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Thomas Nkuriyehe, 28, the overall leader of Ubuzima Bushya Cooperative says he was once a street kid.
“I was hooked to hard drugs,” he says.
But, he narrates, he was caught in a police swoop and together with others, he was taken to Iwawa Island where for 16 months they were taught different skills to be self-reliant. Upon graduation, the government bought us them sewing machines which they are now using to train women from poor backgrounds on how to make clothes and also provide for themselves.
Nkuriyehe says that apart from the 12 women who do tailoring at Ubuzima Bushya Cooperative, there are 63 men, most of them former Iwawa graduates, who are engaged in carpentry and construction work, using the skills they acquired at Iwawa.
He adds that when the cooperative was established, they had only five women but with acquisition of more machines, the number has risen and more are expected to be trained when they get more machines.
“I’m happy now that the skills we learned from Iwawa are now quite useful in training these women to be self-reliant. Many of them had absolutely no means of survival but today, they are able to provide for themselves and their families,” says Nkuriyehe.
And just as they were trained for free by the government, he says that they also train the women for free.
“Once they have successfully completed their training, they work here and take home the money they get from their sweat,” he says.
Nkuriyehe says that the women save a small fraction in their cooperative account which they can use on a rainy day when they get into any sort of problem like when one falls ill or a family member dies.
Claudie Nyiraminani, 31, is one of the beneficiaries of the training and employment offered at the cooperative.
“I joined two years ago and now, I’m able to make bitenge among other clothes for my clients. The cooperative has given me a new lease of life where I couldn’t even provide for my basic needs before,” she says.
She says that now, she is able to pay her rent and cater for her basic needs from the money she gets from her work, adding that she now has a steady flow of clients who are impressed by her work and normally come back for more.”
Another beneficiary, Chantal Nyirabizimana, 26, says her life has completely changed for the better. A mother of two, she says that she is now able to take her children to school, feed the family, and help her husband, a casual laborer, in paying the rent and do budgeting in the house.
Currently there are over 4,000 youths undergoing rehabilitation training in different fields at IRVTC.
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editor@independent.co.ug
