Mamas in Community

So much has happened since I last posted news of the wonderful mamas! For those of you on Facebook, you will have seen much of what has been happening, particularly if you are following our new Facebook Page! Go now to like https://www.facebook.com/upendowamama.tz/ if you haven't already! We have just come to the end of the funding we received from LUSH - which has helped us tremendously in setting up our workshop - and writing up a report for them, it has been incredibly encouraging looking back over the past months! Now in our own equipped workshop, it just seems so much happened … not just in the group but also within our wider community!

Outside our workshop

The Mwanza women have been making and selling more than ever, but what I have loved most about these past few months is seeing them going out teaching and training others. This has not only helped other people in various communities but has also boosted their own self confidence enormously as they are valued for who they are and the wonderful things they have to offer.

Malya Mamas

Mama Rose came with me to Malya for two days a few months ago. She taught the women's group there how to make the African tie-dye fabrics. It was a wonderful time and the women made some lovely designs! It is always just so exciting and amazing when the tied up fabric is cut loose and opened up and we see the beauty of what has been made! Rose also enjoyed tagging along with me and the beekeepers afterwards as we went to check the hives late into the night! She rather enjoyed our bumping about in the Landcruiser to the hard-to-get-to places in the dark and then getting all geared up, but was fairly quick to leave when bees got a little agitated at the hive! But it was all quite an adventure… even the puncture on the way home! After we left, the Malya women sold the fabric in their village and have since been making more to sell in nearby villages!

Rose (L) helping Mama Elizabeti

The best moment!

Proudly wearing the fruit of their labour!

CD Foundation

Rose and Zuena came with me in June to Christ's Daughters Shelter for vulnerable girls where they taught the girls the same skill. It was fun to have Sinead (Tim's cousin's daughter) with us for that! The girls were all so shy with her at first but almost at the end of our time were full of questions for Sinead and wanting lots of photos! The girls produced some great fabrics and are continuing to make more and sew the fabric into beautiful products to sell!

Rose and Zuena teaching the girls

Zuena helps the girls tie the fabric

Another "wow" moment!

Spot Sinead!

Ukerewe Island

Most recently, Rose and Zuena had the opportunity to go to Ukerewe Island for the Standing Voice Summer Skills Training. They were asked to teach a 3 day course on tie-dye and printing for the people gathered from that community - many with albinism. They were so well received by all there and it was wonderful to see them get the respect and admiration they so deserve! You can read more in the latest Standing Voice newsletter here!


UPENDO WA MAMA by Standing Voice on Exposure

As well as all this teaching, all the women have been so busy making new beeswax products and doing more baking. They have been successfully selling more and more! The BeesWraps are very popular and they are working hard to keep up with demand in Mwanza! We have quite a number of new people from farther afield interested in the products and we are figuring out how we might move ahead into new markets! Each woman now has a monthly timesheet and they are all now drawing monthly profits based on the hours they have worked! It is encouraging to see them start to think about new ideas of what they can achieve … saving for a stall they can set up near their home to sell produce for example.

The Kitenge BeesWraps

Charity Craft Fair

We had a great time in May at the Mwanza Charity Craft Fair. It is a two-day event and we were thrilled to have a stall there for the first time. The mamas were so delighted with the success of their sales. It was a fantastic opportunity for the group to be out there in the Mwanza community!

Mwanza Charity Fair

The stall

Zuena selling at the Fair

Waggle Dance Honey Day

This week we launched the Waggle Dance Honey - the first honey harvest of the two beekeeper groups (Malya and Kayenze). Along with all the honey, we set out a table of the Mama's products … but as this post is getting long, I will save this excitement for another blog post!

Our living room converted temporarily into a shop!

In the midst of all the activity, it hasn't all been easy. One mama has struggled immensely recently with her husband leaving her alone with her children and then subsequently becoming ill and unable to do the cooking work she had been doing to raise some income. Another mama is continually overcoming her struggle with diabetes. Another has suffered mentally after being treated terribly in her home by the other wives of her husband and being thrown out of her home. We have faced trials within the group, working through issues of trust and relationships. Yet in it all, we continue to build community. We come together, we work together, pray together and together try to find ways forward, drawing up those struggling and encouraging one another that when we are unable, God is able. And truly we can testify He is. And in Him we find real community.