Neema, Nakivale Women's Crafters Collective
"In our hands, threads transform into pathways toward prosperity and progress"
Meet Neema Chiribuka, a 44-year old teacher, mentor, and leader of the Nakivale Women’s Crafters Collective housed at Elijah Astute’s newly built Bio-Green education facility in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Neema, like the other 8 women ages 14 to 43 whom she mentors and teaches, is a refugee. Her home country is the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I asked Neema to describe why crafting and the Collective are so important to her. Her reply (translated beautifully by Elijah) is so eloquent, it stands on its own without any qualifier or explanation:
"Through this craft, we aim not only to rebuild our families' livelihoods but also to cultivate knowledge and generate income. With each stitch, we weave together aspirations for a brighter future, where our skills empower us to thrive independently. Together, we form a resilient network of support, fostering growth, creativity, and self-sufficiency. As we crochet, we stitch together not just yarn but also dreams of financial stability and personal fulfillment. In our hands, threads transform into pathways toward prosperity and progress."
Virtual Crochet Sessions
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting (virtually) Neema three times now. The first time, Elijah facilitated a basic Zoom introduction for me to the Women’s Crafters Collective. They showed me the ponchos, bags, and hair scrunchies they make.
On the second occasion, April 27, 2024, we had a 2-hour Zoom session where I taught the women how to make crocheted soap sacks, a small bag with drawstrings in which bar soap is used for washing and then hung to dry. Here is the 5-minute video of our crochet sesh that I edited down from two hours.
For our third session on May 11, 2024, Neema taught me how to crochet a “Hand Sock”, which people use to wash themselves. It’s like an enclosed washcloth and looks like an oven mitt without the thumb. Noela, one of the Collective members, joined in as well. Here is the 10-minute edited vidoe (I edited out the parts where I misunderstood the instructions and “frogged” the entire work. Noob move!)
Context Behind the Crafters
The women in the Crafter’s Collective live in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda, but are originally from elsewhere. They come from the war-torn regions of Africa like the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. They fled with their belongings and the family members they were able to save to the Settlement which currently is home to over 170,000 refugees from 13 countries. Survival is challenging in the Settlement. Food aid has recently been cut off and refugees subsist (barely) on USD$5 per month.
To earn a living and support their families, these craftswomen are producing beautiful handcrafts often made with recycled materials. Items include: bags, hair scrunchies, dresses, "hand socks" (which are used for washing), and much more. Often they are recycling plastic bags (cement, food aid, or other bags) as well as other plastic items and combining it with yarn embellishments and embroidery to repurpose and create new functional and wearable artisan products.
Members of the Women’s Crafting Colletive include:
Neema Chiribuka 44 (Facilitator)
Nsimire Noela 32
Sarah Nzau 43
Kakese Benitha 26
Iragi Esther 18
Salama Shamamba 18
Nankafu Balibuno 31
Naomi Imara 14
Mari 14
Nakivale Crafters Collective Products
Neema’s dream is a shared one. She and the Collective dream of working together cooperatively to produce products for sale at the market and to teach more women, especially young girls, how to crochet and sew so that more women can make a livelihood to lift themselves out of poverty with their craft.
The lack of yarn supplies is the primary impediment to the women moving forward with their crochet business. While their needs are much greater than this - they would like to buy additional yarn, hooks, as well as two commercial sewing machines and a knitting machine. If you are moved to join us for crochet sessions, please comment here or DM me. If you are moved to contribute to their cause to help the Collective really take off, you can contribute to this fund which I manage on their behalf for them here: Support Nakivale Crafters Collective.
Where in the World is Nakivale Refugee Settlement?
Wowzer! ❤️🙏🏽