Okwegatta Gemanyi Basket-weaving Group

Okwegatta Gemanyi is the name of a local basket-weaving group that lives in Kiwangala, a small village in rural Uganda. Okwegatta Gemanyi means “Unity is Power” in Luganda, the local tribal language. Kiwangala is located in Southern, Central Uganda. It straddles the Rakai District where the first outbreaks of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa were first documented in the 1980s. The disease has affected most families and left the area impoverished. The group is made up women who want to make some extra money to pay for food, clothing, and their children's school supplies. They currently work from their homes making baskets from sustainable materials that have been collected from the local swamp. Okwegatta Gemanyi also teaches weaving to teen-aged girls at Children’s Sure House, a school in Kiwangala that provides free education to orphans and vulnerable children. Richard Ssenkindu, a teacher who is currently pursuing an education degree at a local University, assists them. Another man in the village helps haul materials from the swamp. The women want to work together to eventually develop a co-operative.

Okwegatta Gemanyi has agreed to follow the tenants of Fair Trade. These include creating opportunities for the disadvantaged; transparency and accountability; capacity building through improve management skills; promoting Fair Trade through honest advertising; payment of wages at a fair price; encouraging gender equity; working conditions; discouraging child labor that affects their well being, education, need for play; ensuring good environmental practices; and not taking advantage of small producers for middleman profits.

For more information on how you can assist Okwegatta Gemanyi or to purchase a basket, contact childrenssurehouse@gmail.com.