1 + 1 is more than 2

A story of Local Response from Kitubulu community, Uganda by Laurie Korchi

1 + 1 is more than 2

I want to tell you a story. The story of Moussa.

A valiant retired soldier who took up arms again to support the current President in the coup d’etat, a man dedicated to maintaining the unity of his community.

In his home village of Moussa, Kitubulu, a good number of the elderly women have many grandchildren under their care. They make their livelihood from trading their handicrafts weaved out of palm leaves. Bringing with them their knowledge and skills, these women created an association to distribute the tasks related to weaving and sales.

Returning from the conflict, Moussa, discovers that the village association of weavers is no longer meeting and that his wife’s handicrafts have gone unsold. He then learns that ill-meaning people have taken money from the community and that this incident broke the bonds carefully woven by the group.

Each of these women: widows, mothers and grandmothers, hold valuable knowledge which should be preserved, shared, disseminated and transferred. But how can these women best be supported? How can they be united again to forge solidarity and unity among village and support the grandmothers who are raising the next generation?

"Discipline to maintain unity. It is our chair who taught us that and my duty here is to maintain this unity within this community. I could not sit and wait, I had to do something!" Moussa told us.

With images of the war in mind, Moussa remembers: "You know, during the Coup d'Etat, there were only 40 men, but what I learned is that numbers aren’t what counts when we are united. We ate only one meal a day and yet we had to continue and fight. We were tired but we were all mobilized to reach our goal and together we achieved it."

Based on this experience, Moussa decides to mobilize the women of the village by asking them: "what did you learn when you came together as an association? What were the benefits of working collectively?

Talking to member after member, Moussa succeeded in rekindling the flame of trust in the hearts of the women, as they remembered one by one the reason why they had united at the outset.

Even though today the women's association no longer has a market to sell their products and "even if the outcomes are small, at least we all gain from them."

Moussa's commitment goes well beyond the association of the elderly and extends to the whole village, ensuring that all can benefit from the same fruits and that peace, solidarity and unity endure.

When we drew on and shared our own story of success, then we inspired and mobilised our community members.