Big day for Musana this week— the Grand Opening for our
retail store right here in Lugazi! Over the past couple weeks, HELP
International team members have been working hard designing a lovely display
room utilizing ordinary local materials and turning them into real shnazzy
display items (for example, with a little paint, they successfully turned a
local sieve into a darling earring rack). Ultimate Home Makeover-Uganda.
True to form, the event scheduled for 10am began at
twwwwelve, as we awaited some key components of the event to arrive. However,
the delay was no sweat, as our local Musana Manager, Luta, had us rolling with
his stand-up comedy act impersonating American girls, poking fun at funeral
customs throughout East Africa, and having a dance-off with his cross-dressing
friend (who honestly could move like MJ). One of our biggest expenses of the
day was hiring the DJ and booming sound system—an essential component of any
proper Ugandan event. This drew in a huge crowd of adults and kids from the
surrounding village, turning it into a real community event.
Our 7 Musana women looked lovely- they wore their “smartest”
dresses accented with each of their favorite pieces of Musana Jewelry.
In attendance were the Mayor, Town Clerk, Village Women’s Representative,
other members of the Lugazi Town Council, and several other influential people.
Pastor Francis, Musana’s incredibly capable and dynamic Chairperson, led the
ceremonies with the Ugandan and then American national anthems and a great talk
on community development in Lugazi. He then concluded his speech with the most
precious of shout-outs, “And last of all, I want to put out a personal request
for Melissa to apply for a Ugandan citizenship so that she can buy land and
live here. And as her Ugandan father, I am personally invested in finding her a
Ugandan husband, so all of you single men out there will have to pass an
interview with me.” Oh, Pastor!
I got to speak next. I talked about how the name “Musana” (“sunshine”
in Luganda) is symbolic for our mission of illuminating the inherent beauty in
women—revealing potential that was there but was not visible before. Working
for Musana is not just a job, but is a training opportunity that builds women’s
capacity. A “Musana Woman” is one that is productive, creative, timely, literate,
community involved, financially responsible, and a nurturing mother. And (this
was my favorite part)… a Musana Woman is STRONG. Not strong like a man, but strong like a woman. Our goal of
empowering women is not to replace men’s role in society, but to build and work
together with men to elevate homes and communities.
Last of all, the Mayor spoke half in English and half in
Luganda. He talked about how good it was the Musana had remained small over the
past 3 years and established a strong foundation to now expand upon. Many organizations
in the area start very large, and quickly topple without the proper
infrastructure. He affirmed his support of Musana in our new focus to expand to
employ additional women over the next few months (meaning…. granting our
proposal for a plot of land to build our own place on!). He then invited me up
to cut the ribbon and then the cake (wedding reception-esque) with him, to signal the official opening of the store.
The
public was invited in to view the jewelry and we had a bunch of sales right on
the spot.
The event went on for a couple more hours with the Musana
women performing a couple of dances (one traditional dance, and one together
with HELP girls to “Girls just wanna have fun”- darling), and a dance-off with
some local kids that have serious moves.
What a day.
