a christmas eve gift

One Mango Tree is really celebrating this Christmas. We hope that you are doing the same - cherishing the holiday season with your family and friends.

As a gift to you, our customers, we asked our tailors to share some thoughts on Christmas - how they'll be spending the holiday, and how it's different this year.

We caught Lucy on video giving thanks, and interviewed some of our other tailors too. Here's what they had to say.

A message from Lucy:

Lucy's Christmas message from amy karr on Vimeo.

And, to hear from our other staff, Amy went around the workshop right before the holiday vacation started and asked our tailors a few questions about how they'll be celebrating this year.

Apiyo Prisca
How will you spend Christmas this year?
I am going to spend it well and have a party with my family to celebrate. I will be cooking all day!

What is your New Years resolution?
I want to complete the house I have been building by having my job and working hard.

If you could pick one thing to have for Christmas, what would it be?
I would choose happiness!


Adong Kevin
How will you spend Christmas this year?
I want to spend Christmas with my new baby and my family, we go to church and celebrate in our community.

What is your New Years resolution?
I want to start saving for the future to get a house for my family and plan for the future.

If you could pick one thing to have for Christmas, what would it be?
I would choose lasting peace in our community and happiness for my family and friends.




Akanyo Margret
How will you spend Christmas this year?
I will be cooking Irish potatoes and chicken for my family.

What is your New Years resolution?
I want happiness for the year.

If you could pick one thing to have for Christmas, what would it be?
Happiness and peace for my children.

anena nassarine, tailor

Anena Nassarine, outside her home

In Acholi, the name 'Anena' means "to see" - and Anena Nassarine has to keep a steady eye on the fabrics and her scissors as she carefully cuts One Mango Tree patterns. Anena Nassarine is in charge of our cutting section, using patterns and a cutting machine to make sure our products are uniform in shape and quality. When she's finished cutting, she doles out the components to the other tailors to stitch on their Singer manual treadle machines.

Born in Bobi IDP camp, 20-year-old Anena Nassarine left the camp and moved to Gulu after receiving tailoring training from One Mango Tree in 2008. Her 3-year-old daughter still lives in the camp, cared for by her sister.

"I just want to earn money to help my family. I want a good family," she says.

aber grace, tailor

Aber Grace, right, with five of her seven children

Her infant daughter, Sonya, is the newest of Aber Grace's seven children; her oldest is age 15. Aber Grace, who is 33 years old, is the sole support of her large family. She lived in Bobi IDP camp for displaced persons for five years, but was able to leave in 2008 and move to Gulu after receiving tailor training from One Mango Tree. She started working full-time at the One Mango Tree workshop in July 2009. Although she has little time in between childcare and sewing beautiful accessories for One Mango Tree, Aber Grace likes to grow vegetables.

nagawa grace, tailor

Her creativity shows up in her modest but imaginatively-decorated banda (traditional round thatched hut), as well as in her sewing. Born in Kampala in 1986, Nagawa Grace married an Acholi man, and in 2006 they moved to Bobi IDP camp.

Grace took part in One Mango Tree's training program in Bobi IDP camp in 2008, and started working full-time at our workshop in July. Now her expanded family (pictured, left) lives in Gulu near the One Mango Tree compound and includes her 88-year-old grandmother, sister, husband, a 5-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl, and her 15-year-old stepdaughter. She's the sole income-earner in the family.

"I pray to God for One Mango Tree to continue and to give me work. Now I have a skill." - Nagawa Grace

a shilling saved...

The One Mango Tree Savings Program started out to solve a problem. On trips to Gulu, I often had a line of ladies out the office door asking for loans for various things - medical bills, advance payment on rent, buying school uniforms for children, etc. I realized that our tailors really were making enough money in their monthly wages to cover these relatively small expenses - so why were they always coming to me?

After a some questioning, I learned two very important things about our tailors:

1) they didn't know how to create a family budget, and
2) they didn't know how to save.

The OMT Savings Program has proven to be a success for #2. Each woman agreed that One Mango Tree would withhold 15% of her monthly earnings. On monthly pay stubs, we break down the earnings like this:

1) total labor earned
2) monthly savings
3) cumulative savings

On payday I often see the women pulling out past pay stubs and lining them up on their sewing tables to check my math. I hide a smile as I walk through the workshop. They love seeing #3 grow, and often compare savings with each other. I decided to up the ante a bit to really boost the incentive for saving - if the women do not withdraw from their savings for one year, One Mango Tree adds 10% of the full amount saved as a bonus. No one has withdrawn from their savings yet, and no one asks me for loans anymore!

Next task: we're putting together a family budgeting class in the local language so that the tailors learn to prioritize their spending and set goals. We'll learn what brings that twinkle to their eyes when they see their savings grow - and help them to realize their dreams. Check out the photo above right - that's Apiyo Prisca's son Isaac, 6, learning money management early on as he buys a sim-sim ball from a young vendor in the market.

christmas dance party

Aloyo Concy, breakin it down

I'm home visiting my family in Cleveland, Ohio for Christmas. It's freezing cold and a bit snowy (yay!) out here, the halls are decked and the holiday gifts all wrapped under the tree. At times it feels a million miles away from Gulu - and today I wished I could somehow be teleported back to our workshop for the One Mango Tree Christmas Party.

Our ladies really know how to party. The event, complete with local food and a screening of the IOM production video, turned into an all-day Acholi dance-a-thon. Check it out:

one mango tree christmas dance party from amy karr on Vimeo.

The production floor was transformed into a movie theater:

Our party kicked off the Christmas holiday week for our tailors. Our workshop is closed, so the ladies will spend the week with their families. Each tailor also received her annual bonus, which will go a long way in making 2009 a wonderful Christmas.

We all hope you are doing the same!

2008-09: a year in photos

Take a tour through photography from the very beginnings of One Mango Tree in early 2008, leading up to the move into our new workshop in Gulu. You won't believe the journey through faces, landscapes and products. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show: