Who is the LRA?

Have you heard? President Obama is sending 100 US troops to Central Africa to help and advise government forces battling Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels accused of murder, rape and kidnapping children.

While Northern Uganda has now seen a few years of sustained peace, the LRA continues to terrorize villages in Eastern Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic. Earlier this month, Invisible Children and Resolve announced the launch of the LRA Crisis Tracker - a mapping tool that reminds us, even though Northern Uganda is relatively safe, this conflict has not ended. 

All of the women working with One Mango Tree in our Gulu workshop have been affected by the LRA. Many lost brothers, fathers, and uncles. Several of our tailors were abducted and forced to fight. Others became child mothers when they were raped by LRA rebels and forced to serve as their wives. Almost all were displaced from their villages and have lived most of their lives in fear. While we are all glad to see peace in Northern Uganda, we cannot forget that this group continues to tear apart families and communities in other parts of Central Africa.

So, who is the LRA?

Who is the LRA from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with President Obama's decision to send troops?

empowered purchasing vs. handouts

I talk a lot about how One Mango Tree jobs are empowering women in Northern Uganda. Sometimes the listener gives me a sort of twisted up grimace - perhaps a little jaded by the word "empowerment."

Here's a little story.

One Mango Tree is lucky enough to have some generous partners. One day I was chatting with one of them about the tailors' needs, and I mentioned the horrible electricity situation in Gulu (we often lose power for days at a stretch). Our tailors, like most people in the developing world, rely on kerosene lanterns to light their homes - spending as much as 30% of their disposable income on fuel for the lanterns.

I'd just returned to Gulu from a camping trip, where my boyfriend showed me a solar light he picked up in Kampala. The Firefly, made by Base Technologies, is a powerful LED lamp with a flexible neck - you can sit it on the table, hang it from the wall, etc. I mentioned this light to our partner, and he suggested raising funds to give each tailor a Firefly for their home.

A few days later, I charged up my Firefly in the sun and took it into the workshop. I didn't even make it in the door when I was stopped by Alanyo Milly, our cook. She was inquisitive, so I did a 2-second demo (read: turned on the lamp). She immediately asked how much it cost (46,500 Ugandan shillings - about $25 - for the model that also charges your mobile phone), and then told me to bring her one from Kampala.

taking a break at the workshop to show how the Firefly works

As I demonstrated the light in the workshop, Prisca started a list for orders. The idea of a partner raising funds to give free lights quickly dissipated. These ladies saw something they wanted to buy, and used their disposable income to make the purchase.

Okay, you may be thinking, "so what? I do that every day." In Northern Uganda, this little scenario is a really big deal.

On that same trip where I encountered the Firefly, I also read Out of Poverty, by Paul Polak. Within the first few pages of the book, Polak explores the issues that make the above scenario such a big deal: the faulty view that charity and handouts can end poverty. In Northern Uganda, more than twenty years of conflict brought countless donors and NGOs into the region, supplying everything from food handouts to break dance classes. This is a region used to receiving "free stuff." While many handouts were a necessity during the emergency period, the mentality of "something for nothing" has unfortunately persisted - to the detriment of the Acholi people.

One Mango Tree tailors make a great living. They know that if they work hard, they will continue to receive a paycheck each month. As a result, they've begun to change their thinking. Instead of waiting for One Mango Tree to give them light, they saw something they wanted and bought it themselves - not even flinching at what once would have been a prohibitive price tag.

Now that, to me, is empowerment.

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dreams of sewing machines...taking stock

this post is cross-posted from my personal blog, Locus Amoenus - some thoughts on running One Mango Tree.

I'm back at Schiphol Airport again.

It really hasn't been that long since I was last here - it was summer then, on my quick layover back to Entebbe. One thing is certain - I always feel very far away when I'm here. It's cold and dark. It's almost 8 am and the sky is still inky black.

So, in my usual habit of reflection at Schiphol, here's the list.

Personal

1. I climbed Kilimanjaro.
2. I made a second visit to Zanzibar and got a henna tattoo on my butt.
3. I survived malaria.

After surviving malaria, I succumbed to workaholic syndrome - putting aside everything else in my life to focus 110% of my energy on One Mango Tree.

dreams of sewing machines...

Personal merged with professional, and my emotions suddenly linked up with the ebb and flow of doing business in Africa. In short, over the past few months I thought I was losing it. Coming out on this end, surrounded by the sterile organization of Schiphol, I can now say that I've "learned lessons" and "overcome challenges." Starting a business in Uganda is no easy task - trying to make it sustainable is even more difficult.

Professional

1. moved into our new workshop
2. hired a cook/cleaning woman, compound manager and armed guard service - fired compound manager for pimping and hired a new compound manager, suspended new compound manager for stealing airtime... and so it goes
   
3. started up the One Mango Tree Guest House, and quickly discovered that being a landlord is a full-time job in and of itself
   
4. hosted Stacey Edgar, founder of Global Girlfriend, who visited our new workshop and gave me a schooling in all the things I didn't know - she more or less lit my ass on fire
5. worked with Hilary Dell, our first design intern, to design 5 pieces of apparel for Global Girlfriend - a cami, scoop neck tee, tee dress, cardigan and wrap dress - production on 7,500 pcs. starts in December
   
6. started working with Gihan da Silva - a Sri Lankan living in Uganda who knows everything - about apparel production, textiles, used cars, rally car racing, government bureaucracy, how to talk to Acholi women to make sure they show up for work, etc. He is my saving grace and my best friend in Uganda, and he's now working with One Mango Tree
   
7. found a Ugandan lawyer and went through the annoying process of registering as a national NGO in Uganda, which took months and cost $1,000 and about a dozen trips to the lawyer's office, only for him to send me home to collect additional documents. Our complete certificate sat on the NGO Board Director's desk for weeks just waiting for her to show up and sign it, but it is now complete
   
8. went through a similar lengthy process to acquire a TIN number (like the EIN in the US)
9. faced slightly less run around and acquired an export certificate
10. build a relationship with a mostly reliable shipper, dropping our costs from over $12/kg to about $4/kg (thanks Gihan)
    
11. learned how to fill out oodles of customs paperwork - commercial invoice, packing lists, GSP Form A, and continued my education on AGOA policy (handbags don't qualify), Category 9 exemption and HTS codes
12. learned how to procure packing materials - carton boxes, poly bags, sticker labels - the things you don't really think about until you get an order for 4,600 pieces
13. completed a 4,600 pc. order for Global Girlfriend - definitely our biggest accomplishment this year - through this production we brought all of our tailors up in their skill levels and perfected quality control. The change this created in our capacity was incredible, and we had to bring on three new tailors to get it done - the end result was 133 cartons of One Mango Tree products shipped to Seattle
14. received a grant from International Organization for Migration (IOM) to take on referrals from their partners (ex-combatants, vulnerable women) for training and employment, training program starts this month, wrote a case study for their Labor Market Analysis
    
15. found a textile designer and worked with volunteers Anna and Zach Thompson to design four of our own fabrics for 2010 - all organic and absolutely beautiful - allowing us to cut ties with the Chinese wax print knock-off market we relied on in the past
    
16. signed off wholesale distribution in North America to Global Girlfriend
17. brought on Alison Farley to be our independent sales rep through Global Girlfriend
18. received another order for 3,000 pcs from Global Girlfriend
19. made our first projections and income statement
20. somehow squeezed in production for Christmas and gave the website a face lift, with help from new intern Amy Karr on photography and editing
21. since June, our staff went from 6 to 25

And finally, at 8:20 am, the darkness is lifting outside. Welcome North.