R4Wedited.wav

African Quilters

Ron and I have just returned (10/2023) from our second trip to Bwindi, Uganda where we spent 5 days with Ride 4 a Woman.   What we found was exciting and inspiring and we returned even more committed to raising awareness for and helping this exceptional organization. I have updated the information below and have added photos from our recent trip.

Ride 4 a Woman exists to support over 300 local women in 12 surrounding communities who are struggling with domestic violence, poverty, homelessness and other terrible hardships. There is no running water and nearly no electricity in Bwindi and the surrounding villages – the poverty is staggering. They rely totally on items that they make and sell to tourists and on donations.

In September 2021, we were in Bwindi to visit the Impenetrable Rain Forest Gorilla Refuge.  We were traveling with Natural Habitat Adventures who supports individuals and animals in all of the areas where they conduct trips.  I had no idea that I would l find quilters! The first afternoon, our Natural Habitat guide  took us to visit Ride 4 a Woman where they have donated several treadle sewing machines.  (As we continued our tour with Nat Hab, we learned that they were also building needed schools and adding kitchens to schools so that the children did not have to walk home for lunch.) The R4W organization began by renting bicycles to tourists (thus the name) but has expanded into selling items they make.  We were shown the items for sale and when I saw quilts, I mentioned offhandedly that I design quilt fabric and quilt patterns.  Evelyn immediately asked me to discuss color and design and to come back the next day after our gorilla trek.  They had just begun making quilts and all of their quilts were made using their beautiful African fabrics which tend to be bright and large scale prints and all were made from large squares  & rectangles.  I decided overnight to teach them to make a Half Rectangle and to put my Walk About quilt design together.

We had lots to overcome.  Broken rulers, sewing machine needles so dull that the fabric gathered, cutting mats warped & worn out and rotary blades and scissors nicked and dull.  The women were excited to learn to make the triangle shape and to learn to make designs using the placement of light & dark values.  By the time I returned the second day, they were finishing the Walk About quilt using Quilt-As-You-Go and had started a second larger Walk About quilt.

At the Ride 4 a Woman community center women learn to weave baskets and to use treadle sewing machines to make quilts, clothing and a variety of bags and small items. They use charcoal powered irons!  I had never seen a charcoal iron and found myself worrying when an iron was resting on a quilt top for a long time that the fabric would scorch.  Nope – the iron doesn’t get that hot. The fabric for one quilt costs $100.

When I returned home, I sent Brewer Quilting & Sewing Supplies a considerable list of basic tools that the women desperately needed.  They generously donated all of it and I added 55 pairs of reading glasses. (Not one woman was wearing glasses when we were there.)

In early December 2021, we learned that R4W had depleted their funds due to virtually no tourism in 2020 and very limited tourism in 2021.  Evelyn told the women that she could not pay them through the end of the year.  Ron and I immediately wired funds and set up a Go Fund Me campaign where we quickly raised enough money so that Evelyn could pay the women and she was even able to give each woman a small Christmas gift of a little maize flour, a little rice, cooking oil, a few onions, a little meat, sugar, salt and soap.

This trip, Natural Habitat again enabled me to work with the women by dropping Ron and me off 3 afternoons at 1:00 after our gorilla trek and picking us up at 6 pm when the women returned home.  The last 2 days I worked with the women from 9 until 7 pm and Nat Hab picked us up the last day and transported us the considerable distance to the airport.  I worked with 4 teams of 2 women to make 4 different quilt patterns.  They had never read a pattern, seen diagrams, used a square ruler nor used the designations on a straight ruler to cut strips. They were very excited to learn these new techniques and by the end of the 5 days I was working with them, the 8 women had made 9 quilts!

But R4W does not just help these women, they help the entire community. Evelyn, who founded R4W in 2009 with her husband Denis, have also started a Hope for a Girl Child program offering counseling to girls 12 – 20 so that they can make a plan for their future rather than “standing along the road” or “working at night”.  54 girls attended her first session, 87 the second and 174 in the most recent.  They are receiving counseling on delaying marriage and birth control among other important subjects.  The average woman in Uganda has 6.5 children.

Evelyn has also started a program to give families in the Bwindi area one goat. The goat can be bred at 6 months so the family donates one of the usual 2 kids back to R4W. After that, the goat(s) are the property of the family and provide them financial security. One goat costs $80 and so far R4W has been able to donate over 100 goats to families. Evelyn hopes to provide all 300 families with one goat.

Evelyn also plans to enlarge the water purification program at R4W. This program provides clean water for the women who would otherwise have to walk an additional many miles and hand-carry the water back to their primitive homes.

In our more recent trip, we were particularly moved by watching elementary children come to R4W to pick up their new school uniforms.  Private primary school for one child costs $500/year. (The annual income for a family is $880.)  The $500 includes uniforms, books, shoes and a contribution to teacher salaries. Public school is free but there are often 100 children in a class and the teachers may not come every day.  Children who move from public school to private school are usually far behind where they should be and extra attention is given to catch them up.  And uniforms are required for public school!  R4W sews uniforms since most families cannot afford them and these are complicated uniforms with contrast collars, cuffs, and bands on front pockets.  Shorts have elastic backs, belt loops, pockets and zippers.  One day while we were there, 18 children came to pick up uniforms.  Evelyn spoke to them for some time and then she read a letter that had been written by a sponsor in Spain.  The Spanish woman had just sponsored 2 young boys so that they could go to private school.  Then the children went into the sewing area, girls in one  room and boys in another to try on their uniforms.  Then photos were taken.  (All young boys and girls have shaved heads for ease and cleanliness.) After they picked up their clothes, they were given a bag that the women made for each of them and each child walked single file to Evelyn’s desk to curtsy and say thank you.  I found this particularly emotional.  You can insure a year’s education for a child with a $500 donation.

Evelyn is raising funds to purchase solar panels for homes. Because there is nearly no electricity, children cannot read and study in the evenings. A panel, wiring and batteries for one home costs $200. The rule is that if a home is given a solar panel, they must invite children from 5 neighboring homes to use the light.  An added benefit is that the children are helping each other with their studies and some women weave baskets at night for additional income.

Thanks to Whats App, we talk with Evelyn on a regular basis and, along with GFM, raise funds which are always needed.  Tourists visiting the Gorilla Refuge are inconsistent.  If the trekkers have to hike a long distance to view the gorilla families, the trekkers are tired when they return and do not go to R4W.  And few tourists visit during the rainy season.  Thus R4W has no tourists at these times to purchase the items they make thus no income.

No contribution is too small – every dollar makes a difference! All funds will go directly to Ride 4 a Woman, a nonprofit organization. Ron and I are covering all fees and transmittal costs so R4W receives every dollar you donate.  Or, if you prefer, you may also call me to make donations.  406-443-2694  mountain time.  I hope you are as excited about helping this organization as we are!

If you would like to hear an APQ podcast or an interview in which I discussed R4W, click this link

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9zfxyjjlyaeb84wlsgpia/r2.wav?rlkey=6ful1kmkqr9w95ujmewvbfxlo&dl=0

R4W has set up a water purifying system that they plan to enlarge.

Dance of joy because of what we provided before Christmas.

The women open the suitcase of quilting supplies.