By Mary Wangare Kigo.
On the 12th of August many countries across the world marked the international youth day, the day was celebrated under the theme “ Youth engagement for global action ‘’ the theme sought to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local and national level is influencing change. The youth have in the recent past been taking part in finding solutions for issues affecting their communities.
Olivia Irumba Katushabe, from eastern Uganda is among millions of youths from Africa acting in their small but tangible ways to help in the development of their communities.
Katushabe through her organization Olisam Foundation that she established together with her husband is equipping her community members with skills that help them to earn a living. she trains her beneficiaries with skills in hair dressing, tailoring and art and craft designing.
Olivia Irumba Katushabe, founder of Olisam foundation. Photo credit: Olisam Foundation.
Birth of the Vision
Katushabe says her experience growing up motivated her to start the organization in order to ensure that women are self-reliant.
“ When my father was still alive he was the sole provider for the family and had opened a small business for my mum but when he died everything collapsed, our mother had no one to support her and she was thrown out of the shop she was renting’’ she revealed.
“ life become really hard for us and my siblings, but I could always remember that our mother had tailoring skills which she could not put into practice because our father was not in support’’ she elaborated.
“ Today if I look back I know we could have avoided a lot of suffering if my mother had put her tailoring skills to practice” she added.
Katushabe says that she is motivated to help widows, single mothers and young mothers gain skills that will help them support their families with or without the support of their spouses or family members.
‘’ I never want to see any mother go through the suffering that my mother had to endure all in the quest to provide for her family. It was a lot of struggle and pain to all of us. So if I can help someone to avoid such hardship, I will do all I can’’ she pointed.
She says that although her main target group is women, she also includes young men who are interested in her training to ensure that nobody is left behind.
“a skilled woman is able to take care of her family. We always prefer training the women in groups then after the training we help then set up their businesses like saloons and tailoring shops within their communities’’ she explained.
“we do not stop at training the women we also help in marketing different products made by our beneficiaries on the social media to increase the market base and am pleased to say the strategy has been very helpful’’ she added.
To be a good example to her trainees, Katushabe a trained journalist started the process by gaining the skill in hairdressing, tailoring and Art and craft making.
Girls sorting out pieces of fabric to use for the art and craft designs Photo Credit: Olisam Foundation
The Journey
Katushabe says starting the project was not an easy task because it requires a lot of money which she says she did not have at that time but she believed strongly in the dream hence she did not give up.
“ to start this project I hard to sacrifice a lot but I thank God for my husband and other family members who believed in me and supported me every step of the way’’ she says
“I have had to conduct training’s from my living room because I did not have resources to hire training venues ‘’ she added.
But today I am grateful to friends who have contributed to the project since they saw that I am serious with the project.
Since the inception of the initiative, Katushabe says they have skilled about 300 beneficiaries cutting across girls, young mothers and widows but the active members who still implementing the projects are 50.
Katushabe notes that “we are proud to note that at the moment we can show 50 beneficiaries who are earning from the skills we trained them in and we keep monitoring and supporting them to ensure they flourish’’
Challenges
In the course of implement the project we have faced the challenge of limited funds in order to expand the project to a wider group because we want to impact as many people as we can.
We also need resources to procure equipment like tailoring machines for our beneficiaries so that they can put the skills to practice.
“we appeal for support from all well wishers to join us in the project by sponsoring beneficiaries or purchasing the tailoring machines or sending grants for the project’’ Katushabe appealed.
Another challenge that the Olisam foundation continues to face is the negative attitude towards the skills like tailoring and hair dressing. She says some people still look at such skills as those meant for academic failures.
Corona Virus pandemic has also affected the project because they have hard to halt the activities because the Uganda government is implementing a number of lockdown measures to curb the spread of the disease and has affected the organizations way of operation.
Success story
Olivia says since starting the initiative she has not only skilled other people but her self as well. The trained journalists revealed that she has learned the hairdressing, crafting and dress making so as to lead by example to the people she serving.
Finished products by olisam beneficiaries in the craft and design Photo Credit: Olisam Foundation
She says from the skill she is cashing in during the ongoing campaigns in Uganda by making facemasks to politicians who are distributing facemasks to citizens in large scale.
Advice to change makers
Katushabe applauded all people taking a step to address the challenges facing their communities and encourages them to keep pursuing their vision even when the going gets tough.
To the new joiners she says
“you must have the passion for the project that you want to establish and always remember that community work is all about serving the community, never think that initiatives are money making ventures “ she added.
kigomary 