We can't believe that we are now almost in December, and so we wanted to share some of the exciting updates of what has been happening here in Mbale!
Last week we were able to have an early Christmas party as a team (it's never too early right?!), and celebrate all the work that we have been able to do throughout 2022. (L-R) Godfrey, Rose, myself, Ketty, Naomi and Timothy were able to take time to share some of the challenges the project had been facing as well as celebrating all the amazing stories we have been seeing and hearing too before we enjoyed a delicious lunch together. Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting us and enabling this work to continue and we are excited to continue to bring this programme to our communities in 2023!
We continue to run 6 trainings a week with groups of 10 - 30 in local schools and in different community groups. So far, since the project has begun, we have reached over 1100 individuals with both menstrual health education and sanitary pad training. This year it has been so encouraging to not only hear how the pads are helping people, but to also learn how they are sharing this training with others in their communities. It has always been our vision to empower others, and so this means that not only are the pads working, but that they are more and more girls and women are able to benefit from them. It is always so exciting to hear women share, "I wish I knew this information before. Now I understand how my body works."
Ketty shared with us that many of the teachers she had been training had been contacting her, telling her how they have now been training their students how to make sanitary pads (see the photo below), but that they had also been appreciating learning this skill. One teacher told her, "Many people think that we are ok, because we have a salary, but our earnings are so little that we often have to use blankets instead of pads as we can't budget for these items. Now we have the skill to make our own."
One of the male teachers was so excited about the training, he was the first to finish sewing the pads and he said, "Don't leave out men from learning this knowledge. This will really help me in providing for my wife and my children. I am going to teach my children how to make these pads and it will really help them."
We continue to hear positive feedback from our community groups, with our team being asked to run more and more trainings. Rose and Godfrey shared how they've been finding mothers teaching their children how to make these pads and hearing from fathers how much this skills has been appreciated in their families.
On top of this, this weekend and next weekend two groups are graduating from the 9 week programme where Timothy and Godfrey use a brilliant programme called Wise Choices for Life, to train groups about 'Who am I & why am I here?", "Communication", "Menstrual cycle", "Planning for a family" and other similar topics. We can't wait to hear their feedback, and to begin working with two new groups. We hope this new understanding will help empower families, men as well as women, to make informed decisions around their families as well as seeing a reduction in some of the causes which can lead to maternal deaths (e.g. not spacing children).
Naomi (and Beatrice whilst Naomi was on maternity leave) have continued to do a brilliant job sewing period underwear. We have continued receiving positive feedback from our testers but it has been a slower process than we had expected sewing a big batch before we start selling to ladies in our JENGA projects at a very reduced price. We are hoping to start selling these underwear in our groups in the new year and as Naomi is only able to work with us one day a week, are considering employing another tailor to increase the amount of underwear we are able to make. Our main challenge still seems to be finding absorbent fabric in Uganda but we are continuing to pray about how we can find a longer term solution to this.
Another programme we are considering, now I have my Ugandan midwifery license, is beginning a parent education class in one of our projects in a community called Namatala. So far we have found 100 mums who would be interested in coming, one afternoon, once a month. There would be an education class run alongside the nurse from the Loved Children's Day centre, potentially some midwifery checks (if the numbers are small enough) as well as encouraging them to engage in maternity care in the hospital early in their pregnancy. Please pray for us as we consider how might be the best way to run this potential clinic, hopefully from January.
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