|
Clubs
|
Employment Skill
Development Clubs
These
clubs were established
in September 2003 by inviting groups of people with similar employment interests
to meet and familiarise themselves with the resources in Kabubbu Community
Library, which could help them to improve their employment skills.
The groups participated in an hour of discussion on self-study techniques
and problem solving before electing leaders.
Since then each group has been committed to meeting regularly and has
made great improvements in their knowledge of their chosen subject.
All the Clubs have arranged their own practical activities to supplement
the knowledge they are able to gain from the library books.
Each club takes responsibility for raising money amongst the members
before asking for outside investment in their work.
They are only given investment when they able to raise local funds and
demonstrate commitment. The
investment partnership between locals and UK donors has proven effective to
date. Tailoring
Development Club
(28 members) have found a teacher within themselves and have all learned pattern
cutting and seams using old cement sacks to make exquisite paper clothes.
They now have 10 sewing machines (9 treadle and one hand), through the
combined efforts of various donors. Since
receiving the first two sewing machines in January 2004, the group have put
their skills, learned with paper, into practice and produced some African shirts
to sell in the UK (as suggested by Geraldine Booker of the Quicken Trust).
The group raised just over £12 among their members to pay for embroidery
on the shirts, done using a designing machine.
They also provided money for the material and over-locking of the cut
edges. The shirts were of a good standard and guidance over quality
control, colours and sizes was given.
It
was good to see members of all skill levels being supported within the group.
I met a young girl practicing sewing in straight lines on cement sack
paper before progressing to material. Other
members had made children’s clothing by hand using the new skills they had
learned. The
group is very happy with their teacher who was given the contract to sew the
curtains for the dedicated Library building.
Thread, material and patterns etc were donated to the group. Their
aims for the future are to improve their skills and attract school uniform
contracts. I have also encouraged
them to make clothes for special occasions to hire, which will bring some income
into the group. Future help is
needed to provide a button holing machine and an over-locking machine (£120
each). Agriculture
Development Club
(18 members) has been donated 3.5 acres of land by their leader.
They have been successful in clearing bush by hand from 2 acres.
The group raised The
rice trial did not yield very well due to late planting.
The local chickens have begun laying A
£55 grant was provided for chicken waste (fertilizer) and attendance at
Agricultural Seminars. Their aims
for the future include raising money from plant crops to expand their livestock
projects and clearing and ploughing a larger area of the land they have
available. Future
help is needed to assist with expanding and rat proofing the chicken house and
next seasons ploughing and fertilizer (£180).
Mechanics
and Electronics Development Club
(8 members ) have mended one of the broken mobile phones that they were given in
January 2004. They have researched
the mechanics and electronics texts and syllabuses needed for qualifications in
these skills. Electronics
texts have now been provided along with some multi-meters that they requested. An electrician from British Airways / EMCOR Team showed the
group how to use the multi-meters on the new solar mobile phone chargers and
advised them on what to study next. The
group is hoping to start studying the syllabuses for basic electronics and
mechanics certificates. They will
continue to look at the circuits of the electrical appliances they have and will
seek local business doing simple fixes to help them raise money for the
syllabuses needed. Future help is
needed to provide the mechanics texts (£65) and a model engine for learning
purposes (£200). Planned practical
visits to a garage have fallen through due to poor communications in this rural
area. Four
members have left the Mechanics and Electronics Development Club group and
joined the Tailoring Development Club as they claimed it had better resources. Building
Development Club
(5 members)
the members of this club are actively working hard on building some visitor
accommodation in the village. They
have recently completed a septic tank for use by the accommodation.
The group is learning a lot of new practical skills from Ugandan and UK
building engineers. They use the building books in the Library after work
to learn new terms and techniques. A
grant of £50 was given for boots, trowels and a plumb line. Gloves and tape measures were donated by EMCOR. Carpentry
Development Club
(16 members) have recently benefited from a week of carpentry workshops lead by
a carpenter from the British Airways / EMCOR Team.
During the workshop the group learned to make fixed benches, folding
benches, folding tables and chests. A
large number of carpentry tools, wood, varnish and stain were provided for the
group to enable them to continue their work.
More experienced group members were given work making curtain boxes (pelmets)
for the Library. These members will
be responsible for guiding the others in completing the furniture for the
dedicated Library building. A grant
of £300 (based on a 7 days work at £3.30 a day for 12* men) was given to the
group for completion of the furnishing work, which was estimated to take them a
week by the British Airways / EMCOR carpenter.
Future help is needed to provide wood and other materials to start the
group off in making furniture to sell. *
not all members of the Carpentry Development Club were working full time All
hardware (sewing machines, tools etc are the property of the library and will be
safe-guarded as such). Access to
the tools will be for trusted library users with priority given to affiliated
groups i.e. Development Clubs. Maintenance
will be required at regular intervals to secure continued borrowing access.
|
