Thank you to everyone who attended our event on the 29th! It was a huge success and several people have asked to attend next year. All the money raised will go toward Mamas like the ones outlined below.
Thank you to Andrew for this detailed report.
ISEE SOLUTIONS SOCIETY, MAMA NGUVU NOVEMBER 2017 REPORT
This reports entails the status of all the Mama’s I was able to visit during this months round of visits;
Prossie Lumbuye 2014
She is doing well in her new home, which she now owns by herself and her husband which is good security for this family. This property is not too big but also not small, she wants to put up a couple of projects in respect of her piggery and chickens perhaps. This land is still fresh and good for farming which is currently doing on it with maize, cassava, banana and a few vegetables that help her with food at the moment. She moved with all her timber that she got from the piggery and has all these on site with her in the attempt that she will put it up gain someday. She has paid for piglets already, she said. So this is an actual attempt to put this house back and running.
Rovence Nakanwagi 2014
She is one of the amazing women that we have worked with over the last few years, being one of the first 8 women who made it through the the year from 2014.
She is doing well, he business is booming at the moment as it is the season for celebration, where she has about 5 bookings for just this coming month and 3 are on the same date of the 16th December 2017. Now her challenge is being able to meet the demand that she has at the moment especially with the saucepans so I told her that I will try to contact Justine to rent her pans to Rovence and she was open to the idea, this creates an opportunity for networking between the Mamas.
Rashida Saidat 2014
Another Mamas who has been resilient in business and character over the years. The business has had numerous challenges but has also grown and evolved multiple times through the years. She has educated all her kids until it was their choice to change course, she always provides information as required. She has been sick over the past one year as she was diagnosed with diabetes and she has been battling this for awhile now, but she has thrived through it. She has been sick most of the times but she is still working hard, that’s my admiration.
Laku Francoise 2014
This is another Mama who has been through it from alcohol brew business, to grocery, to charcoal, to soap making, to food vending and sand business. This mama has been through it and has not backed down since, her kids have all attended school non stop and by the end of the term she has no debt at the respective schools where her kids go. Two of her kids that were in candidate classes where able to sit for their final exams well and they managed to pay all the tuition on time. Thank you Lois and Louanne.
The business has been very hard these past few months and now that the rains have started it is actually not helping so we are looking for a way forward we speak. But he most amazing thing is that she always finds a way out.
Lorna Kalenda knitting 2014
Lorna is very healthy lately and is doing so well. All her kids except one have been in school and has successfully managed to pay for school fees this past term. She has since enrolled in tailoring class from my previous visit a few months back, she joined a 7 months training program with Watoto church and has been undergoing sewing skills class and even made a few dresses, I will attach a picture on this email of her holding one of the dresses she has made.
She has been very happy with the progress she has made and wants to utilize this skill sooner as she plans to make dresses and bags for sale and also for Watoto church people. She has been chosen to sew for a small project in Watoto church.
Adrine Atuhairwe 2014, 2016
She started out with pop corn and she disappeared for a while there and she had another moment of disappearance for over a month but it only turned out that her daughter was really ill and she actually used up almost all her capital during the treatment process.
She came back and lucky enough Francoise had done a good job keeping Adrine’s remaining capital and this is what she has used to pick herself up and she looks like she is doing well.
She has made a request to increase on her capital and bring in some more items in her stall, which I think is a risk worth taking as she looks and seems more hungry for success and growth. This is what I have been looking for, risk and hunger and she has brought that to the game so I can’t wait to see what she is going to do.
Irene Lamaro saloon 2014
She is doing okay at the moment, she delivered very well and her baby boy is also healthy and energetic. The business is not very well I must say as she says that she is still operating on loans and debts as she requests for items and pays for then later like chemicals and braids. She says that the money she is getting is only good to keep her at break even in the business paying rent, power and supplies most of the time. Actually her first born boy was not able to go to school this term because of the financial difficulty. She still has an interest in adding something small to her business to utilize the space that she has and is actually requesting that if it were possible, we get her a fridge. She can boil water, sell sodas and other beverages which she says has market on a daily basis. She has the bottles for soda, beers and crates too only that her fridge broke down and it is not easy to repair this one as it was already old. Otherwise she is okay and still holding up in the business.
Harriet Lakot 2015
She is very well lately but her business is still wanting as I feel she can do more than she has done to this point. She has the art to be a great tailor but she has not showed up yet.
Her machines had been ruined but we had them repaired and they are ready to work again. I also gave her the balance to pay for the rent but has not found a house since I left in September until to date, she has since deposited the money on her account and presented a deposit slip for it to me. When we spoke we agreed that she will find a house as soon as possible to be able to utilize this opportunity presented to her.
Tino Susan 2015
She is very well, happier and energetic. She is doing well with her business and it is growing stably at the moment, she operates both the coal stall and her tailoring machine and the most interesting thing is that she has added a mini saloon in the mix. This is not only creativity but also good usage of space and money. Initially she was going to build a smaller house but her and her husband decided that they could add to the money we had given them to build a much larger unit. This worked out well and now she sales charcoal whereas she is able to also tailor and saloon at the same time.
Her son has finished primary seven and hopes to get 6 out of the 4 subjects so we have bet on it between me and him. Otherwise the rest of the kids looked happy and all were finishing school the week after.
Aida 2015
She is doing well. Her business is very steady and nothing has seemed to change much in terms of growth, either she is comfortable with what she has or is just not willing to grow it bigger. Anyway she doesn’t have as much space to grow and in other news she also told me that the owner of the land is in negotiations to sale so she will not invest in a bigger stall but rather will wait to see what happens in due course.
