Adventina’s Story
Adventina and her family lived in a small mud home with a grass roof and dirt floor, in property adjacent to that of KSVI. A worn mat covered the dirt floor of her living area, where she lived with her 5 children and husband; a wooden bench in the living area and a simple bed was their only furniture. The family, returned refugees from Tanzania in 2002, survived as subsistence farmers. Their main crop was bananas. Adventina speaks no English; her language is Rukiga.
When KSVI opened in 2007, she took sewing classes. She wanted to put her skills to work for her family, but had no sewing machine to use.
By 2009, changes were taking place for the family. KSVI wanted to annex the property that Adventina’s family owned. The school purchased a plot of land along the road, then swapped that land with Adventina’s husband. The brick-making and masonry classes from KSVI, with help from Adventina’s husband, completed work on a new, more substantial home for her family. The Sewing Circle from First Presbyterian Church of Glen Ellyn gave a gift of $125 to purchase a manual sewing machine for Adventina.
Now Adventina is well-dressed and loves to welcome visitors into her new home. The transformation of the family’s property is amazing as the smile on her face. The old mud home had featured a few banana trees, a very small plot of crops, and a family that was without hope. No one smiled. Now there are several goats in a goat pen, well-kept property with crops growing, and a neat brick home.
Adventina’s sewing machine was set up by the front door so she can watch her children, neighbors, and passers-by as she sews. Her living area features a table and upholstered chairs. Rooms are curtained off with bright fabric. This is a story of a family transformed from despair to hope…for themse lves and for their children’s future. It is the story of a school teaching vocational skills to villagers in Kamwenge which they put to use, and it is the story of the sewing machine provided by women in the US which helped to make all the difference to a Kamwenge family.