Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Many goals for today!  One van left with six people around 9:00 in order to get to the village in time for meetings.  The second crew didn’t leave until later because they were waiting for the stores to open.  If you remember from yesterday’s blog, we were unable to find the paint we needed.  So after a trip to the Kabale shopping district on their main street, which is a dirt road, all supplies were found … there ain’t no Lowe’s here.   The second crew arrived in the village around noon. 

A large green border, about three feet high, was painted along the bottom of all the walls that were painted yesterday.  It matches the lime green of the ACT logo, so it really brightens things up!  Many shelves were reinforced and moved to their new locations and loaded with baskets.  It rained quite hard in the afternoon, so we were unable to do any painting outside.  There were meetings in the other two rooms, so we were unable to prepare those for painting.  It’s going to be a busy two days to get the painting done in time for Saturday’s celebration!

Today was amazing. Ginny, Sue, Toni and Alexander met with the MEP women from 10am until mid afternoon. It was fun to see the women again for Sue and was fun to watch Ginny get to meet them face-to-face after knowing their names and crafts for so long. We met outside the Empowerment Center under a very intense sun.  At about 12:30 we realized we needed to move to the shade – especially us “pale-faces.” The conversation was about their hopes and dreams for MEP and the quality of their products. We handed out their “uniform” that they had wanted which were black twill aprons with “Muko Empowerment Program” in beige at the top and a big pocket of bright African fabric. We handed them out to the women, they put them on and danced and sang for 10 minutes. As sisters we told them we would be wearing them as well in Michigan as we sell handcrafts.

We provided lunch for them – Katogo which is beans, matooke, Irish potatoes and Obushara, the local sorghum drink. We took portrait photos of each of them to use for their baskets so that when the people in the U.S. purchase them, they know the woman who made it as well as her story. We also fitted each of them with reading glasses that we brought from the U.S. They were thrilled. Some of them had not gotten them before and some had “spoilt” them. The beaders were so pleased to receive the huge amount of seed beads that were donated by Cricket, Sue’s sister, the findings we purchased for their jewelry and some new design ideas. We will work with them next Wednesday to learn how to make rosaries with their paper beads thanks to the supplies that Anne House sent.

The meeting concluded after several hours of the women of MEP bringing their wares forward so that Lovina and Alexander and Ginny could evaluate the quality and purchase the ones we will bring back to the U.S. for sale.  Sue couldn’t help but remember the first baskets she was buying back in 2008 and how they compared to the quality they produce today – it is truly amazing.  We can’t wait for you to visit us at Uniquely Uganda and our booths at the local Michigan art fairs and church sales so you can see some of the new designs and styles.  They are both beautiful and functional.

Toni interviewed some of the women to learn their stories.  The most memorable one was our MEP woman who had given birth to 17 children and 4 were still living. The other 13 had died before they reached 2. How can a mother bear so much grief…  The stories that Toni is collecting will be so beneficial is helping us understand the culture and needs of the villagers which will then allow us to know how to work shoulder-to-shoulder with them in a productive way.  She was assisted today by Boaz (an ACT orphan sponsored Kapina and Mike Williamsen) and Demus, two young men from the village who served as her translator for several hours.  Kudos to them!  Toni also worked with Demus to learn how to operate the camera. 

Sue and Karen visited the director of Muko High School to discuss how ACT and the high school can work together to promote the MUSIC program.  The meeting went well and we are encouraged that there will be continued progress.   Karen’s class later that afternoon was attended by 15 students and Karen continues to be happy with their playing.

The HANDS team spent time at ACT’s commercial garden where the cabbage is ready to be harvested.  They also took a look at and discussed the demonstration garden behind the Empowerment Center where onions, potatoes, passion fruit and more is growing.

We must say that we are very happy with today’s work.  As mentioned in an earlier blog, we score our performance each day, and today’s score is 151% … 1% OVER the record of 150% set last May.   A new record has been established!