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Human interest story
Nakiyemba Hamidah
I am Hamidah and I am the first employee of AFRIpads. I started working with Sonia and Paul in the village in February 2009.
My mom was a friend of Paul and Sonia when they lived in our village in 2008. I was in tailoring school. After I finished my school I was looking for a job and my mom told me to come back to the village because Sonia and Paul wanted to start a project making pads to help girls. They liked my work and we were great friends, so I started working with them.
We started really small. I moved to Kitengesa village from my village and they rented a room for me in the trading center. I slept there with our machine. I was the only girl. Sonia and Paul would come every morning and we would work. Sonia would trace the fabric and Paul would cut the pieces. Then I would sew them into pads. Then we added 2 more girls, my friend Zaina from tailoring school to help with sewing and my friend Rukia from secondary school to cut for us. We had very few machines and we tried a lot of things to get the right shape for the pads. We were testing a lot. Quality has improved a lot since the beginning!
When Sonia and Paul started adding girls I became head tailor for AFRIpads. By then we were only 5 girls, but I had to make sure they quality of their work was good enough for selling. I also trained the girl to use the overlock machine that makes the edges of the AFRIpads strong enough to last a year.
After being a tailor, I became a supervisor to support the branch manager in the Kitengesa branch. At first I would only help the branch manager with quality checking and with things like work logs and production sheets. But then they started training me and I started learning management skills. Now I run the branch in Villa Maria and I manage 26 girls.
I do everything that is needed to make sure we are producing the right amount every week in Villa Maria. I am responsible for tracking production, making sure the pads are always good quality, and ordering materials whenever the stock at the branch gets low. Every week I fill lots of logs and reports for the main office to make sure the branch is moving smoothly. Every other week I calculate payday for the 26 girls.
I have learned so much since I started working for AFRIpads. When I met Sonia and Paul in 2008 I was so shy, but I have grown. I am not afraid to speak in front of a big group anymore. Now I even lead all of the workshops to train the new girls how to make AFRIpads and fix machines.
Besides producing AFRIpads, we are still working here to train the girls in other skills like sewing machine repairs. It's hard to get the machines fixed in Masaka because there is only 1 machine technician, so it is important that the girls learn how to maintain and repair their machines so we don't miss our production targets.
I am really happy working for AFRIpads. My life has changed so much. I live in my own apartment now. When I still lived in Kitengesa I used my first AFRIpads savings to have a carpenter in the village build me a bed. My whole life I slept on a mattress on the floor. Now I have a bed with a mosquito net and a nice blanket. This year I bought a table with four matching side tables. I also bought plastic flooring to make my room look nice and clean.
I have 8 brothers and sisters and so many cousins, so I always send money home to my mom to help with their school fees. This year I opened a bank account at Barclays. Now AFRIpads pays my salary into my account at the end of every month. This helps me save. Now I can support myself and help my family.
But I am still learning, as sometimes we face problems at AFRIpads and I have to solve them. It can be difficult sometimes. But we always manage to solve the problems. Even I am still learning!
