The Kyakatonda Women’s group was established in November 2010 and is based in Mafubira, a small shanty town about 10 minutes outside of Jinja. Mafubira is plagued by poor living conditions, high unemployment, high crime rates and high rates of infectious disease. These factors amount to a situation of poverty and high levels of family breakdown. A good number of the children on the streets in Jinja originate from Mafubira as a result of this, hence the decision to base a community education project here and to focus it on women, who are most likely to invest the money back into their families.

Since joining the project in November 2010, all of the women in this project have gone on to begin their own small businesses which they run alongside the bead project. During our S.A.L.V.E. conference in July 2012, Pellusi, the group leader for the bead project explained how the project has “built up the self confidence of all of the group members so much and that all the women now believe in themselves and believe that they have the ability to succeed”.

The Kayakatonda Women’s group: 14 members