Work and Play

Sisters Maria and Betty are Daughters of Providence and having been working here in Nebbi Cathedral Parish since 2006, helping young people who have finished school to learn vocational skills. Their work is much needed with may youngsters, especially girls, leaving school without formal qualifications and so little prospect of employment. The Daughters of Providence have their roots in St. Brieuc and the religious order was established to live amongst and support 15 to 25 year olds who had either dropped out of school or finished school without qualifications.  Their mission here in Nebbi is true to their founder's, Pere Jean Marie de la Mennais, original mission.

The small vocational training school the Sisters run offers training opportunities in dress making and tailoring and hairdressing for the girls and carpentry and basic mechanics for the boys (yes, training and employment opportunities continues to follow traditional geneder stereotyping).

Here, the number of girls out numbers the boys. I understand that this is for two reasons. First, girls leave formal education earlier than boys. The Ugandan culture strongly favours boys and so the limited resources availible for school fees, etc. is invariably directed towards sons rather than daughters. Second, in adulthood it is the women that are invariably the main earners.

The training programme the Sisters run focuses on balancing work and play. The following pictures show the girls at work (Sister Betty is repairing one of the Singer sewing machines) and at play (Sister Maria is enthusiastically referring the netball game, despite the challenges the football game going on alongside as the boys cut across the netball pitch to gain possession of their football).