Turning paper and prayers into paychecks

It all began with a call to action in 2014.

Nakiito Carolane, the first graduate from the Women’s Empowerment program says Wilson Hannington Kabeera, founder and executive director of Empower A Child (EAC), called all the women in the area and from nearby villages to the EAC compound in the village. He said they wanted to teach them more about how to develop themselves and how to be successful.

EAC brought sewing machines, beads, and other small business items and allowed the 84 women who showed up to the initial meeting to select what they wanted to do and what they felt that they could do.

All the women were also given six months of intense training on how to handcraft the paper beads for jewelry that would be their initial sources of income. 

In those first six months, the number of women dwindled from 84 women to just nine.

Most women quit the program because they were wanting instant results and quick money, but EAC was teaching and training the women on hard work, perseverance, and how to save money. 

The nine who stuck with the program were the ones who really desired a lifestyle change.

“By employing and empowering the women in the village of Zirobwe, Uganda, it gives women the chance to recognize their passions, chase their dreams, and achieve their goals. Upon entering our program, each woman has the opportunity to help construct their own business plan, individually tailored to help her transform her dreams into reality,” states EAC’s Women’s Empowerment website.

                                                                                                                        

One of those women who have been able to transform her dreams into a reality is Nakiito Carolane, the first graduate of the Women’s Empowerment program.

Twenty-eight-year-old Carolane walks the almost two mile dusty and windy road from her house to her new shop every day. Before opening her own shop just over a year ago, Carolane worked as a farmer and had a lot of uncertainty in her life.

If the weather was bad or the crops didn’t flourish like she had hoped, Carolane would not only have insufficient products to sell, but she was also unable to provide food from her harvest for her husband and six children.

Seeking a more consistent and reliable lifestyle, Carolane began attending the meetings hosted by the Women’s Empowerment department and learned the craft of constructing the paper beads and combining them into necklaces.

The women are paid upfront for the products they make, sharing the money equally amongst those enrolled in the program. The money would be put into a savings account for each woman, so that, when they graduated, they had enough saved up to open their own business or pursue the dream that they identified when they began the program.

After two years of hard work and determination, Carolane graduated from the Women’s Empowerment program and received all the money that they had put into the savings account for her.

 She was able to combine that money with the income from her agricultural work and purchase the necessary supplies and space to open her own shop, specializing in farming and agriculture products.

“I am so happy because Empower put in us that urge to work for ourselves,” Carolane said. “I always had the desire, but there wasn’t any way for me to start doing it before.”

After learning the beading side of the program, Carolane also wanted to learn how to operate the foot-pedal-powered sewing machine to tailor clothes for others. Since learning the art of tailoring, Carolane is also able to earn extra income throughout the year, by sewing items such as school uniforms for the children before each term begins.

Because of the skills and knowledge Carolane has obtained from the Women’s Empowerment program, she no longer has to live shilling to shilling and scrape by to meet her family’s needs between harvest seasons. 

In fact, Carolane has even been able to save some of her income every week and is still able to maintain a savings account on her own.

Carolane has used to the skills and knowledge she received to continuously be thinking about her next business venture. Recently, she and a friend went together to purchase a pool table to put in front of her shop space, right off the main road into town. People from the community come to her shop and pay her to play pool on her table, generating even more income for her and her friend’s families.

“Do you have any other questions?” Carolane asks as we begin to leave her shop. “I want to make sure you leave this place contented on how the Women’s Empowerment program has realy impacted me. I’m so happy having you here to hear about my story and how my life is now!”

The Women’s Empowerment program ignited a spark in Carolane. She desires to learn more and that does not seem to be extinguishable flame now that it has caught fire.

Carolane expressed a desire to learn how to balance the books herself for the shop and asked for advise on how to draw more customers into her shop and make it more profitable.

Nakiito Carolane has been empowered.

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                         

“I’m so happy seeing you here,” Karerena Margret says, as we walk into her shop. “I am so glad I now have a shop for you to visit!”

Margret, one of 24 children in her family, is only 26 years old, but is already running her own business: a full-service salon that also sells products.

Before joining the Women’s Empowerment program, Margret lived with her mother in another village and felt like she was a burden for her mother to take care of. Margret walked to the Empower A Child Community Church regularly to worship and fellowship.

It was there that she met Igambi Sandra, an Empower A Child staff member living in the village, who encouraged her to join the Women’s Empowerment program.

“I thank God, because from the time I joined Women’s Empowerment, I have been doing well,” Margret said, burying her head in her hands to hold back her tears. “I am no longer worried like I used to be. I know where my future is going now. I didn’t have a job or any hope when I was living with my mom. I thank God because my life has changed now.”

No longer able to keep the tears from falling, Margret pauses for a few minutes and sobs quietly into her chitange (a printed cloth often used to wrap around yourself when working). 

After apologizing, she continues:

“I have gotten many things from Women’s Empowerment. The hardships I was going through are now relieved. I now feel joy. Through Women’s Empowerment, I am able to take care of my siblings who are studying at school. My siblings now also have hope. They thought they would have to drop out of school, like I had to drop out of school. But now, I can pay their school fees and let them study.”

The income she earns from her salon provides financial stability for her entire family. 

She puts some away in her savings accounts, she pays off her personal expenses for the shop. She pays all of the school fees for four of her younger siblings. She no longer depends on her mother to take care of her, but instead helps her mother with her needs.

“The tears I am shedding now is because of my joy,” Margret says with tears running down her face, but a smile stretched from ear to ear. “I wouldn’t have money if it wasn’t for Women’s Empowerment. I can now take care of my mother; whatever she needs, I can provide. But what makes me so happy is that my siblings are in school.”

Through the Women’s Empowerment program, Margret says she was able to learn hard work and was able to receive a lot of knowledge she wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.

“Thank you to Empower a Child for feeling that heart for the women in Zirobwe to come and help us,” Margret says as we stand to pray for her before leaving her shop. “Before, we never had the hope. Now, we have hope.”

Margret is saving her money and wants to use her next money to pursue her ultimate dream of becoming an interior decorator.

While she currently rents a house that she shares with two of her younger siblings, she has also been able to use her money to buy a small plot of land. She will soon begin building a house of her own on that land and beginning a life of complete dependency.

Karerena Margret has been empowered.

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                         

Every day, testimonies similar to Carolane and Margret are being told in the villages surrounding Zirobwe. So far, I have only had the chance to listen personally to those two stories, but I am waiting with eager anticipation to hear more testimonies in the coming weeks.

They are testimonies of lives changed, women empowered, and where a culture of over-spending and poverty is slowly turning to a culture of saving and business-savvy women providing for their families.

Empower a Child’s Women’s Empowerment program is changing the lives of these women- one paper bead, one necklace, one shop at a time.