Latest News

February 2010 Ki Kati & Genevieve appear in Madison Magazine Madison Magazine (March 2010 Australian edition) features Genevieve career change - leaving the rat race to persue an alternative career. "Living in Africa puts everything into perspective; I don't worry about which shoes match which outfit becasue most Ugandans are lucky to own even one pair of shoes. Things like coveting a new car or a bigger house become totally irelevant. I fee unencombered by everything. I've just had a baby, Zane, and love raising him here. It's a safe and beautiful place to grow up" To download the full article on Genevieve and Ki Kati click here

February 2010 Introducing Adrine Nagujja, Joanne Natukunda & Constance Ageno Ki Kati is proud to introduce three new tailors. Their full profiles can be read on the tailors page

July 2009 Annet has a baby girl! In July 2009, Annet gave birth to her first child, a beautiful girl called Daphne. Daphne comes with Annet to the tailors' market in Nakawa every day.

May 2009 Introducing Annet Namutebi Annet is 28 years old and single. She was born in a village in central Uganda where she lived with her parents until they both died of AIDS in 1997. At the time, a German group sponsored her, along with other orphans of AIDS, to learn tailoring at a school in Jinja, a town east of Kampala. Annet stayed in Jinja for several years working as a tailor before moving to the capital in 2007. Once in Kampala, Annet quickly found Monica, who was also sponsored at the same tailoring school. Monica showed Annet Nakawa market and encouraged her to rent a tailors stall there. Annet moved into a two room house in a neighbouring suburb with another single girl. Their house does not have running water or electricity but Annet feels very happy there. At the moment, Annet makes just enough from her work as a tailor pay for her living costs, although, sometimes she must borrow from friends to keep afloat. Annet has a plan to gain financial independence. If she ever saves enough capital, Annet plans to buy children’s clothes from wholesalers in town and sell them at her stall and her village whenever she returns home. Hopefully, joining Ki Kati will bring her closer to this dream. Annet would like to marry one day but is happy to wait for the right man.   December 2008 Tophy Nakabiri The last few months for Tophy have been marked by serious illness. She has spent two separate weeks in hospital, which has caused enormous emotional and financial strain on her. Both medical problems seem to be under control and Tophy is now back at work and as enthusiastic as ever. These illnesses meant that she missed many days of work as well as having to pay high medical costs. In fact, Tophy traveled 200km to see a traditional doctor who she feels has cured her, – for the huge sum of $165. During this time, Ki Kati was Tophy’s only source of income and our pay advances have kept her afloat. But Tophy is uncomfortable with this precarious financial situation and so she has reluctantly decided to sell her plot of land . It has been on the market for two months now, with no offers. Lets hope the credit crunch doesn’t affect rural Uganda property values too much! Tophy’s plan is to use the proceeds of the sale to buy a small house in the outskirts of Kampala so she, Prossy and Viola can live without renting. The remainder will be used to cover ongoing medical expenses. During Tophy’s illnesses, Viola has supported her enormously. She has done all the work at home, including cooking, water collection, shopping for food and caring for Tophy while she was bed-ridden. Viola also helps with Tophy at work as best she can, lifting heavy objects and fetching things for Tophy when she is too weak to leave her chair. All the while, Viola has excelled at school - a truly is a remarkable 13 year old. Adam and I have been moved to help Viola beyond Ki Kati’s profit sharing. We are enrolling her in a good Catholic school starting next year and will now be paying for her school fees. We feel that she deserves a solid start in life and we know that this will reduce Tophy’s worries considerably. Tophy plans to use her share of this period’s Ki Kati profits to repay her the loan she took out to cover her medical bills. Hopefully, her health will improve and next period’s profits will be able to be used to give Tophy and her girls some degree of financial stability.   Monica Kyomukama Life has taken a positive turn for Monica in recent months. She has met Peter who also works at Nakawa market as a butcher. They have fallen in love and are now living together. Peter also has a son, who is the same age as Monica’s son, Moses. Together, they have formed a happy family unit. Peter wants to be able to provide well for his new family and so is currently training to be a security guard in Iraq. He will be flying out after Christmas. Monica knows this is a dangerous job, and has said with a sad sense of realism, that they will have a traditional wedding if he returns. Monica is debt free and so she plans to use her share of this period’s Ki Kati profits to start a new business selling rolls of fabric at her stall.  Monica hopes this will increase her income, not only in the profit on the fabric, but she hopes customers will then use her to make their new clothes from the fabric. It’s a great idea and we are very excited to see such a huge change to Monica’s business in such a brief time. Joyce Nanyange   Joyce now has a beautiful six week old son, Mohammed. She was back at work within three weeks – no maternity leave for her!. There are now four mouths to feed in Joyce’s family and her husband Ismail is still without a job. So Joyce is back at her stall, working hard, with Mohammed wrapped up in blankets at her feet. Joyce will use her share of this period’s Ki Kati profits to keep the family afloat for the meantime.     Lilian Namirimu Lilian is now very busy with her interior design degree exams and has only been working at her stall a few mornings a week lately. Even though Lilian is in her final year of the degree, so many classes were canceled during semester due to university strikes, that she will now be delayed until April. Lilian’s skills as a tailor will support her during over Christmas and she will keep renting her stall until she finds a full time job as an interior designer – now much later than she hoped. She plans to stay living at her father’s house and helping him raise her 12 younger siblings until she marries. Lilian will use her share of this period’s Ki Kati profits to contribute to the running of her father’s large household.   Sarah Nabunya Work has been slow for Sarah in the last few months. She continues to come to her stall at Nakawa six days a week but often has few customers. She is still dreaming of opening a clothes shop but know it will be several years before her brother will be able to assist her in this goal. In the mean time, Sarah will use her share of this period’s Ki Kati profits to contribute to her brother’s school fees.   Charmain Naigaa      Charmain has missed many weeks of work in the past few months as both her children have been seriously ill.  They have both had malaria many times, which has resulted in them being very weak. Recently, her son Rian contracted measles, from which he is very slow to recover. Charmain is very concerned about Rian’s health and is spending much of her reduced income on medical bills. Hopefully her share of this period’s Ki Kati profits will assist with medical costs to reduce her worries.     Barbara Nasirumbi Barbara has found another location on the other side of Kampala to rent her tailor’s stall. It’s closer to her home and she has decided that saving on travel time and fares will allow her to spend more time with her family. Barbara has decided to use her share of this period’s Ki Kati profits to contribute to next term’s school fees for her oldest child. We wish her and her family well. We will always hold a position open for Barbara if she decides to return to our side of town.