2024 has been a busy year, and we have many updates to share. Below are some highlights.
St. Leticia Women's Development Group
Our St. Laticia Women's Development Group is located in Kihihi, Uganda. This group was the first to receive catering training. This year, they received catering equipment and are now running a successful catering business.
This group was also the first to receive tailoring training, and many of the graduates of the tailoring program are now running successful tailoring businesses.
Tailoring Center
After years of planning, and waiting for donations, we have officially opened a tailoring training center at our headquarters in Kabale, Uganda. Thanks to generous donors, we were able to purchase 5 sewing machines. With the new equipment set up, and trainers contracted for the next several months, we began training 10 young women in tailoring. Most of these women were forced to drop out of school, and 7 are teen moms.
In addition to the 5 sewing machines, we purchased 1 knitting machine. We have 2 women who want to learn tailoring, but disabilities prevent them from using pedal sewing machines. The knitting machines are operated solely by hand, allowing those with limited lower body mobility the opportunity to work. Training for knitting will begin later this month.
Interviews
We continue our effort to interview each trainee and employee to better understand their perspectives, and share the stories of the women with whom we work. This is a huge undertaking as we have trained over 130 women since 2020, and have several employees. Our newest interview is with our employee Judith Tumukurate, our office caretaker and office attendant. Read her full story on our previous post.
100 Notable Africans Summit
Our Executive Director, Natukunda Fortunate, was invited to participate and represent Margaret & Emma at the 100 Most Notable Africans in Leadership and Business Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Fortunate was able to meet leaders from around Africa, and was able to connect with other leaders. We look forward to new partnerships, and working with other organizations to support venerable communities across Africa.
Funding remains a challenge as costs of everything from supplies to training have increased. While we were able to set up the training center, we are actively fundraising to be able to continue training into early next year.
We will continue to post updates, interviews, and other news on our website. If you would like to be among the first to receive updates, please subscribe to our email list.
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