Dear Friends and Supporters

It’s been another challenging year for WOMA due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, we’re very pleased to report that our first rural training project was successfully completed in April and a new intake of women began their training in November.

RURAL PROJECT UPDATE

We are delighted that our five trainees from the Jinja area in Eastern Uganda graduated from the Namasuba College in Kampala in April.

Vicky, Bridget, Sarah, Eseza and Farida began their training in January 2020 but due to a strict lockdown in Uganda training was suspended in March last year. The women had to return to their villages and life was harder than ever. They were really struggling to feed themselves and their families during this time, but some of the women starting using the skills they had learned and made face masks to sell in order to buy food. They were all pleased and relieved when the college reopened in November 2020 and they were able to resume their training.

In April this year all the women successfully completed their training, passing their exams with flying colours. When they returned to their villages they received an emotional welcome from family and friends.

They have now rented premises where they have begun to establish their businesses. During their training they were able to make a variety of garments and household furnishings, which they can now sell in local markets. All of the women saved enough money during their training to pay for their share of a sewing machine; WOMA pays for the other half. We will be keeping in touch with them and will keep you updated on their progress.

The project was so successful that we be running another rural project next year. We are grateful to the Canning Trust for making this possible.

NEW TRAINEES

In November when the college reopened after a further lockdown five more women sponsored by WOMA began their training. We recruited them in January 2020 but due to a number of college closures they were unable to commence their training until this year. We wish Sharifah, Fatima, Evelyn, Apophia and Susan every success for their training.

If you’d like to read more about the impact that WOMA is having on women’s lives take a look at some of the women we’ve helped over the past few years.

PLANS FOR 2022

Unfortunately we weren’t able to get to Uganda this year because it was on the UK’s Red List for most of 2021. Nora and Karen are planning to visit early next year if the restrictions and situation regarding COVID allows.
We have seen from our pilot rural project that it is in the villages that the need for training is greatest and next year we plan to extend our outreach into Western Uganda. Nora and Karen will start the recruitment process with the help of our partners from Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) early in the New Year.

FUNDRAISING

It’s been another difficult year for fundraising as we’ve been unable to hold any music gigs and the usual sporting events like the Isle of Wight Randonnee, that has generated so much sponsorship in the past, were cancelled again.

We’ve launched a fundraising campaign on our Justgiving Page to enable us to recruit as many women as possible for our next rural project. If you are able to donate please visit our page.

https://www.justgiving.com/woma

If you can’t think of what to buy someone for Christmas then you could consider contributing to the project. You can be sure that your money will be put to very good use. WOMA has very low overheads as most of the work is done by volunteers so the bulk of the money we raise goes directly to the women we want to help.

You can also make a one off donation or set up a standing order directly into the WOMA bank account.

WOMA (World of Music & Arts Assists) 

Sort Code 20-44-86

Bank Account 50128678

If you have any ideas for fundraising we’d love to hear from you so do send us an email womatrust@gmail.com

GIVE AS YOU LIVE

Another great way to raise funds for WOMA that won’t cost you a penny is to use either the Give as You Live website.

If you register on the Give As You Live website and nominate WOMA as your chosen charity, every time you shop online WOMA will get a percentage of the money you spend. The amount varies from 0.5% to 7%.

Give as you Live is linked to most of the major household brands such as John Lewis, Waitrose, Boots, M&S and many more. You can also raise money when you book your holidays or flights from companies like Booking.com, Expedia, Trainline etc.

So if you’re looking for bargains in the January sales or planning next year’s holiday please think about doing it via the Give As You Live site. https://www.giveasyoulive.com

AMAZON SMILE

Amazon has a separate system for donating to charity called Amazon Smile. If you want to purchase anything from Amazon you can go to smile.amazon.co.uk if you nominate WOMA as your chosen charity Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of anything you buy.

These are great ways for a small charity like WOMA to raise funds without costing you anything, so please consider registering.

KEEP IN TOUCH

If you want to learn more about our activities during the year you can follow us via our social media platforms. You’ll find photos and more details about our training programmes on any of the following.

• Facebook @womatrust,
• Twitter @womatrust,
• Instagram womatrust and on our website. www.womatrust.org

In June we held our first Facebook Live to update our supporters about our activities, as we have been unable to host any events in person. We hope to do another one after our field trip to Uganda.

If the circumstances regarding COVID allow we hope to hold a live event in person at some time during 2022.

THANK YOU

We’d like to thank all of you for your continued support and generosity we couldn’t do any this without you!
Best wishes to you all for a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Karen, Mike and Nora 
(WOMA Trustees)