful. They were so quiet and just sat there staring at me. I was tempted to get involved, but knew that I needed to let them work through their barriers. We would only be there a short time and we want this communication to continue long after we are gone. By the end of this session, conversations were happening. It was a start; baby steps.
We spent the next few sessions introducing this idea. We arranged them into groups of like businesses and asked them to share ideas, stories of success and failure, etc. in their businesses. For some groups, this was painful. They were so quiet and just sat there staring at me. I was tempted to get involved, but knew that I needed to let them work through their barriers. We would only be there a short time and we want this communication to continue long after we are gone. By the end of this session, conversations were happening. It was a start; baby steps.
One of our groups – poultry farming – really got into sharing. They told us that they were very excited because they had learned new things from one another, the most exciting being how to castrate a rooster. I didn’t even question the value of this information, but it must be of value to them! :-)
The next days were still painful for Stacy and I. We are sure that there were several lessons packed in this for us. More will become clear as time goes on, but we both agreed that we were learning a lot about our lives at home and our priorities.
Stacy went with Laverne and Tom (founder of Hope4Kids) to meet with a group about micro financing opportunities for the widows in Uganda. They received a proposal on a program. This is very exciting. We are still working out the program, but one of the requirements for the microfinance loan is that the groups requesting the loan must have 15-30 members. The very theme we were teaching these women the past few days – working together!
In our last 2 sessions we spent time explaining the vision of the resource training center that we are committed to fundraising for and making it happen. The center will have classes on many skills (from learning English/reading/writing to business math and budgeting and skills such as sewing and various animal farming). They are very excited about the center and it can’t come soon enough. However, we know that raising money and building and staffing will take at least 2 years. They were cheering and dancing at this announcement. It gives them great hope. We asked them to commit to praying and planning on the Ugandan side; to remain involved in the planning – this is their center.
We then discussed micro financing and the group concept. Cheering, dancing and praising ensued. They also had many questions. Many are leery of any type of loan. They have witnessed the corruption by others, high interest rates and feel safety just being dependent on themselves. We continued to encourage them that working together, being accountable to one another, etc. is much more beneficial for them and their families. You could see the women sit up a little straighter and become a little more confident, dignified, and hopeful for their futures.
Our last session was tough to end. I don’t think Stacy or I realized the impact that we had on these ladies or the impact that they had on us. At the end of the session, the ladies just sat there. Normally, they were singing and dancing and hugging us. I asked one of our interpreters why they were so quiet. She said that they were filled with sorrow because they knew that we would be leaving. She said that we had given them such love and hope that they didn’t want to say goodbye. Then, a few of the ladies presented us with gifts. One lady, Regina, stood up and told them all that the Bible says it is better to give than to receive. She said that we had come and left our families and responsibilities behind to give ourselves to them, so she wanted to give us something. She had made each of us a doormat. A few others came forward with their gifts. How humbling! These women are struggling for basic necessities yet gifting us?!
In the end, there was a lot of hugging, some tears, but much hope. We saw so much growth in them in such little time. These women are fighting to break out of the cultural stigma of their role as a widow, to rise above and be self sufficient and able to care for their families. They opened up their lives and their hearts to us. Now we will forever have them in our hearts. They have taught us much.
