It has been six months since our last newsletter, and we thought it was time to share some updates with our supporters.
In our last newsletter, we shared that we partnered with a local trade school to train women in hair dressing and tailoring. The trade school offered us a discounted tuition rate IF we could send a minimum of 18 women to their program. We were unable to raise the necessary funds by the start of the school term, but the school has extended the offer until we are able to raise the funds. That being said, we have decided to pause our scholarship fundraising until we have our NGO (Non-government organization) status in Uganda. This will allow us to apply for national and international grants that will benefit our group members without relying exclusively on donations.
The reduction in our projects and a shift in focus to the bakery left us with making difficult
decisions regarding our staff. In order to hire bakery staff and continue to grow that project, we decided to lay off our office assistant for the time being. While we do need more support in the office, and Judith was such a wonderful addition to our team, we did not have the funds to continue with her salary and fully staff the bakery. We hope to be able to bring her back once we have our NGO status and are able to grow our organization.
We are currently in the process of getting our NGO status in Uganda. This will allow us to operate in all districts of Uganda, and gives us more legitimacy when applying for grants, scholarships and partnerships. This process has been much more tedious and expensive than we anticipated. We began the application process in late 2021, but we are hoping to have our approval by early 2023.
While we work through the application process, we have pared down our work in
order to grow one project at a time. The bakery is our first big project at our headquarters in Kabale, Uganda. The bakery is currently operating five days a week and has consistent customers. We are working to build our client base in order to continue to grow production. We have two full-time bakers, in addition to a few part-time support staff. We train group members twice a week in the hopes that they will be able to work more consistently at the bakery once their training is complete. While there are still issues we are working through, the bakery is on its way to be a big success.
We are in the beginning stages of planning the next phase of our training center; the hair salon. This is a large undertaking, so we will take our time to plan for the center. We had some estimates earlier in the year, but the costs have gone up significantly. The hair salon will cost around $7,000 to have a full setup for four customers at a time, while also having the ability to train new hairdressers. While setup costs are expensive, this will provide huge opportunities for those who learn these skills and are able to earn a consistent income.
Recently, one of our most vulnerable groups was hit by floods and heavy wind storms that
left 12 families homeless. The Rwenshama group is one that has a difficult past, with very little support. We are working with group leaders to pinpoint their greatest needs in order to send emergency support. This will likely be food supplies until we can identify more permanent solutions to aid the community. Our director, Fortunate, is currently working on gathering more information from group leaders so we can share their needs with you. We will post updates on our news page as we get more information.
If you would like to financially support these projects, please go to the "Donate" page on our website to learn how you can contribute to our organization. All donations are fully tax deductible.
I would like to personally thank you for your continued support and generosity. Without you, we would not be able to continue our work supporting vulnerable communities in Uganda.
-Rachel-
Founder/Board Member, Margaret & Emma Uganda
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