After last night’s dance party, we woke up from a long night’s sleep ready to devour breakfast. We immediately started our day by heading out to Tugende. In Uganda, many people depend on bodas bodas, which are motorcycle taxis, as a main form of transportation. It is estimated that there are over 400,000 boda bodas in Kampala alone. Boda boda drivers typically rent their motorcycles and as a result they are in an endless cycle of debt. Ultimately, the hard earned money earned by the boda boda drivers is used to continuously paying for the motorcycles, so they gain very little money from their services. At Tugende, we were greeted by the CEO, Michael, and Paul, their operations manager. They talked with us and informed us about their struggles as a start-up and how they attempt to break the cycle of endless debt for the boda drivers. We all listened as Michael told us that he even had to fire a close friend of his that initially sparked the idea of creating Tugende. Afterwards, we ate at a local restaurant that served us traditional Ugandan food. The food was simple, but it was included filling starches such as sweet potatoes, beans, and rice. Then, we began working on our project to create our pants with Thread of Life. We decided to focus on the powerful stories of the single mothers that have battled hardships in Kampala. Also, we wanted to capture the impact that Thread of Life has created for the women. Nizhooni and Aileen interviewed Lydia, one of the women that now works for Thread of Life. Meanwhile, Mathew and Courtney interviewed Mercy and Florence about their passions and how they became part of the leadership of Thread of Life. Nizhooni, Courtney, and Aileen alternated taking pictures of the women that continuously sewed a large order of bags. As we sat outside, we bonded with the children as they called us Muzungus. The children giggled and ran at the sight of us. After our work was finished at Thread of Life, we all gathered together, bonded, and laughed at the smallest things. We ate a delicious dinner and made our way to bed after a long day of hard work.