Otherwise she has managed to educate her daughter and helpfully her daughter has a good desire to learn and wants to go to school, which makes it easy to motivate her mother in to paying for her school promptly.
Adrapia Florence saloon 2014
She is very well and healthy too. Her family is great and looked happy when I went to visit her. Her saloon is going great, able to meet its bills and she also struggles to make ends meet in other practices. She works as a house help during the morning but also in between these two things she roasts ground nuts and supplies to people who make orders for these. She has been getting orders the last few weeks and supplies these canteens and small shops who have been selling these, she has in average orders worth 5 kilos daily which she says is good for now .
All her kids are in school and helps her sister too.
Alal Lilly 2015
She is doing well, happier, healthier and her teeth look great. The business is doing well, the sewing continues and now she has her own shop in the market center and this would be such a good opportunity to show case her works in a more marketable environment. She seems happy with the place she got so we will wait to see the out comes of the shop. Her son graduates this month to join primary school one.
Jennifer Nakanwagi shoe business 2016
She is doing well and seems really happy in the business at the moment. It could be that she is approaching a good season of festive so many people are preparing for it, which means that sales will go higher. Rather it could be that the season is well, as I took time to speak to her she seemed very happy with the way they business was going at the moment. Her children were well and all were in school at the moment doing exams for their last term of the year and awaiting for promotion probably. The only sad part that she lost a shop mate who was selling shoes by her a few months ago died mysteriously as she did not even fall sick for a day. She left the shop and within a few minutes someone calls them telling them, she was unwell and they should come to the clinic. They went picked her up but never made it to the hospital, until now no one knows what happened to this lady.
Rehema 2017
She is always delighted when I visit her. The business is back and doing well. All her kids are wonderful and also was able to make a 10,000/- deposit on her account which means that her balance is just about 20,000/-. This is a sign that her business is going on well. The kids are in school and her son Reagan was able to sit for his final exams of the O’level. I was able to speak to him and he was happy to continue with A’level which was not his plan early this year. He has seemingly matured to know the ideal and reality about life which is good for his development as a young teenager full of dreams and potential. He is actually aiming at joining two of the best schools in Kampala Mengo Secondary School and Makerere College School all these good for the development of any school going kid.
The only challenge in business has been the fluctuating prices of Irish potatoes and her plates being stolen, so what she does lately about the plates is that she releases a few everyday. Otherwise she is happy and working very hard.
Jane Namata water tank 2017
This is one business I never worried about because everyone needs clean and reliable water. Well she has it all but her challenge has been the rains, the rains have slowed down business very much because people tend to harvest water as it rains. Maybe after all no business is free of challenges, this has been the case for the last three weeks were we have had some adequate amount of rains.
Otherwise the rest of the time it has been well and steady.
Justine saucepans 2017
Justine is well in terms of health but has not been doing well the last few months since we gave her the business. She had not had any hiring so until last month when she had all the three pans taken for about two weekends. Fortunately, this came at the time when her daughter was sent away from school for school fees defaulting and returned home for a few days. The next weekend all the three pans were taken and she was able to get school fees and was back in school in time to be able to sit her exams for end of term.
The good news is that the season for parties and occasions is on, so we hope that the hirings will increase starting with the potential hiring by Rovence who will need some next month.
Lydia Nalweyiso popcorn machine 2017
She is doing okay. She managed to get a place to start in her back yard. The business was picking up until the rains that started slowing down her activity because her shelter is not yet up thereby affecting her recent sales. She has plans to build it because it’s on her parents property so she won’t pay rent but she says she is still looking for the money to build it.
Hamida chickens 2017
Hamida had had a great start with her business in the first phase being able to raise and sale up to about 90% of the chickens we got her. This was the first of the kind that she was able to even order the second round of chicks and had raised them up to about 5 weeks only a week or two to be ready for sale. There came the rains and all the chicks flooded and died in the pen house, it’s unfortunate that the house she has for her chicks is right near by a trench and when it rained water found its way into the bottom of the house and almost all the chicks died. She had remained with about five which she took to her friend and they have since died too.
She was devastated, her daughter who was at home that day went into shock and fell sick for a week and so did she but later had to pick up the pieces and move on with life. She was very sad telling the story but none the less I had to know what happened.
I asked for a way forward and she had none at the moment but promised that she will repair the floor and see how she could start again, I asked when so she said maybe about December when she gets some money. I asked her to do so and when she is ready to call me because I have some balance from her account on which we could start.
Hadija chips 2017
She is doing well. The business is doing fine, just that she needs a few upgrades to meet her needs for her clientele. She is very happy as an individual and is also training her sister to start out something similar as she works with her now. She currently now has two young ladies helping her on the road as they help to distribute and also prepare the chips. Her immediate needs are a chair, bench and tablet or her customers to seat as they enjoy her servings. She is a motivated young lady and she could do more than she is now, she has dreams of opening another center because her kids are growing, she said.
Pulakiseeda Gnut machine 2017
She is well. She has moved into a bigger stall but her machine has given her trouble this whole time. It broke down in the first week, I had it repaired and now it is broken the second time. We decided to find another mechanic who assessed and said the copper wire in the machine was not rolled nicely so it will take another rolling, we then have hired him to do that again in the attempt that it will work. We have spent up to 150,000/- trying to fix it 70,000 the first time and 80,000 now. I have paid this and I await her call for whether it has been repaired or not. I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one to see what happens.
