Echatutu Women's Selfhelp Group

Two years ago 30+ Scottish women kindly made a contribution to the Echatutu Women's Group.

Between us we managed to raise over £1000, they were able to become a formal corganisation with a constitutution, set up to sell their basket and rope handicrafts, a [very] small loans scheme, buy a group bicycle, and more recently start a 'Send A Cow' project in which a member gets a calf, when the grown cow has a calf that goes to another member.

We have kept supporting them, and they have just sent me their annual report. They now have 23 members, and keep working purposefully. However, they say “We have been disturbed by the weather changes which have destroyed most of our food crops. There have been “Low payments of the loans as most of the crops to give return have been affected by the heavy drought.”

“”Raw materials are hard to get and are very expensive. It has been hard for us to get market for our products. This has forced us to reduce our prices from sh2000 to sh1500 which adds little value to the groups account / finances. “Send a cow project is till going on but the quality of the animals have been affected too as a result of drought that has made the grass dry.”

They keep working on new ideas. “we have people who are willing to hire our bicycle for boda-boda [taxi] services and are to pay us every month a total of amount of sh30,000 only [£6.00], which means they are to deposit sh1000 [£0.60p] with the group's accountant [Akello Veronica] daily. [Asibo Phoebe keeps the keys to the bicycle]. The group seeks to get more bicycles to be used as income generation. Some of the members will use it for transporting passengersd and then the money is got for keep the group in its shape.”

I hope you will please consider contributing £10 towards this Bicycle Fund. Either by electronic payment to Bank of Scotland, sort code 80-83-88, account number 00664518, Ewan and Linda McVicar. Or by snail mail to us at 84 High Street, Linlithgow EH49 7AQ. And please consider sharing this message with other Scots women. But whether or not you want to assist, have a fine and happy festive season.

Best regards, Ewan McVicar

OCTOBER 2014

The women of the group, based in Olwelai village 10k north of Soroti, are all survivors of the war in North East Uganda when the Lord's Resistance Army came down towards Soroti, chased off or killed the men, and raped the women - some of them were infected with AIDs, others became pregnant.

They have banded together for mutual support, and developed making handicraft baskets etc to sell. 

The photos and videos on this page were taken by Ewan McVicar.

Robert Ekapu explains the group's name.

"Yes may be the right word for Echatutu would be struggle.
An example if by accident you half way entered the hole and then fortunately you start struggling and come out of that hole. 
That processes is what we called Echatutu, so I think the right word here is struggle."

"In September 2014 Robert took me first to a place where women and children were breaking stones with little hammers. The stones are taken as rocks off a volcanic hillside, and broken into various smaller sizes which are then heaped in high piles for sale. A few hundred yards up the road is a little brick building which is the headquarters of the Echatutu women's group.

They are indeed survivors. When the rebel Lord's Resistance Army came down from the North several years ago the men ran or were killed, and the women were raped. When the rebels retreated these women got together to support and counsel each other, and eventually as a sharing activity and to raise a little money for necessities they began to make handcraft items to sell in the market in town. Now Robert is advising them to try selling at the road side, as is done on the other side of the country. This group made banana leaf balls and dolls sent to Scotland, as well as a variety of baskets.

I said I would try to tell women back home about their story in hopes they would want to help, but meantime I wanted on your and my behalf to help a little, and gave the chairwoman of the group 50 quid. They were astonished and danced and ululated with pleasure, and told me I was a king!

One of the songs they sang to me is a favourite Iteso song, 'E jok lokasuban Ejaikin Ituwe' [It is God's blessings to give gifts together]. The chorus 'Ya Yay yay yay' means 'Happy, happy, happy, happy'".

 Ewan McVicar

The group was established eight years ago by six women aged 14 to 30 years, in Olwelai Village, Katine Sub-county. They now have twenty members, and their chairwoman is Florence Adono.

The problems they have identified to work on are - lack of schools fees, lack of market for products, big number of children to feed, fear for another rebellion to emerge in the region, literacy levels, expensive medication for their children and parents, floods that affect their crops while still growing, limited materials for their crafts.

The  possible benefits of group action they see are - possibility of getting the market for their crafts, getting exposed to international and national groups, getting connected /partnership, possibility of support for the group, employment for their children, school fees from good people, register the group, supply of materials for their crafts, expansion of the group, information sharing with others.