TORUWU PROJECTS
TORUWU (Training of Rural Women in Uganda) is the umbrella organisation which operates under three thematic areas. That is, Income Generation where we focus on empowering women and engaging the youth in music and dance; Education, where we offer quality education at subsidised rates to vulnerable and needy children; and Health where we provide physiotherapy exercises to children living with physical disability. These projects are supported by the organisation’s development projects involving wine making and farming, which financially sustain the core thematic areas.
INCOME GENERATION
- WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
We train our women in income-generating activities such as leather craft making, bags, baskets, soap making, books, wine production, mushroom growing, and tailoring, as well as organising entrepreneurship and wellness workshops.
We have managed to sell some of the items abroad and the women have earned from it.
2. YOUTH ENGAGEMENT
TORUWU engages the youth through music and dance programs including a brass band and a cultural dance group. The youth are provided opportunities to perform at events such as weddings, school functions and graduations, earning income and staying away from negative influences and drug use.
ORGANISATION’S DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
In order to ensure sustainability of the core projects run by TORUWU, we have set up income generating projects including wine production and a five-acre farm. This provides funds to support the other thematic areas that the organisation runs.
The farm provides food and fruits which are shared among the families with disabled children that we work with, and the fruits from the farm are also used for wine production. The high-quality wine produced from pineapples, oranges, passion fruits, and lemons is certified by Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), enabling sustainable funding for the organisation’s activities.
We hope to buy better processing and refinement equipment like filters, volumeters, refractometers, pineapple squeezers, wooden barrels, and a transporting vehicle to generally improve the quality and quantity of the wine and widen our market as well.
- EDUCATION
TORUWU runs St. Mary’s Junior school, providing quality education to needy children at subsidised cost. The project began in 2013 operating from Nursery to Primary 5 with about 85 pupils, set up out of a need to provide a school with reasonable tuition and quality education to accommodate children from needy families. Two years after its inception, one volunteer fundraised $50,000 that enabled TORUWU to build classrooms at TORUWU’s property which offered a larger space than the rented premises where it previously was located. Putting up an institution that empowers children through education is something someone cannot forget, increasing the capacity of St. Mary’s School, and thus creating more impact to the community. Since the expansion, the school has increased enrolment to 163.
- HEALTH
TORUWU looks after Disabled children in Nsangi sub-county working with about 88 mothers with disabled children. TORUWU gives physiotherapy clinics to these children every Thursday at their office premises in Kikajjo.
Disability all over the world is a touching subject and TORUWU has gone ahead to sensitise the community that disabled children are not cursed. TORUWU’s number one role is to improve the living conditions of these children and their families who live in harsh and often life threatening conditions.
When training women, the organisation did a baseline survey and realised that the women we were training had children living with disability and they would hide them at home. In addition, there were other women who remained at home to take care of their children living with disability. The organisation decided to take up this third thematic area by offering physiotherapy exercises and orthopaedic appliances to handicapped children, but also uplifting their mothers by setting up a start up around their homes so that they can not only take care of their children, but also generate income to support their families, buying medication and providing better nutrition.
SUCCESS STORIES
Some success stories include many graduates from St. Mary’s school who have joined nice senior schools. For the brass band, one of the pioneers (Martin Obed) secured sponsorship in a Japanese University and went on to complete a Master’s in Music. Another one (Joseph Bemba) has recently graduated with a BA in Music. For the women, many women (about 25 mothers who have been empowered through TORUWU programmes) have received training and seed capital and went on to start entrepreneurial activities like a piggery, grocery shop, charcoal shop, chicken rearing etc (Mama Madrine-chicken, Mama Hannington-food kiosk, Mama Lubega-food kiosk, Mrs Ssemakula-piggery, Mama Robert-food kiosk). These businesses help the women to take care of their families as well buy medication and better nutrition for their disabled children.
Through the good-will of donors, TORUWU has been able to purchase a five-acre land where we grow fruits and food that we share with mothers of disabled children, and sell the rest as an income source to fund the other projects run by the organisation. Another success story is a woman who was trained in financial management: book-keeping and was able to stop losses from her charcoal business by suppliers who were stealing from her by lying about the stock supplied.