A No nonsense Mother of Four Has Worked At A Quarry As A Stone Chipper For a Decade!

Meet a mother of four, determined to see her children go to school. Well, not only go to school but also complete school!

The mother works at one of the quarries adjacent to a high scale Kampala neighbourhood.

We met, talked and she allowed us to share her story of resilience.

She has done this kind of work for over 10 years now and has been able to take care of herself, children, relatives and.............the husband. Yes! The husband!

She is phenomenal, daring and a gender-expansive practitioner. In this story one reads or sees an example of a woman bending the axis of expectations.

We have been wrongly normed, that women do particular types of work, you name them. I am sure your list goes all the way to 100 names. I am sure too, there are jobs missing on that list...... especially not stone chipping! Well, not this one buddy!

Women are increasingly crafting ways to add to the list of social support mechanisms leveraging their connectivity or inclusion in protection, labour, sustenance, pursuance of happiness and liberty enabling structures.

She beats male chauvinism, invincibility and lays bare feminine resilience instead as well as an acceptance that males can not be all round providers.

Males can be fragile too. And this is not a crime!

She is a woman who not only supports herself, children and husband, but one who has been a leader in the area too. Many women, boys, girls and men come to her for advise. In the area, she is popularly known as "Mama!"

She gets orders for particular sizes of stones as well as amount to be paid and then she hammers away. On this day, she had got an order for 2 tonnes of stones of 2-4 inches wide. It takes her 2 days to get the two tonnes. With that she earned USD 150.oo ( about Uganda Shillings 400,000.oo).

Imagine this Mama, had combined effort with the spouse, how many tonnes would they have chipped a week? This is the reason we exist to empower communities and families/couples to be role models in the fight against poverty, support their children, attain the basic minimum education standards and enjoy a quality life.

Once couples work together they attain the necessary capabilities required to ensure that they uplift their lives and those of the people surrounding them.

Men, lets not abandon our Responsibilities. Lets support ourselves, our spouses and our children. These will once again become our darlings.

Get Involved!

At SITUKA, We shall bring you stories like these.

Stories of resilience!

Stories of fragility too.

Thanks!

The CEO SAI, trying his hand at stone chipping. Guess what, he almost flattened his thumb! Bwahaha ! Lol!

The CEO persisting at flattening his own thumb!

Mama takes the hammer out of the CEO's hold!

Mama, demonstrates a unique craft and within minutes has about 10 stones cut into the right measures. Also, saved the CEO from his intentions to flatten his thumb!

Mama, sharing her story with us! Note the heap behind her is increasing in size and the heap on her immediate right is also increasing in size. Phenomenal woman indeed!